Bamberg Beer Tour

Last weekend Chris and I traveled to Bamberg, which is a 2 hour train ride from our town. We heard that Bamberg was famous for their smoked beer, and we had to try it out! Rauchbier, or smoked beer, has a distinctive smoke flavor because the malted barley is dried over an open flame.

We signed up for the BierShmeckerTour at the Tourist Center. Inside our nifty backpacks, we received 5 vouchers for beers at local pubs, a beer stein, a description of the local beers and "beer mats" from all the local pubs.

Our first stop on our beer tour was to Schlenkerla, which is a pub known for the smoked beer. Chris and I really enjoyed the unique flavor of the smoked beer. Along with our beer, we had a great lunch. I had the ham leg with a knodel and sauerkraut. It was big enough to feed a family of 4! Chris had sausage with cheese inside, with horseradish sauce for a little kick.

After lunch we ventured out into the city. There was a Zaubert festival going on, which, from what we gather, was a festival of street performers and musicians.

We also toured the Brewery Museum, which is conveniently located right next to a monastery. We have learned that there are 2 kinds of monks in Germany....the skinny monk who holds a Bible and a "chubby" monk who is holding a beer. Fun Germany Fact: The Reinheitsgebot (known as the German Beer Purity Law) stated that beer could only be made of malt, water and hops. Yeast was not known to be an ingredient in beer. Germans are very proud to brew and drink "pure" beer.

Below are a few more pictures of the great views we had in Bamberg!