Bamberg Pub Guide
(Including Forchheim and Memmelsdorf)
Bars - Beerhalls - Beer gardens

Introduction


Index
Bamberg Pubs
Memmelsdorf Pubs
Forchheim Pubs
Bamberg Breweries
Bayreuth Pubs
Bamberg Beer Paradise
The town of Bamberg has deservedly been given the distinction of a UNESCO world heritage site. It's one of the most beautiful cities in Europe and its architecture alone makes it worthy of a visit. For those of us with an interest in beer the city has an extra attraction: it's the centre of the world's densest concentration of breweries.

Bamberg and its surroundings are a paradise for the beer-lover. This is where the myth of German beer - lots of good-quality, cheap beer - is actually true. Not dozens, but hundreds of tiny breweries continue to brew traditional styles in the traditional way. You'll find more variation here - both in terms of different types of beer and in diifferences between examples of the same style - than in the whole of the rest of Germany. Bamberg brewers aren't afraid to give their beers some individuality, or risk upsetting a few unadventurous consumers.

The standard of Bamberg beer is astonishingly high, especially considering the technical difficulties of lager brewing on a small scale. But this, after all, the home of bottom fermenting and the brewers have had a long time to perfect their skills. It is interesting to note how much fuller-flavoured and distinctive their lagers are than those found anywhwere else in the world. I can remember my first encounter with a Franconian Kellerbier. I couldn't believe that it wasn't top-fermented. Where was that rather dull "rounded" quality normally so typical of a lager beer?

I would like to share the experience of artisanal lager brewing with as many of you as possible. The more of us that go out there and support the breweries in Bamberg and Franconia with our wallets, the more of them will continue to weave their magic. I hope that this page will serve as both an inspiration and a guide to those wishing to experience more of German beer.
 How this guide is organised
This guide is divided into three sections: Bamberg itself, the nearby village of Memmelsdorf and Forchheim, about halfway to Nuremburg along the main railway line.
If you're after yet more Franconian beers (and they are mostly worth hunting out, believe me), "The Franconian Beer Guide" is packed full of handy information. It includes Places to Drink in Bamberg, a selection of Bamberg pubs.

If you're still living in the paper world, "Die Neue Frankische Brauereikarte" by Stefan Mack (Verlag Stefan Mack, 1996, ISBN 3-927868-00-0) is a wonderful celebration of Franconian brewing, as well as containing everything you could ever want to know about all 300+ breweries.

"Bamberg - Die wahre Hauptstadt des Bieres" by Christion Fiedler (2004, ISBN 3 00 013723 8) dedicates a chapter ot each of the 71 breweries active in the city since 1817.



Bamberg Pub Guide
Bamberg Pub Listings

Bamberg
Bamberg, a town of around 70,000 inhabitants, somehow manages to support eleven breweries. The majority are little more than pub-breweries and only one, Kaiserdom, is of a significant size. Their beers dominate, but do not monopolise the town's pubs and bars. The better-known beers from the region (St.Georgen Bräu, for example) are readily available, too.
Bamberg Pubs
Bamberg pubs haven't fared too badly in comparison with those in other parts of Germany, There are still plenty of old-fashioned places to drink. The bars attached to working breweries are mostly the best bet if you're in search of a traditional atmosphere. Some bear an uncanny likeness to a Yorkshire corridor pub - there's a taproom (or public bar) containing the bar counter, with a hatch to serve the corridor behind it. Fässla is a particularly good example of this arrangement.

Fed up with dreary hotel bars? Well, there's no need to endure such bars in Bamberg. Some of the brewpubs double up as hotels. Amongst the many former breweries in the town centre are ones (such as Ringlein) still functioning as traditional inns.

The cancer of careless refurbishment has, of course, also struck here. I have done my best in my descriptions to point out clearly to the reader any victims I have spotted. Thankfully, soulless early-70's bars, so depressingly common in most of Germany, even in Bavaria, are pretty much unknown here.

 Bamberg Beers
Bamberg beer comes in many strengths and colours. With around 50 different beers to choose from, the town should keep tickers busy for a day or two.

Though some of the bottled beers can be tricky to track down in Bamberg pubs. Even in those, such as Fässla, which are basically brewpubs, don't usually sell their full range in the bar. Of course, there is also a carryout department, where they do stock all their beers.

I hope that you will all experience as much pleasure as I have in this very special place..
:

Fränkischen Brauereimuseums (Franconian Brewery Museum)
Michelsberg 10f,
96049 Bamberg.
Tel: 0951 - 53016
Fax 0951 - 52540
Email info@brauereimuseum.org
http://www.brauereimuseum.org/
 
Opening hours: April to October, Wed - Sun between 13:00 and 17:00. (Group tours at other times are possible by appointment.)
Number of draught beers:
Number of bottled beers:
Regular draught beers:
Food:
A museum full of interesting old bits of brewing kit and paraphenalia. It's located in the former Brauerei Michaelsberg, which stopped brewing in 1969.

They offer specialist tours such as Museumsführung mit Bierprobe, where for an extra €9 you get a beer tasting chaired by a local brewer. You can hire out the Museumsgaststube (Museum pub), though you have to provide your own food and drink.
Rating: Public transport:


Café Abseits
Pödeldorfer Str. 39,
96052 Bamberg.
Tel. 0951 - 303422
Fax: 0951 - 9371091
Homepage: www.abseits-bamberg.de
 
Opening hours: Mon-Sun 09:00 - 01:00
Number of draught beers: 6
Number of bottled beers: 30
Regular draught beers:
Food: Snacks, meals.
Specialist beer bars are a bit of a rarity in Germany. It's unusual to find somehere with more than half a dozen different beers and bars tend to stick to the products of a single brewery. Abseits is an exception, proudly styling itself as Bamberg's Ältestes Studentencafé & Bierspezialausschank (Oldest student café and special beer pub). It offers a constantly changing selection of draught beers, beers from most of the Bamberg breweries and other Franconian classics. Some examples are: Hartmann, Brauerei Sauer of Rossdorf and Brauerei Zehendner in Mönchsambach (their kellerbier is a knockout).

Passing on to a physical description of the establishment, it's a simple modern cafe bar in a pink-painted 19th century building, located behind the station. It has white painted walls very sparsely adorned with pictures and very low-kew wooden furniture. There is a beer garden at the rear.
Rating: **** Public transport:


Gasthausbrauerei Ambräusianum
Dominikanerstrasse 10,
Bamberg.
Tel: 0951 - 509 0262,
info@ambraeusianum.de
http://www.haus-mahr.de/ 		 
Opening hours:
Mon - Fri 10:00-24:00
Sat - Sun 09:00-24:00
Number of draught beers:3
Number of bottled beers:
Regular draught beers:
Food:
Bamberg's newest brewery is an out-an-out brewpub (it officially opened summer 2004). Which means that the shiny brewing vessels are on display in the bar.

It's very handily placed in the centre of town, between Schlenkerla, Kachelofen and Alt-Ringlein.

Many thanks to John White for tipping me off about this exciting new development. You can read his description of the brewpub here.
Rating: Public transport:


Brauerei Fässla
Obere Königsstraße 19-21,
96052 Bamberg.
Tel. 0951 - 26516
Fax: 0951 - 201989
Homepage: http://www.faessla.de/
Opening hours: Mon - Sat 08:30 - 23:00,
Sun 08:30 - 13:00 Sun
Number of draught beers: 2
Number of bottled beers: 4
Regular draught beers:
Food: Snacks €4-6, meals €5-8. Beer €1.90 a half litre.
A corner pub with several rooms off a corridor. The style is as usual for brewery taps hereabouts: panelled walls, white pine topped tables, bare wooden floor. It's a little bit folksy, but fairly genuine-looking. A nice touch are the seat backs carved with a design of a dwarf pushing a barrel (the brewery's logo).

Sadly the wooden barrels on the bar are now just fakes: the beer is no longer served by gravity but comes out of disguised pressure taps.

Wandering towards the back of the complex, it's possible to get a glimpse into the brewery buildings and see bottles rattling along the bottling line. It's very obvious that this is the tap of a functioning brewery.

On an early morning visit, it was surprising to see how busy the place was. I just hope the blokes in the Fire Brigade t-shirts were on their way from and not to work.

The building also houses a hotel with 20-odd rooms at fairly reasonable prices.
Rating: **** Public transport:


Privater Brauereigasthof Greifenklau
Laurenziplatz 20,
96049 Bamberg.
Tel. 0951 - 53219
Fax: 0951 - 59599
Email: brauerei@greifenklau.de
Homepage: www.greifenklau.de
Opening hours: Mon-Sat 09:00-23:30,
Sun 09:30-14:00
Number of draught beers: 1
Number of bottled beers: 1
Regular draught beers:
Food: Snacks €4-5, meals €4-7. Beer €1.90 a half litre.
Now I won't pretend that Greifenklau isn't a bit out of the way, stuck as it is in an odd 18th century street snaking along a ridge running out from the town centre. There are rooms either side of the entrance, the larger one on the right also housing the bar counter. With the panelled walls, beamed ceiling and lived-in look, it's like a cross between an English country pub and a beerhall.

The interior is all very pleasant, but outside is the real highlight and why it's worth coming all the way out of town: the beer garden. Sitting on folding chairs under mature trees you have a fantastic view of the forested hill where Altenburg castle perches. Stunning is the only word to describe it. On a balmy Summer evening I can think of few better places to be.

