jeffry

I'm trying to ogranize a one-day brewery tour of Munich with a few friends of mine in mid-May. It looks like the breweries are scattered throughout the area. Several are in town, but several others (e.g. Andecker, Erdinger) are south of Munich. I'm looking for any suggestions as to the best breweries to visit, and the best itinerary so we can visit the most breweries as efficiently as possible. We wil be driving in to Munich, and thought that it might make sense to drive to a few that are out of town. Once we're in Munich, we plan on taking cabs.

Also, wondering if anyone had visited the Weihenstephan brewery, founded in 1040. I'm trying to determine if you have to take the tour in order to try thier beer. Their website doesn't mention anything about a pub, just the tour.

Cowboy1968

There are organized brewery tours in Munich, but I have never taken one so I cannot comment on its quality.
Example: http://www.munichwalktours.de/home/e...r_brewery1.php

There is a "Bräustüberl" (brewery pub) next to the brewery, but I don't think it's that great (except for the beer). Take a look at this site (in German) for some pictures:
http://www.manfredwirth.de/freising.htm

To try their beer, you do not have to trek all the way to Freising/ Weihenstephan. Many pubs in downtown Munich have that beer on tap. Which brand of beer a pub has on tap can be spotted from the outside -- it's the logo/name that is also on the pub's sign (many have more than just that one on tap, though).

norrisken

Please consider reading this book before you go. "The Beer Drinker's Guide to Munich" http://www.beerdrinkersguide.com/
Take a tour of various beer gardens. The book tells you which they recommend, how to get there and many other important items.
Use the public transit system. Very easy and cheap.

J_Correa

Freising is a nice town and an easy ride on the S-Bahn from Munich - it makes a nice day or half-day trip. We really enjoy Weihenstephaner beer.

jeffry

Thanks for the input. My copy of The Beer Drinker's Guide to Munich arrived on Wednesday - it's been very helpful.

Right now our plan is to stop at Weihenstephan on the way in to Munich,then go to City Centre since there are a lot of good places close together. We may also go to the English Gardens and stop in at one or two of their beer gardens, if time permits.

Cowboy1968

By the way... if you want to see the best beer garden in Munich, you should go to the Hirschgarten (deer garden), bit west of the city center, half way to Nymphenburg Castle. It seats 8000, so finding a place is usually not a major problem ;-)

The favorite local beer is Augustiner (two beer halls in Munich, one in the brewery), which does not get exported, so you won't find it anywhere but in Munich and Southern Bavaria.

beanweb24

Another vote for visiting Weihenstephan brewery. You do not have to take a tour to taste the beers, and they do have a great pub (with delicious food). I thoroughly enjoyed a long, slow lunch there and tried many of the beers. YUM.

It sounds like you're on a bit of a beer hunt...how long do you have in the area? Bamberg is incredible for beer lovers - spent a week there last November visiting all of the different breweries.

jeffry

We'll be in Erlangen for two days for the Berg, one day in Munich and then off to Salzburg and Prague. I'm going with two friends of mine (no spouses)for our 50th birthdays. Finding good local beer is our top priority.

We're interested in seeing a few beer gardens, but we're more focused on the beer itself.
For Munich, my current priority list includes Augustiner Keller, Andescher am Dom, Hofbrauhaus and Weihenstephan.

64driver

Since you will be in Erlangen, I concur wholeheartedly with beanweb on Bamberg. Some call it "The Venice of Germany," crisscrossed by rivers and canals, great medieval altstadt, only Pope buried north of the Alps, and of course the beer. Any true beer lover has to try rauchbier, "smoked beer." Fantastic town!

JN

You will love the Andechser beer and the great food at Andechser Am Dom (the schnitzel stretches over the edge of the plate--it's huge and tasty). Their beers are my favorite, too. A visit to Andechs to see their brewery is supposed to be great, too. A bit hard to get to without taking a ton of time via public transportation, though.

When in Salzburg, do go to the Augustiner brewery and beer garden. Very fun. I also liked the Trumer Pils beer stube in the Salzburg Altstadt, near cafe Tomaselli.

beanweb24

Here's some more info on Bamberg.

http://www.franconiabeerguide.com/

There's something like 13 breweries in Bamberg (10? 13? Can't remember), and they are phenomenal. I actually enjoyed them far more than the breweries in Munich. Since it sounds like you are on a serious beer hunt (as was I), you might want to see if you can squeeze it in.

J_Correa

Definitely second the recommendation for the beer garden in the Hirschgarten. We went to 2 beer gardens in the Enlischer Garden and the one in the Hirschgarten - Hirschgarten was by far our favorite of the bunch. And it is easily accesible on the S-Bahn or the tram. We were in Munich for a week and went more than once

The Andechs beer was our 2nd favorite we tried in Germany and the Andecher am Dom restaurant is great - we sat outside at the tables in front, which was really nice.

Our favorite beer in Germany was a rauchbier from Bamberg - Aecht Scherlenka or something like that. We had it while in Nuremberg.

markan

I've got to agree with beanweb24. Bamberg is the crown jewel of the beer paradise region called Upper Franconia.

The website beanweb has posted a link for is an excellent source of information on all the breweries in Franconia. Here is another cool link to check out.

http://www.bierland-oberfranken.de

It doesn't sound like you have a lot of time to spare but even if you can get to Bamberg for one day/night it would be well worth it.