Nancy & Ross

in

Bierland Franken

Franken is the northern part of Bayern (Bavaria) in Germany. But, just as Bavarians do not consider themselves "German", the Franks are certainly not Bavarians.

"Gott Sei Dank, Ich bin a Frank" is a popular sentiment!

This is especially true the further north and east that you go into Franken.....the north-east third, known as OberFranken is fiercly independent and different. For one thing they not only have the best beer in the world, but also the greatest per-capita density of breweries in the world!

There are still over 300 independent breweries in Franken, from the national-sized ones like Maisel's in Bayreuth down to those that only sell their beer in their own guesthouse. And the variety in beer is huge, even though it is all brewed to the Bayerisches Reinheitsgebot of 1516: only hops, malt and water are used. Even the Hefeweizen runs from the true Maisel's Hefeweizen all the way through the pale yellow, banana-flavoured variety (e.g. PulsBrau in Weissmain) to the clove/banana of the Weizen further west in the Spessart. And in Bamberg, the centre of brewing with almost 100 breweries in the county, you can even find smoked Hefeweizen from Brauerei Schlenkerla and Brauerei Spezial.

After living for 7 years in this heaven on Earth, Ross moved to the USA at the end of last year. But we were able to return for a holiday in June 2001, to walk from brewery to brewery across Franken. Here are some of the in-focus pictures!

Many small breweries only make one type of beer for most of the year. A few breweries around Bayreuth, including Brauerei Fichtel in Waiglathal make "AltFrankisches Dunkles".

Fichtel make, in my humble opinion, the best example of this sweet and malty beer.

Ungespundetes Lagerbier is a very bitter, often strongly-hopped, unfiltered beer most common among the group of breweries south of Bamberg. A classic example is that from Lowenbrau in Buttenheim.

In the background you can see the wall of the brewery next door, St Georgen, famous for its "Kellerbier", a much darker thicker brew.

I have no idea how these two breweries have managed to avoid cross-infection between their yeasts!

St. Georgen in Buttenheim

Collaboration, even between larger breweries like Lowenbrau and St Georgen, is critical for their survival.

Then there are the many examples known as "Landbier" or "Vollbier" - malty lager beer, lightly hopped, and designed to refresh and feed the farm-workers.

Herr Georg Seelmann, the Braumeister of Brauerei Seelmann in Zettmannsdorf in the Steigerwald west of Bamberg calls his beer "Export" but it is an excellent example of a Landbier.

We visited the Brauereigaststaettte at 10am on a baking-hot day, and we can testify that Hr. Seelmann's beer is just the thing to refresh you!

Brauerei Seelmann is relatively young - not yet 400 years old.

Despite their great differences in flavour, colour and malt content, all of these varieties are made solely from Pilsner malt; I asked several Braumeisters about this and was quite surprised.

Most of the malt used in Franken comes from the great Malzfabrik Gebr. Weyermann. The maltings are located at the north end of the railway station in Bamberg.

Excellent simple food in large quantities is an essential part of the welcome at many breweries.

On the left, finishing the excellent Lagerbier after a lunch of Brotzeit (bread, cheese and cold meats) at Brauerei Thein in Lembach.

And above, the aftermath of an enormous lunch of roast ox and Kloss at Brauerei Wernsdorfer in Schonbrunn - we were lucky to arrive during Karwa (church festival) which means the food was even better than normal and the beer was extra-strong too. No pain walking that afternoon!

Another thing that is large are the open fermenters - this is an 8,500 litre example in the Brauerei Museum in Bamberg.

The museum is full of old brewing equipment, including the fore-runner of the panty-hose filter (below) now so popular with the home-brewer!

And a complete model brewery. I estimated a 1gallon brew-length!

Lastly, there are approximately 330 active breweries in Franken (in 1990 there were 380). The definitive guide is The "Frankisches Brauereikarte" by Stefan Mack, which comes complete with a "map of heaven".

The author of this web page has only managed to visit and sample beer in 210 of these breweries. A long way to go before I catch up our friends Paddy and Chris who have visited more than 320.

Zum Voll!