Greifenklau is very much a pub brewery, not supplying draught beer elsewhere. Sadly, the beer isn't anything special and probably my least favourite in Bamberg. The beer garden, however, cannot be highly enough recommended.
Rating: ***** Public transport:


Gaststätte Hofbräu
Karolinenstraße 7,
96049 Bamberg.
Tel. 0951 - 53321
Fax: 0951 - 5190258
Email: hofbraeu.bamberg@t-online.de
Homepage: www:hofbraeu-bamberg.de
Opening hours: Sun-Fri 10:00 - 01:00,
Sat 10:00 - 02:00
Number of draught beers: 4
Number of bottled beers: 1
Regular draught beers:
Food: Snacks, meals.
A stone building that which takes its name from another former brewery. Founded in 1885 as the Bamberger Exportbrauerei Frankenbräu, it was granted the right to call itself Hofbräu in 1901 by Prinz Rupprecht von Bayern. In 1919 it fused with Hofbräu Erlangen to become Hofbräu AG Bamberg und Erlangen. This company was bought by Patrizierbräu in 1972 and the Bamberg brewery on the Pödeldorfer Straße was closed in 1977. The last Hofbräu beer brands disappeared in 1992, when Patrizierbräu was in its turn bought up by Pschorrbräu.

Inside it's a bit posh and looks like they expect you to eat. It depresses me to see how insensitively the interior of such a lovely building can be remodelled. In the Summer you can sit outside and there drinking seems the norm. My stars are for the open-air experience.

The unfiltered beer from the Zehender brewery of Mönchsambach cannot be praised enough. It's one of the best lagers I've drunk. Sadly, my last news from Bamberg reported that this beer was no longer on sale in Hofbräu. I am unaware if this will be permanent.

It has regular live music.
Rating: **** Public transport:


Zum Kachelofen
Obere Sandstr. 1,
96049 Bamberg.
Tel. 0951 - 57172
Fax 0951 - 603898
Opening hours: Mon-Sun 10:00 - 01:00
Number of draught beers: 3
Number of bottled beers: 1
Regular draught beers:
Food: Snacks €4-7 , meals €8-10. beer €2.30 a half litre.
Those of you who know a little German woun't be surprised to learn that this cosy corner pub boasts a tiled coal oven ("Kachelofen"). In the Summer you probably wouldn't notice, as the seating area on the street outside is very appealing on a warm day.

Zum Kachelofen has other attractions, too: it's just around the corner from Schlenkerla and serves the outstanding kellerbier from St.Georgen Bräu. It also sells unfiltered St. Georgen Bräu Weißbie in bottles. Inside, it's much like any of the slightly folksy pubs in Bamberg with its pine tables and red tiled floor. It's more fun outside.
Rating: ***
Public transport:


Kaiserdom Brauereigasthof & Hotel
Gaustadter Hauptstrasse 26,
96049 Bamberg.
Tel. 0951 - 96514-0
Fax 0951 - 96514-44
Homepage: www.kaiserdom.de
  
Opening hours: Fri-Wed 12:00 - 14:00 & 18:00 - 23:00,
Thursday closed
Number of draught beers: 3
Number of bottled beers:
Regular draught beers:
Food: Snacks, meals.
Hotel, restaurant and beer garden close to the brewery but rather a way outside the city centre.
Rating: Public transport:


Kaiserdom-Stuben am Wilhelmsplatz
Urbanstrasse 18,
96047 Bamberg
Tel. 0951 - 980730
Fax 0951 - 202378
  
Opening hours: Mon-Sun 10:00 - 23:00
Number of draught beers: 3
Number of bottled beers:
Regular draught beers:
Food: Snacks, meals.
Kaiserdom's city centre outlet is an attractive stone-faced building close to the law courts. You should note that although the address is Urbanstrasse the entrance is actually on Wilhelmsplatz.

It's disappointingly upmarket, which probably explains the emphasis on food rather than on beer. There are a few interesting bits of old crap scattered around, but rather too many tablecloths for my taste.It is also a hotel.
Rating: ** Public transport:


Brauerei Keesmann
Wunderburg 5,
96050 Bamberg.
Tel. 0951 - 26646
Fax: 0951 - 28486
Email: keesmann@bierstadt.de
Opening hours: Mon-Fri 09:00-23:00,
Sat 09:00 - 15:00,
Sunday closed
Number of draught beers: 2
Number of bottled beers: 5
Regular draught beers:
Food: Snacks €3-5, meals €5-8. Beer €2.25 a half litre.
I've always found the name Wunderburg remarkably appropriate for a 50m long street containing two breweries. The entrance to Keesman is thorough a wide arch, behind which is a stone-flagged corridor. To the left is an L-shaped room containing the bar. A rather unsubtle renovation (early 1980's would be my guess) has left its mark here.

It has the usual pine tables and panelled walls adorned with dead animal skulls, but it's all rather too pale brown and not very lived-in. In the courtyard separating the pub from the brewery is a small beer garden.
Rating: *** Public transport:


Klosterbräu Bamberg
Obere Mühlbrücke 1-3,
96049 Bamberg.
Tel. 0951 - 57722
Fax 0951 - 59294
Email: mail@klosterbraeu.de
Homepage: www.klosterbraeu.de
Opening hours: Thu-Tue 10:30 - 23:00
Number of draught beers: 3
Number of bottled beers: 6
Regular draught beers:
Food: Snacks €3-5, meals €6-12. Beer €2 - 2.10 a half litre.
Klosterbräu (formerly the Fürstbischöffliche Braunbierbrauerei) is Bamberg's oldest brewery, dating from 1533. Around the corner from the pub, on Concordiastraße, is the facade of the brewery, with the name almost totally obscured by climbing foliage. Also on Concordiastraße is the brewery's small off licence.

