Trip To Germany-Guest Post



Herforder Pils



Recently I asked my cosuin Jeni and her husband Greg (the world's best drummer) to write a guest post about their trip to Germany, mostly on the beer. Well, here it is (I added a few comments in a different color)



Greg and I went to Germany in May, to visit my Great Uncle Erhard, and
to drink beer, and to see where my ancestors lived, and to drink beer
again.  We accomplished all of these things. (YAAY BEER! YAY GERMANY!)

I’d say we tried about 20 beers, as a conservative estimate.  Some of
the beers we drank were: Franziskaner, Ayinger, Bitburger, Freiberger,
Andechs Dunkel, Herforder Pils, Schofferhofer Weizen, and Berliner
Kindl Weisse.  My official analysis of the complexities of the
different beer tastes: they were all awesome.

Highest Beer Garden



We drank beer in many locations, including beer gardens.  The highest beer garden in Germany is at the top of the German Alps.  One of the most famous is the Hofbrauhaus.  And the largest is the Hirschgarten, which has 9 billion seats.  No, wait, it is 8,000 seats.  We also drank beer in castles! CASTLES??!! We drank beer on the train.  And we drank beer while in Rüdesheim am Rhein, which is a winemaking town. How about in a box, with a fox?

Chinesischer Turm and beer garden in Englischer Garten



Beer Bike



Two other nice beer moments: While driving on the autobahn, we saw fields of hops, mmm.  And, in Berlin, we saw a beer bike, which is 12 people drinking while pedaling a keg down the street.  Yes!

Do they sell these in America? Who wants to start riding a bike with me?



Schofferhofer Weizen



Now, here are some things that you may find interesting about German
beers (if you don’t already know them):

 You know I love all things knowledgable about beer, so I don't seem like a lush.



Bitburger



(1) The name of many German breweries, as you probably noticed, is the town that the beer is brewed in, with an “er” at the end.  For example, Ayinger is made in Aying, and Freiberger is made in Freiberg.

 Literally, Ayinger means “of Aying”, and so on.  Or at least I think that’s the translation, but if I’m wrong about this, please correct me.





Berliner Weisse (The Purple One)



(2) Berliner Weisse is a wheat beer with a flavored syrup.  The red was raspberry and the green was woodruff, but I don’t remember what the purple was, aside from tasty.  You drink it with a straw.  Nom nom
nom.

Those look very interesting! Making me want to go drink one...



Berliner Weisse (Red and Green)





Beer



(3) We also had pilsner mixed with lemonade, which was very tasty.
This is called the Radler (which means cyclist).  There is a story about cyclists drinking it as a refreshing drink, with much needed beer in it, but not too much booze.

Did it taste like Leinenkuegel's Summer Shandy? Just curious, in case I need something refreshing on my next bike ride....

(4) There is a special way to hold the large mugs of beer, so that you
can drink them without using both hands.  See picture. This made me giggle when I saw it at 6 this morning... Because you look like you are giggling.

Official way to drink beer in Germany

Ok, that’s it.  Your homework for next week: Go to Germany; drink beer. I second that!

Thank you Jeni so much for helping me with my blog! Now I can say I have smart content instead of just Muppet Videos this week!

Don't forget to vote for me to go to Canfest 2011!!! Did you lose that link? Don't worry, I have it right here https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/CANFESTBloggerContest

Do you have an idea or want to do a guest post? Do you have a question or a suggestion for me? I always welcome comments and emails.