Calling all beer lovers, calling all beer lovers…

One of our premier suppliers is hosting a 10 day Bavarian Brewery and Oktoberfest Tour, September 17-27, 2014.   We think it is an amazing and unique opportunity to see some of the best that Germany has to offer along with a group of fellow beer enthusiasts.  For this post, we will just cover the very beginning of the tour in Bamberg.

Historic brewpub in Bamberg, Germany

The first night of the tour is in the town of Bamberg, one of the best preserved medieval cities in Bavaria.   There are 9 breweries in Bamberg, with the specialty brew of the area being Rauchbier, a very distinctive brew with a smoke flavor imparted by drying the malted barley over an open flame.  Before modern kilns became common, most malt was dried over an open flame and most beers features some smokiness. Today, Bamberg is one of very few locations where the old-school smoking takes place. Most rauchbiers are medium-to-full-bodied lagers with pronounced smoke & malt character, light bitterness, and minimal hop flavor.  The best known Rauchbier is brewed by Schlenkerla, which operates in a historic brewpub in town.  The building itself dates back to 1405.  After a walking tour of the old town, Schlenkerla is where our tours welcome dinner is held.

The following day, we stay in Bamberg and have tours and tastings at 2 more breweries.  The rest of this day is at leisure, where you may choose to visit the Franconian Brewery-Museum, with its Benedictine brewhouse dating from 1122.  One especially noteworthy place in Bamberg is the Altes Rathaus (old townhall), which is perched in the middle of a bridge above the Regnitz River and is a must-see.

You can find all the details of the full tour along with a registration from at our web page here.  Ein Prosit!