How do you decide which pubs and breweries to visit when you’ve only got so much time to play with?
A couple of weeks ago we asked a question on Twitter:
This wasn’t an idle query.
In a few weeks, COVID and other circumstances permitting, we’ll be back in Germany for the first time in four years – and we’ve got a daytrip to Bamberg in the schedule.
These days, given our ever-diminishing drinking capacity, we reckon we can realistically only visit a maximum of three drinking establishments.
(Building in a little room for manoeuvre in case we really need a second pint of anything particularly good, or there are any lethally strong seasonal specials on.)
We have been to Bamberg before but, to our astonishment, apparently not for about 14 years. Our tastes have changed, and Bamberg might well have changed, so we needed some up-to-date advice.
Here’s a log of the responses:
| Spezial | 19 |
| Schlenkerla | 12 |
| Keesmann | 9 |
| Mahr’s Bräu | 8 |
| Fässla | 6 |
| Greifenklau | 4 |
| Klosterbräu | 2 |
There were also three votes against – two for Schlenkerla, one for Mahr’s. But that doesn’t change the ranking.
We’re quite pleased with that list, based on our own past experience.
We can’t not visit Schlenkerla, given our memories of previous visits, and how much we enjoy the beer from bottles.
We also fondly remember how relatively hoppy Keesmann Herren Lager seemed. Apparently, its still good.
Then again… that trip out to Greifenklau was pretty special last time.
And can we really turn down the chance to drink a Mahr’s Ungespundet, even though people say that particular brewery is off the boil at the moment?
Just to further complicate things, there are also a handful of new breweries that we’ve never been to. Should we maybe prioritise trying something new over attempting to relive past pleasures?
Maybe the only logical conclusion to this tyranny of choice is to not go at all.
We finally found time to sit down and enjoy the final batch of beers suggested to us by 
Of Herren Pils Joe says:
