Plzen, Czech                   Nurnberg, Germany             Munich, Germany                Prague, Czech                     Brussels, Belgium

Visit this page often to read about the travel adventures of Bill Boli and his wife Nina.  Of course, their travels include searching out the best beers of the world!  Check back soon! Or, read our book!

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May 1, 2008

We've just added Weihenstephan Dunkel weissbier on draft at the restaurant.  I can't wait until you taste this beer, it is delicious!  A "weisse beer" is a beer brewed with at least 60% wheat, along with 40% of the more normal barley. "Dunkel" indicates a dark beer.  Franziskaner Weissbier, one of our all year best sellers, is light gold in color. The wheat used during brewing gives the beer a quenching tartness.  This dunkel has a taste of butterscotch.  Nina and I visited the Weihenstephan Brewery in Germany just one year ago.  Here's our story:

Freising, Germany, just 20 miles North of Munich, is one of Bavaria's oldest towns, and it was founded in the 8th Century. By the 12th Century, under Bishop Otto von Freising, the area had begun a spiritual and cultural boom. Freising, however, was caught in a bitter rivalry with Munich that had repercussions lasting from the 12th Century until the beginning of the 19th Century. Bishop Otto owned a profitable toll bridge over the Isar River until 1156 when Henry the Lion destroyed it and built his own bridge, wrestling control of the lucrative salt route from the bishop and founding his settlement, München. It was Freising that went into decline then as Munich prospered.

     Nearly one thousand years ago Weihenstephan was the monastery brewery of the Benedictine monks.  It is now The Bavarian State Brewery Weihenstephan and surrounded by the comparatively very young Weihenstephan Science Centre of the Technical University of Munich.  In 1040, beer brewing officially began at Weihenstephan. That year Abbot Arnold succeeded in obtaining from the City of Freising a license to brew and sell beer. That hour marked the birth of the Weihenstephan Monastery Brewery. At the doorsteps of the Weihenstephan Monastery, in the year 1516, Duke Wilhelm II of Bavaria issued the Bavarian Beer Purity Law, the Rheinheitsgebot. Since then and still today, only barley, hops and water are to be used in Bavarian beer. He thus founded the world reputation of Bavarian beer.

     When Nina and I arrive by train, we have a crude map to get us from the train station to Weihenstephan Brauerei.  It’s a clear sunny, cool day and looks as if we have about a half hour walk.  Quickly, we are a little fooled by a church sitting high above uson a hill, thinking this was Weihenstephan.  However, being confident in our map reading it seems to be in the wrong place.  So, we head out on our hike to the brewery.  The hike was probably three miles in total, almost an hour.  The route is not really marked well and soon we found ourselves in the middle of a courtyard filled with students from the Technological University.  There was a terrific view above the city, but where is the stuberl (pub)?  We can see stacks of empty kegs and we just wander around.  Our noses take us in the right direction and we find the entrance.

     The stuberl is a nice, woodsy place with several special rooms, many of which are closed, but the main stuberl was open.  Not too many people were there at 2pm.  The room, with great views on one side, was filled with the typical large wood tables and chairs.  We sat right in the middle, hoping to miss nothing.  Nina notices an ad for Vitus Bier on the table, a weizenbock of the season.  She quickly orders one.  I always start with the simplest of choices from the tap and began with the hefeweissbier.  When it was delivered, I had to notice the brilliance of the yellow gold beer with the very white head.  It tasted so fresh and thirst quenching it was a shock compared to what we drink at home.  Nina’s Vitus was a dark weisse, brewed for the season at 7.7%, which was slightly less cloudy than normal.  Vitus is the patron saint of Beer Brewers.  This beer was a Lenten special to help nourish and satisfy the body while fasting.

     While enjoying our first selections, a local walks in, grabs a newspaper, and sits down in the chair next to me, even though ninety percent of the other chairs are available.  Okay with me, but a little odd.  He says no words to the waitress, but accepts a tall weisse beer.  We prost (toast} each other and he starts to read his newspaper.

     We’re ready for round two.  Nina goes for the Korbinian, a doppelbock.  She’s not messing around this afternoon.  The walk up the hill must have made her thirsty.  It’s 7.4%, nice and dark, smooth and malty.  Very delicious.  I step it up to the traditional dunkel bier.  Easy drinking, 5.3%, brown and flavorful.  We are both happy with our beers and are amazed at the freshness in taste.  We sit and enjoy the view of the hillside surrounding us.  Our table companion has finished the paper, two glasses of weisse and is beginning to get frisky. 

     We try to speak to him, but he understands no English, and our German is not going to go too far with him.  He gets up and brings us some Weihenstephan pamphlets from a drawer behind the bar.  I begin to think that maybe he is someone special connected with the brewery.  His beers just keep coming without even the slightest nod of the head.  He starts to tell us stories about the beers and the area.  He is very proud to live in Freising.  He told us the interesting story of Korbinian the Bishop who rode into Freising on a donkey, slayed a big, bad bear and got a great beer named after him.  I don’t understand a word he is saying, but Nina seems to follow along like its a good foreign movie. 

     He takes me outside on a deck, explains, and points out that all the hops and wheat are grown on those hillsides.  He’s a great tour guide.  Our next beers are the dunkel hefeweissbiers.  They are just 5.2%, caramel in color, a hint of butterscotch and goes down easy.  Our local guide, Klaus, has another one or two.  He explains that after four beers he begins to feel drunk.  Good for him, I have a buzz on and have made two trips to the men's room already.  He just sits at the table, talking, drinking, drinking, and talking!

     Later we are all drinking the regular hefeweisse and he gives us an important prosting tip: don’t clang together the bowls of the weisse glass, instead tap the more solid bottoms together.  Less chance of breaking the glass.  Good tip at this point.  It’s time to leave though.  We walk out together, he jumps on a little moped, and off he goes.  Nina and I both make note of the fact that he never excused himself from the table while drinking six 20-ounce weisse beers.  A mighty good session indeed.  As for us, we begin our downhill hike back to the train station.