The pub itself has the usual wide arch (formerly for access to the brewery at the rear) with a room on either side. The larger room to the right houses the bar counter. The interior is very simple but pleasant. You know the score by now: wooden floor, panelled walls, pine-topped tables, beamed ceiling. The same faces keep popping up in the many old photographs adorning the walls, so I would guess that they are of the former owners of the brewery (they appear to be pretty comfortably off). On the street outside there are a few tables for those who like their drinking al fresco.

The food is excellent and the staff very friendly. I can also highly recommend the Schwärzla, a black beer unlike anything else brewed in Bamberg.
Rating: **** Public transport:


Mahrs Bräu Bamberg (Gebrüder Michel)
Wunderburg 10,
96050 Bamberg.
Tel. 0951 - 91517-19
Fax 0951 - 91517-30
Email: mahrs-braeu@t-online.de
Homepage: http://www.mahrs-braeu.de/
Opening hours: Mon-Sun: 9:00 - 23:00
Number of draught beers: 2
Number of bottled beers: 4
Regular draught beers:
Food: Snacks €4-7, meals €6-10. Beer €1.90 a half litre.
If asked to pick an all-round favourite pub in Bamberg, I would have to go for Mahrs Bräu. It has everything: great beer, brilliant atmosphere, characterful rooms and a beer garden. You enter the brewery complex through a gateway which leads into a small beer garden.

The inside of the pub is reached via a wide flagged corridor, which stretches way to the rear of the building. The first small irregular-shaped room contains the bar, where wooden barrels (real ones) dispense beer by gravity. The whole place is pretty rickety and eccentric, but packed with charm. It's obvious that there hasn't been a designer within miles of the place.

Behind the pub building is an odd little courtyard, also containing some tables, bounded by various bits of the brewery. Strangely, a couple of flats have their balconies facing directly onto it. Great view if you're into beer, though I can hardly imagine it's very peaceful.
Rating: ***** Public transport:


Maisel Keller
Moosstrasse 32,
96050 Bamberg.
Tel. 0951 - 14975
Email: maisel@bierstadt.de
Internet: http://www.maisel-braeu-bamberg.de/
Opening hours: Mon-Sun 10:00 - 24:00
Number of draught beers: 3
Number of bottled beers: 9
Regular draught beers:
Food: Snacks, meals.
Unlike most of its rivals in Bamberg, this is most definitely an industrial brewery with a taproom at the front rather than an ancient pub with a brewery at the back. The location, stuck away behind the railway line, emphasises the industrial nature of the enterprise.

The pub's interior has a certain 1950's retro charm that is also quite unlike anywhere else listed here. In addition to the large main bar, there is also a decent sized beer garden. If you're wondering from the above, why anyone would bother coming all the way out here I can give a simple answer: the beer. Maisel's Kellerbier is about as good as bottom-fermented beer gets.
Rating: **** Public transport:


Bamberger Weissbierhaus
Obere Königstrasse 38,
96052 Bamberg.
Tel. 0951 - 25503
Opening hours: Mon-Sat 10:00 - 14:30 & 18:00 - 24.00,
Sun Closed
Number of draught beers: 2
Number of bottled beers: 6
Regular draught beers:
Food: Snacks €4-6, meals €6-16, beer €2.00-2.10 a half litre.
For those unwilling to make the trek out to Maisel's brewery, this is a handy outlet for their beers in the city centre. It's older and more traditional than the brewery tap. Inside it has all the standard features: panelled walls, pine tables and vaulted ceilings. It's all pretty cosy and quite compact. It also houses a hotel, beer garden and a skittle alley.

As an extra bonus, Fässla and Spezial are on the same street not more than 100 yards away. Sadly, the magnificent Maisel's Kellerbier is only available in bottles.
Rating: **** Public transport:


Gaststätte Michaelsberg Benediktinerbräu
Michaelsberg 10 f,
96049 Bamberg.
Tel. 0951 - 56 136
Fax 0951 - 56 124
Email: info@michaelsberg.de
Homepage: http://www.michaelsberg.de/
 
Opening hours: Tue-Sun 10:00 - 23:00
Monday closed
Number of draught beers: 4
Number of bottled beers:
Regular draught beers:
Food: Snacks, meals.
Quite posh pub and beer garden in a former brewery next to the Fränkisches Brauereimuseum.
Rating: Public transport:


Zum Reichelbräu
Judenstr. 5,
96049 Bamberg.
Tel. 0951 - 52798
Fax: 0951 - 9371001
Homepage: http://www.reichelbraeu-bamberg.de/
Opening hours: Mon-Sun 18:00 - 01:00
Number of draught beers: 3
Number of bottled beers: 6
Regular draught beers: Bottled beers:
Food: Snacks €4-8, meals €6-9, beer €2.60 a half litre.
Judenstraße must have been quite a place 100 years ago. In a street barely 50 metres long there were 3 breweries side by side: Zum Baltsenwirth at number 3, Zum Weißbierbrauer at number 5, Zum Polobären at number 7 and Zum Blümlein at number 11 . Sadly, all three belong to the 56 Bamberg breweries to have closed since 1818.

