Last Updated Nov. 2010

I am pleased to announce the publication of the second edition of my book. It has been completely revised and redesigned, and has new photographs and illustrations. The new book tells you everything you need to know about this region, whereas these web pages provide a "whistle stop" tour to give you a flavour of the beery delights and tempt you to order a copy!




Bamberg and Franconia: Germany’s Brewing Heartland. A guide to beers, breweries and pubs. Second edition, June 2010 by JOHN CONEN is available from CAMRA Books (CAMRA Website) Item Number: BAMFRAN, price £9.99 (£7.99 CAMRA Members), Euros 12.99 plus postage and packing, or from the tourist office and bookshops in Bamberg itself. 96 pages plus colour photographs. ISBN 978-0- 9544426-3-7
The attractions of the "beer city" of Bamberg are its nine breweries, which produce over 50 distinctive, full-flavoured beers (including of course smoke beer), characterful pubs and an enthusiastic, dedicated local following for the beer. Bambergers love their beer and the popularity of the traditional taverns or "Gaststätte" testifies to this, as does the mass exodus to the beer gardens (Kellers) in fine weather.

Bamberg is a historic city that was left virtually unscathed by World War 2, and contains many fine old buildings. The tourist office can be found at www.bamberg.info.

Photo of the Old Town Hall

THE FRANCONIAN BREWING TRADITION

Local Beers

In Franconia the standard German offering of draught Export or Pils is usually replaced by one or more of the traditional beers produced by local brewers:
1. Vollbier, can vary from light gold to almost black in colour. Malty with a dry finish, it bears no resemblance to mass-produced lagers found in the UK.
2. "Ungespundet" Lagerbier or Kellerbier, often brewed as an alternative to vollbier. It is unfiltered and is often dispensed straight from the barrel into stone mugs in Franconia’s beergardens (Keller). With a low CO2 content, it is less malty and more hoppy than Vollbier.
3. Bockbier. Bockbier is a seasonal beer, similar to Vollbier, but significantly stronger. The Bamberg Bockbiers appear around Mid-October and lasts until Christmas.
4. Pils. Don't expect the local versions, fine as they are, to match the characteristic dryish, hoppy flavour of North German and Czech pilseners.
5. Weissbier/Weizenbier (wheat beer), from Southern Bavaria is finding its way into the portfolios of many breweries in Franconia. Top-fermented, it's usually available in bottles rather than on draught, unfiltered and sedimented.
6. Rauchbier (smoke beer), is a speciality of the Bamberg area, its characteristic taste is achieved by kilning the malt over a beechwood fire.
7. Märzen. The name derives from the month of March (März in German), the last opportunity to brew beer before the hot summer weather set in and made the brewing process risky. In Franconia the Festbiers, stronger than average beer brewed for Christmas or other church festivals, are Märzen-type beers but the term is also used for a stronger than average beer which is available at all times e.g. Schlenkerla Rauchbier.
8. Schwarzbier (Black beer). Bamberg always had its own “little black beer” in Klosterbräu’s Schwärzla, but "black" beer is becoming popular nationally and others are now following the style. The darkest malts are used but the beer is dark brown rather than black!
Other beers will be found which do not fall into the above categories; they often represent attempts to resurrect beer styles of the nineteen twenties or earlier, before paler coloured beers began to predominate. Names such as Bauernbier (Farmers' beer), Landbier (Country beer), Braunbier (Brown beer) and Alt Fränkisch (Old Franconian) are used to lend authenticity.

Other information on drinking in Bamberg and Franconia.

Dispense of draught beer. The local brews are of the bottom-fermenting, lager type and are filtered at the brewery and sent out ready to serve. A variety of dispense systems is used, but it is often possible to find beer dispensed straight from the barrel, particularly at the Kellers or beergardens.
Measures. A half litre (Seidla) is the usual measure in Bamberg and Franconia - ceramic mugs are used in the Kellers and the beergardens, where they help to keep beer cool in hot weather. .
Opening hours Most traditional pubs tend to open and close early, whereas young people's pubs and music bars do not open until early evening and stay open until the early hours. Many pubs have a Ruhetag or rest day and some close for an annual holiday, or for religious holidays. Check before making a special journey!
Some other information about the region can be found on the following website:
Bier-keller.de

Michaelsberg - location of the brewery museum.

The Franconian Brewery Museum was set up by a group of professional brewers in 1984 "out of love for the brewing tradition". It occupies the renovated historical vaults of the former Benedictine Abbey on the Michaelsberg in Bamberg, where brewing was taking place as early as 1122. Besides historical equipment acquired from local breweries, maltings and equipment manufacturers, there are displays covering the whole of the malting and brewing processes.
Open April to End October, 1pm to 4pm Thursday to Sundays. Parties by appointment at other times, English-speaking guides can be arranged. Telephone Bamberg 53016.

BAMBERG'S BREWERIES AND THEIR TAPS

OTHER RECOMMENDED BAMBERG PUBS

ALT-RINGLEIN

BUGER HOF

CAFÉ ABSEITS

ENGLISCHER GARTEN "ZUM BOCKSER"

EULENSPIEGEL

GRIESGARTEN

KACHELOFEN

PELIKAN

STÖHRENKELLER

WEINSTUBE PIZZINI

RECOMMENDED KELLERS AND GARDENS

In Franconia the term Bierkeller or Sommerkeller causes confusion to foreign or North German visitors. It is used not to describe a cellar bar under a pub, but the beer gardens that open on the hills outside towns in the summer months. It originates from the time when beer was brewed in the winter months and stored or lagered in cool cellar caves in the hills for summer consumption. Establishment of a pub with a tree-shaded garden to serve beer at the Keller was a natural development. At most Kellers you can bring your own food, and an early evening picnic at a Bierkeller is a popular outing for Franconian families. The following are some of Bamberg's most original and attractive Kellers and gardens. Generally they are open from May to October in fine weather only.

BOOTSHAUS

MAHRS KELLER

SPEZIAL-KELLER

WILDE ROSE BRÄU KELLER

See Also - Or go back to(Back to Beer Index Page)