Tag: biergarten

Categories
london

Stein's, Richmond

We finally made it to Stein’s, a beer garden which offers a slice of Bavaria in Richmond, in south west London.

There is good Klarheit with the unorthodox rules up on the shack, in the menu, and anywhere else there’s a flat surface to pin them.  It’s still confusing for lots of punters, though: you can’t drink without eating, so you need to buy food, order the beer at one serving hatch, and then collect it at another.  This is clearly a carefully calculated business model designed to deliver the atmosphere of a particular kind of beer garden in “binge Britain”.  This is not a place you come to get very drunk.  There are even signs asking you not to shout or sing.

The food is standard beer garden stuff, but pricey for what it is (cheap rubbery Bratwurst, mostly) but, really, you are paying for a fabulous view of the Thames and the authentic German atmosphere.  The beer is probably the least convincing bit — Paulaner Helles, and not as fresh as it might be in the Englischer Garten at that.

You won’t come here if you’re a beer geek, but if you are a beer garden geek, it’s about as good as you’ll get in London.

Categories
Franconia Germany

The perfect beer garden

biergartensign1

We’ve been to Würzburg before, so our recent trip wasn’t really an opportunity for trying new beers. Instead, we set out to enjoy some old favourites in the most beautiful beer gardens we could find, taking advantage of the sunny weather we always seem to find in Franconia.

In five days, we made our way round quite a few, and came to a couple of conclusions about what makes a really nice beer garden so good for the soul.

First, it must have a canopy. Parasols are one thing, but tall, old trees are best. It should feel like a forest — going back to nature, but with a comfy chair, a pork dinner and waitress service. All that green is so calming.

Secondly, it has to be reasonably sized. Two tables crammed into a back yard does not a beer garden make (we visited one in nearby Ochsenfurt that was, despite the sign,  exactly that). You need room to stretch your legs.

And finally, there must be other people there. A beer garden is nothing without the hum of conversation. A good beer garden is social, but also somehow private. You can hear people talking, but it’s hard to eavesdrop on the particulars.

Sadly, those are things which we’ve yet to find anywhere handy in the UK. No-one in London can afford the land to do it properly, and trees take a long time to grow.

Categories
Franconia Germany homebrewing recipes

Eppingwalder Pils

eppingwalder

We’ve had a bit of success making lager in the past. As long as you don’t set your sights on recreating the clinical purity of the mass-produced products — if you’re happy with a bit of Czech or Franconian fruitiness — then it’s more than possible to come up with something decent in your kitchen at home, with only the wishy-washy English winter and a cluttered garage for cold-conditioning.

Our most recent effort was supposed to be a clone of Pilsner Urquell (pilsner malt, Urquell yeast, Saaz hops) but turned out to be a cloudier and a little sweeter. Drinking it in the sun, we were taken back instantly to the beer gardens and halls of Nuremberg, Wuerzburg, Bamberg, Augsburg and… well, you get the picture.  It was rough around the edges but very alive. We’re chuffed to bits and will be drinking it all summer, if we can make it last.

Categories
Uncategorized

Our own idyllische biergarten

idyllischebiergarten

Today was the first day it’s seemed warm enough in London to sit outside with a beer.

So, we set up our own ‘idyllische biergarten’ (we saw that written on a road sign in Germany and liked it) and pretended we were on holiday.

We drank our own attempt at Pilsner Urquell and bottled Bernard Dark from stone krugs; ate very convincing bratwurst from our local butcher; and reminisced about our various beery holidays in the shade of a parasol. The stack of beer mats in the photo is a key part of the whole tragic fantasy.

Don’t mock. It makes us happy.