Bamberg: Smoked Beer

Here the famous "Schlenkerla Rauchbier" is being prepared for consumption (by me and my ExcellentSpouse).

This liquid is to real beer as Islay is to single malt. The peaty, smokey flavour is truly delicious (perhaps a slightly acquired taste, but not as much as Retsina, say). Once acquired, the taste deserves keeping current by refreshing with new samples.

There is some theory that monks brewed this stuff because somehow it was OK to drink it during Lent. But we discovered that in Bavaria, beer with ABV < 8% does not count as an "alcoholic beverage" anyway. I photographed the text that explains it all, but the German possesses subtleties that are beyond my own limited comprehension of the language. Help may come soon, I hope.

Bamberg itself is a truly wonderful medieval city, well worth spending several hours exploring. We were making a side trip from Bayreuth, where I was conducting (an experiment), and the train journey takes you through Kulmbach, another place not to be sneezed at in terms of beer.

Our hotel in Bayreuth was next door to another fine hostelry, the Weihestephan, which claims to be the oldest brewery in the world. I don't think this claim can be true. Perhaps it's "the oldest brewery in Bayreuth that brews according to the German Reinheitsgebot", a rather more restrictive description.