Reichelbräu first became a brewery in 1641. In 1653 it was transformed into the "fürstliches Weißbierhaus" (the wheat beer brewery owned by the ruling prince bishop). It doesn't seem to have done all that well, as in 1818 it only brewed 128 eimers (buckets) of beer - only 2 of Bamberg's 65 breweries produced less and one of those had burnt down. The building was thoroughly - and sensitively - rennovated in the 1980's.

A look at the trendy menu outside could deceive you as to the interior, which is still pretty traditional. It has two main rooms with long wooden pine-topped tables, panelled walls and vaulted ceilings.

The beer range is pretty good, though all the beers (despite their names) come from the Kulmbacher brewery. The food is very varied, including pasta and Tex-Mex.

***** CLOSED *****
Rating: **** Public transport:


Restaurant Alt-Ringlein
Dominikanerstr. 9,
96049 Bamberg.
Tel. 0951 - 9532777
Fax: 0951 - 9532500
Email: restaurant@alt-ringlein.com
Homepage: http://www.alt-ringlein.com/
Opening hours:
Number of draught beers: 4
Number of bottled beers: 1
Regular draught beers:
Food: Snacks €3-6, meals €6-10, beer €2.30 a half litre.
One of Bamberg's many former breweries, Ringlein is a 16th century half-timebered building. As can be deduced from the word "restaurant" in the name, this establishment is quite up-market. That means that its wooden tables have tablecloths. On the other hand, a courtyard to the side and rear houses a beer garden with views of a charming part of the city centre.

The beer sellection is pretty good, including bottled Schlenkerla Rauchbier Weizen. The Ringlas Helles is, I suspect, another Bamberg product rebadged as a house beer.

Ringlein is also a hotel with double rooms at 75-100 euros.
Rating: **** Public transport:


Röckeleinskeller
Laurenzistrasse 30,
96049 Bamberg.
Tel. 0951 - 500505
Opening hours: Open: Mon-Fri 16:00 - 01:00,
Sat-Sun 10:00 - 01:00
Number of draught beers: 4
Number of bottled beers: 4
Regular draught beers:
Food: Food: Snacks, meals.
It's amazing that such an obscure backwater as Laurenzistraat should, until recently, been home to two breweries. Röckeleinskeller may no longer brew, but the brewhouse is still intact and visible from the street, in a building adjacent to the pub. Like Greifenklau, it was founded in the 18th century. It does still have its own beer, with Kaiserdom brewing Röckeleins Kellerbier specially for it.

The pub itself is on the trendy side, but there is a pleasant, shady beer garden at the rear.

I fear that the pub is to be redevelopped into housing.
Rating: ***
Public transport:


Heller Bräu Trum KG (Schlenkerla)

Dominikanerstrasse 6,
96049 Bamberg.
Tel. 0951 - 56060
Fax 0951 - 54019
Email: service@schlenkerla.de
Homepage: www.schlenkerla.de
Opening hours: Wed-Mon 09:30 - 24:00,
Tue closed
Number of draught beers: 1
Number of bottled beers: 2
Regular draught beers: Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier Märzen 4.8% (13.5º Plato)
Food: Snacks, meals.
Schlenkerla is a very "dark brown" pub, with lots of old wood everywhere. The tap room has a very basic bar counter upon which rest a couple of wooden barrels. Happily these are still genuine and dispensing beer without top-pressure. Above the almost black wooden panelling, there are a few old pictures and various dead animal skulls. A beamed ceiling and the usual white pine topped tables complete the scene.

There is a further drinking area in the entrance corridor and a strange semi-roofed courtyard, which houses the off sales counter. Very original and totally charming. It's rightly very popular, so finding a seat can be tricky.

Once you've mastered the strange taste sensation that is smoky bacon flavour beer, try the Rauchbier Weizen. Smoked wheat beer, now that really is weird. Or their Helles a pale lager that uses no smoked malt but picks up the smoked flavour from the brewing eqipment. If you've got the bug, they also make a Rauchbier schnapps.
Rating: ***** Public transport:


Torschuster
Obere Karolinenstrasse 10,
96049 Bamberg.
Tel: 0951 555 08,
http://www.torschuster.de		  
Opening hours: Mon - Sun 18:00 -
Number of draught beers: 8
Number of bottled beers:
Regular draught beers:
Food: Snacks €, meals €. Beer € for 0.5l.
Another specialist beer bar serving beers from different breweries. There's a changing selection of 7 draught beers from Bamberg breweries with another from elsewhere in Fanconia.
Rating: Public transport: Bus 10 to "Domschule" Stop


Brauerei Spezial
Obere Königstrasse 10,
96052 Bamberg.
Tel. 0951 - 24304
Fax: 0951 - 26330
Email: brauerei-spezial@t-online.de
Homepage: www.brauerei-spezial.de
Opening hours:
Number of draught beers: 3
Number of bottled beers: 1
Regular draught beers:
Food: €4-7, meals €5-8, beer €1.90 a half litre
Spezial is an alsolute must for the rauchbier fans amongst you. With no fewer than four different varieties (five including the bock in the Winter) it must be the world leader in smoked beer. It's also very handily placed, directly opposite Fässla.

