Sample Chapter: Leipzig

November 19, 2015 by Tupper Leave a Comment

This is a sample chapter from “Drinking In the Culture.”

Quick orientation

Leipzig’s magnificent old Hauptbahnhof claims to be the world’s largest in floor area. It boasts 24 platforms and a dizzying amount of modern shopping mall. At the northwest edge of the old town, you can get from there to pretty much anywhere you’d want to go in the city by tram, bus, or the spanking new underground S Bahn City Tunnel.

Welcome to Brauerei an der Thomaskirche

The shape of the town roughly resembles a not-quite- inflated beach ball. The station was built in 1915 by two railroad companies; each got its own identical entrance. Exit from either one, and the old town lies in front of you to the south across a large expanse of tram lines and an even larger park, Willy Brandt Platz. Cross the park and keep walking away from the station, and you’re in the town cen- ter in less than 10 minutes. You can get to the spectacular Neues Rathaus on the other side of the old town in less than 20 minutes if you don’t stop to drink.

Station breaks

The multi-leveled and very modern shopping area that fills the Hauptbahnhof will sell you almost anything—except an interesting beer. Unless we’ve missed a hidden gem, here are your limited options.

There’s a small pils bar opposite Gleis 8 offering a light and dark Hasseröder from nearby Wernigerode and some international brands of draft, in a haze of cigarette smoke. To escape its smelly confines, cross Willy Brandt Platz in front of the station and head into the city center on Nikolaistrasse. On your left and down a set of stairs is the King’s Head English Pub (Nikolaistr. 40), which has Newcastle and Guinness and a few others on tap. We found it dark and gloomy, but others might call it atmospheric. It opens at 6 PM most days. On our last trip it was “closed for remodeling.” Goodness knows it could use it, but we’ve encountered too many “temporary” closures that never reopened to be confident about this place. For a more German experience, continue just past our three-block limit to the Gasthaus Alte Nikolaischule; see below.

We try to stay away from America when we’re not in America, but if you’re homesick, the Champions bar in the Marriott cooks up a good burger and you can wash it down with U.S.-style pitchers of Krostitzer Pils or Schwarz. For other options, walk past the Marriott headed into town, jink right on Brühl and then left onto Reich- strasse, and you’ll find a series of bars, all modern and all pretty dull. If you have the time to walk a little farther, skip all of these and head for the Brauhaus at the Thom- askirche. Several trams will take you there easily and the S Bahn drops you at the market in less than five minutes.

Read the entire chapter

Thanks, Chris Elliott:

Chris Elliott provides a wealth of useful information for travelers in his Washington Post column and other publications. This week he included us in his article which you can read if you click here. His article talks about our time in Bologna- and you can read more about the beers there by clicking here.

Meet the Tuppers: We hope there will be a strong beer tasting at Mad Fox again this year. Stay tuned.

NOW PLAYING: on Beer of the Day— Our list of the some great beers to start the New Year.

>>>>>Scroll down below this entry to find the featured beer of the day.

At Pub 27 in Pompeii

Cellaring Beers: Otter Creek Russian Imperial Stout — Middlebury, Vermont At Four Years From our “Vault”

Date: February 18, 2018

The Story— Otter Creek has been brewing good craft beer for decades, so it’s not a bad brewery to drink during the February Flagship month. An Imperial Stout isn’t anyone’s flagship, but the brewery is a veteran worth celebrating in this time of a dazzling array of newcomers.

We’ve had this beer twice when fresh and it was an exceptionally good example of the style both times. The better of the two was a glass of draft at the Northern Virginia Beer Festival in 2009. Despite the fact that there are far more beers on the market today, some of the great beer festivals have given up the ghost. The Northern Virginia festival was one of the best– spread out on a hill in the Bull Run Park, it reminded us of some of the rural German beer festivals. Our notes then showed a HUGE roast– very dark with chocolates. Hops! sugar and a deep dark finish. Creamy yet balanced. There was something in that draft that didn’t make it to any of the bottles we’ve had, but the bottles are still special and this four year old bottle was at least as good if not better than it was when it was fresh.

The Beer—Ash and rich dark malt. Sweet with soft and even milk chocolate. Even and rich and dark. Creamy with dark malts with echoes of vanilla and bakers chocolate and very even from start to finish. Acrid edge has dissipated almost entirely. Ellie like the super dark roast with an unctuous feel with much less chocolate than I found.

We also tasted an Imperial Series version in a big bottle, but it was far less smooth. Ellie found it more tart, which really isn’t appropriate for the style.

Value — Good to very good if you have the patience to let it sit in your vault.

Values: “fair” is a good beer at an above market price, “good” is worth the money, “very good” is a bargain, and “excellent” is a steal.

In February, we’re digging into our legendary “vault” where we’ve been storing hundreds of bottles of beer waiting for the right time to taste them (or sell them for charity). The charity market has slowed, so we’re working through them in front of a fire and finding some disappointments, but more very surprising delights. You can find the full list –eventually– here on this “index post.”

We’re often asked to share our tasting notes on over 33,000 beers; this blog is in answer to those requests. Not all our notes, though. The great beer writer Michael Jackson admirably followed the Thumper Rule, and we’ll try to do the same. (“If you can’t say something nice, don’t say nuthin’ at all.”) All the beers we post are from the top half of our ratings and most are from the top quarter. Of greater value, we think, are the stories behind the beers, and we try to give you enough about the brewery, the style and the places to find great beer to help you on your own beer journeys. At CulturAle Press we try to write books and publish posts that will help you “Drink Well and Travel Safely.”

More Beer Reviews

CulturAle Press

Travel Book for Beer Lovers

Sample Chapter: Leipzig

Quick orientation

Welcome to Brauerei an der Thomaskirche

Station breaks

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