The building is an attractve, ancient, half-timbered job, with an old-fashioned wrought iron sign (sporting the equally tradtional brewer's symbol of a six-pointed star). You should be able to guess by now what to expect inside: dark wood panelling, long pine tables, animal skulls. In one corner, atop a small bar sit wooden barrels and, yes, these are real ones. Now for some reason this place has always remined me of U Fleku in Pague, albeit on a much smaller scale.

Franconian food of a very high standard is available (I can highly recommend the bratwurst). There is has a very small hotel with 7 double rooms.
Rating: ***** Public transport:


Zum Sternla
Lange Straße 46,
96047 Bamberg.
Tel. 0951 - 28750
Fax 0951 - 2084340
Email: zumsternla@t-online.de
http://www.sternla.de/
 		 
Opening hours: Mon-Sun 10:00-11:00
Number of draught beers: 3
Number of bottled beers: 2
Regular draught beers:
Food: Snacks, meals. Beer 1.80 - 2.10 for 0.5l.
A traditional town-centre pub with a beamed ceiling. It dates back to 1380. It has been owned by Maisel since 1911. A rare outlet for the excellent Maisel beers. There is also a small beer garden at the rear.
Rating: Public transport:


Vroni's Getränkelädla
Luitpoldstrass 29,
96052 Bamberg.
0951 - 302 9367
http://www.das-haus-der-hundert-biere.de 		 
Opening hours:
Number of draught beers: 0
Number of bottled beers: 100+
Regular draught beers:
Food:
Beer shop with 100+ beers. On the road leading from the station into town. A pity that their website is so useless.

***** CLOSED *****
Rating: Public transport:


Bamberg Pub Guide
Forchheim Pub Listings

Forchheim
The town
Forchheim is a town of around 20,000 (lucky) people half way between Nuremburg and Bamberg. Why are the inhabitants so fortuitous? Because they've got four breweries.

This sort of thing impresses me. I grew up in a Midlands brewing town. We thought we were special with Hole's and Warwick's. And there were 25,000 of us. (Hole's occupies a special place in my heart - AK, AK, IPA, kegfiller.)

You could easily believe that Forchheim still has five beweries. Beer is sold under the Brauhaus Forchheim name, even though the brewery was closed several years ago by Wolfshöher Privatbrauerei.

Beer tourists have been well served by whatever intelligence controls the universe (don't want to upset any of you religious types), who has clumped together the breweries and their brauereigaststätte in the town centre.The station, however, was placed by a town planner and is an uncomfortable walk away.

Right on the edge of town is a wonderful place called the "Kellerberg". Basically it's a wooded hillside covered in "Sommerkeller". And the home of the Annafest.

Sommerkeller
Sommerkeller is a beer garden, usually out in a wood.

In the early days of bottom-fermenting natural rock cellars were needed to store the beer through the warm Summer months. Gradually breweries started placing a few tables around the entrance and selling their beer cellar-fresh.

Nowadays there is usually some sort of building - which may vary from a glorified shed to a full-scale pub - on the site.
Annafest
Every July the "Kellerberg" is the site of the Annafest, when, in addition to the beer gardens, the hillside is also covered in a fairground. It's a very popular event. Not something I've seen anywhere else - a combination of beer, trees and rides.*

Many breweries brew a special Annafest beer. In total there are a couple of dozen Sommerkeller with beer from these breweries:
  • Brauerei Greif, Forchheim
  • Brauerei Hebendanz, Forchheim
  • Brauerei Eichhorn, Forchheim
  • Brauerei Neder, Forchheim
  • Wolfshöher Privatbrauerei, Neunkirchen am Sand
  • St.Georgen Bräu, Buttenheim
  • Löwenbräu, Buttenheim
  • Tucher Bräu, Nuremburg
  • Krug Bräu, Breitenlesau
This site gives full detailes of all the Forchheimer Keller.

*
I'm lying here. I have seen this combination. The Riverside Festival in Nottingham had all these elements. Though if I had qualified beer with "good", it would have been discounted. The beer was depressingly awful. I don't quite know how to tell you this. It wasn't my fault. I had no choice. Everyone else was doing it. My brother did it first. He told me to do it too. The pub only sold keg beer. It was all crap. Smoothflow John Smith's was the only ale. It was the best choice. It is Czech. Look - it's a lezak really. No, don't translate it. Don't use the L-word. ...No....no ..... No more excuses, here's the truth. I,. I, .. I...I drank a pint of lager in an English pub. It was my first time. No, the earth didn't move. It fell from beneath my feet.
A personal note is in order here. Please be careful at the Annafest. The rips in my trousers and scars on my elbows bear witness to the hidden dangers of this event. They sell litre steins of around Märzen strength: 13º Plato 5.6 - 6% ABV. I have photographic evidence of my last two hours there, but no recall. The beers are stronger than you think ... and those litre glasses way too big..... Ask Andrew...


Brauerei Eichhorn
Bamberger Str. 9,
91301 Forchheim.
Tel. 09191 - 2379
Fax 09191 - 729944
Opening hours: 10:00 - 23:00
Number of draught beers: 2
Number of bottled beers:
Regular draught beers:
Food: Snacks, meals.
From the ouside Eichhorn looks like a classic German country pub, with its half-timbered facade and wrought-irn sign. Inside it's sadly more 1980's than 1880's. As soon as you spot the tablecloths you realise that this is more of a restaurant than a pub, which I always find odd in a brewery tap. You would expect beer to get top priority.

The hop vines hanging from the ceiling sort of make this point, but not all that strongly. The walls are cluttered with slightly too much old crap, most of which is around a rather obvious squirrel theme. Another pub where most of the charm and character has been modernised out in a disturbingly casual way.
Rating: *** Public transport:


Fränkische Bierstube
Hauptstr. 52,
Forchheim.
Tel. 09191 - 65650
Opening hours: Mon-Fri 11:00 - 15:00 & 18:00 - 22:00
Sat-Sun 11:00 - 15:00
Number of draught beers: 1
Number of bottled beers:
Regular draught beers: Brauhaus Forchheim Pils
Food: Snacks, meals.
Fränkische Bierstube is an attractive old building on Forchheim's main pedestrianised shopping street. It has an unusual painted interior with decorated benches and chairs. There is an old-fashioned coal oven and leaded glass windows depicting scenes of Franconian life. On my visit, it was full of grannies, but perhaps that's just because it was a Sunday lunchtime.

Please note that the Brauhaus Forchheim Pils is actually brewed by the Wolfshöhe brewery.
Rating: *** Public transport:


Brauerei Greif
Sattlertorstrasse 18,
91301 Forchheim.
Tel. 09191 - 72 79 20
Fax: 09191 - 72 79 22
Email: info@Brauerei-Greif.de
Homepage:http://www.brauerei-greif.de/
Opening hours: Mon - Fri 08:30 - 22:00
Tue & Thu closed from 14:00
Sat 09:30 - 14:00
Sun 09:00 - 13:00
Number of draught beers: 1
Number of bottled beers:
Regular draught beers: Greif Hell 4.9% (from wooden barrels)
Food: Snacks, meals.
The Greif brewery tap is a rather dull-looking, plastered building of indeterminate age. You can bring your own food!

Note the weird opening times at the weekend.
Rating: *** Public transport:


Brauerei Hebendanz
Sattlertorstrasse 14,
91301 Forchheim.
Tel. 09191-60747
Homepage: http://www.tangram-online.de/hebendanz/
Opening hours: Mon-Sat 08:00 - 20:00
Fri 08:00 - 23:00
Sun 13:00 - 20:00
Number of draught beers: 1
Number of bottled beers:
Regular draught beers: Hebendanz Export-Hell (from wooden barrels)
Food: Snacks, meals.
The Hebendanz brewery tap is in a half-timbered building with a very high roof (it has 3 floors of attics). It's the middle of the three brewery taps on Sattlertorstrasse and easily the most interesting-looking of them from the outside.

Inside it's a very simply decorated pub - tile floors, wooden furniture, plain white walls. It has a small beer garden.
Rating: **** Public transport:


Brauerei Neder
Sattlertorstrasse 10,
91301 Forchheim.
Tel. 09191 - 2400
http://mon.de/ofr/neder-brauerei.135785/home.htm
Opening hours: Wed-Mon 09:00 - 19:00
Tuesday closed
Number of draught beers: 2
Number of bottled beers:
Regular draught beers:
Food: Snacks, meals.
With Neder the ouside of the pub does not deceive. It has quite a 1950's look and that's exactly what it's like inside, too. On entering the pub what immediately sprang into my mind was the Baker's Arms in Swindon's railway village. An unashamedly postwar look that, while being about as unfashinable as you can get outside of flairs and platform shoes, manages to win you over because its carried out with both consistency and integrity. In the right place even formica can be charming. So, the table tops are very charming, the chairs are wooden and the flooor is stone. The beamed ceiling is one original feature to have been retained.

The layout is typical of Franconian breweries: a corridor with a hatch to the bar in the taproom. Neder isn't exactly at the cutting edge of fashion, but the atmosphere is good and the beer comes straight from oak barrels.
Rating: ***** Public transport:


Gasthaus "Schwane"
Hauptstr. 45,
91301 Forchheim.
Tel. 09191 - 703313
Fax 09191 - 66637
e-Mail: info@die-schwane.de
http://www.die-schwane.de/
  
Opening hours: Mon - Sat 10:00 - 01:00
Sun 18:00 - 24:00
Market Sundays from 10:00
Number of draught beers: 3
Number of bottled beers:
Regular draught beers:
Food: Snacks, meals.
Prices: Beer 2 euros a half litre.
A traditional stone-built corner pub on the Paradeplatz. It has a small beergarden.
Rating: *** Public transport:


Bamberg Pub Guide
Memmelsdorf Pub Listings

Memmelsdorf
Memmelsdorf is a large village just to the Northeast of Bamberg. To get there, take the number 7 bus from Bamberg station. This is Frankenland, so it shouldn't come as any surprise to find a village with two breweries. They're only a few doors away from each other along the village's main street. In the neighbouring village of Merkendorf there are another two breweries.


Brauerei "Drei Kronen"
Hauptstr.19,
96117 Memmelsdorf.
Tel. 0951 - 944330
Fax: 0951 - 9443366
Email: dreikronen@t-online.de
Homepage: www.drei-kronen-memmelsdorf.de
http://www.braugasthoefe.com/gasthof/dreikronen/
Opening hours: Mon-Sun 11:00 - 23:00
Number of draught beers: 3
Number of bottled beers:
Regular draught beers:
Food: Snacks, meals
Drei Kronen is a substantial corner pub with several rooms. There is a small beer garden at the rear. It is also a hotel with 30 rooms.
Rating: *** Public transport:


Brauerei Höhn
Hauptstr. 11,
96117 Memmelsdorf.
Tel. 0951 - 406140
Fax: 0951 - 4061444
Email: info@gasthof-hoehn.de
Homepage: http://www.gasthof-hoehn.de/
Opening hours: Wed-Mon 10:00 - 24:00
Tuesday closed
Number of draught beers: 2
Number of bottled beers:
Regular draught beers:
Food: Snacks, meals.
As you will be able to see from the photo, there is very little Olde Worlde about Höhn. The architecture is unashamedly 1960's and sits a little uneasily with what is in many ways a very traditional brewpub. The materials used are very much in keeping with older pubs - lots of pine, tiled floors - but the resulting effect is a bit bland. It's difficult to find anything either to praise or criticise very much. It is also a hotel.
Rating: *** Public transport:


Brauerei-Gaststätte Leicht
Hauptstraße 27,
Memmelsdorf.
Tel. 0951 - 43910
Opening hours: Thu-Tue 09:00 - 24:00
Number of draught beers: 3
Number of bottled beers:
Regular draught beers:
  • Weismainer Krone Pils
Food: Snacks, meals.
Leicht is in an older building than Höhn, but the interior is a similar modern interpretation of a traditional brewpub. I did find the fish tanks on the bar to more than slightly weird (the only odder feature in a pub that I can recall, is the café in Dendermonde that has a parrot in the toilets).. That apart, it's all a bit dull and unexciting.

It unfortunately ceased brewing in 1999. The beers now come from Weismainer beers from Püls Bräu.
Rating: ***
Public transport:


Update
In late 2002 I received this email from T.G. Fisher about the brewpubs of Memmelsdorf:

I have been staying at the Gasthof Hohn every couple of years since May of 1991. The rooms are much better than their price would indicate. In 1991 and 1993 I found their beer to be below average for small town Germany. In April of 2002 it had much improved. I had a long talk with some local guys there about the ebb and flow of local breweries being bought up by the "big guys." The beer at the Drei Kronen was god-awful (sehr schlecht) in 1991 and 1998. Even the local guys who hang out at Hohn for an afternoon beer shake their heads and laugh when one mentions Drei Kronen bier.

The place that impressed me was the Leicht. In 1991 in was a traditional smokey, crowded and loud German beer hall. And the beer was ausgezeichnet! I closed the place one night with a bunch of locals. A memorable time. By 1998 it had become a quiet little restaurant. Now the Leicht brewery has been bought by a large company bent on expansion. Damn shame. I plan to return to Bamberg, Memmelsdorf and the Hartmann in Wurgau in April 2003.

There are many exceptional places to relax and enjoy beer in Germany. I would recommend Landshut (Wittmann Bier) Ulm (Gold Ochsen and Ulmer) Augsberg (Hasen Bier) but one could spend several vacations in and around Bamberg and not experience it all.


Brauerei Hummel
Lindenstr. 9,
96117 Merkendorf
Tel. 09542 - 1247
  
Opening hours: Mon, Wed-Sat 09:00 - 24:00
Sun 15:00 - 24:00
Tue closed
Number of draught beers: 2
Number of bottled beers:
Regular draught beers:
Food: Snacks, meals.
A brepub with attached hotel.
Rating: Public transport:


Brauerei Wagner
Pointstr. 1,
96117 Merkendorf.
Tel. 09542 - 620
Fax: 09542 - 650
  
Opening hours: Tue-Sun 09:00 - 23:00
Monday closed
Number of draught beers: 4
Number of bottled beers:
Regular draught beers:
Food: Snacks, meals.
A brewpub with several rooms and a beer garden at the rear.
Rating: Public transport:

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