Beer
This page won't be up forever, because I kind of want to get hired someday. Wouldn't have to worry about it as much over there. One night in Luxembourg I sat at dinner with the headmaster of essentially every elementary school in the whole country and he was mad at me for not drinking with dinner. At one point he demanded that I take a drink of his Bailey's and then proceeded to call it a "woman drink".
We tried to have at least one locally brewed beer in every country. Although we failed in France (Paris isn't really known for beer though they do sell Heineken at McDonald's), we made up for it in Switzerland and Luxembourg. The picture on the left is me with my drinking buddies Coutney and Lauren in Switzerland in a bar called "Sport Bar" or maybe "Bar Sport" I don't really remember. The Swiss had just won the semi final to get into the International Hockey Championship the next day so everyone at the bar was in a great mood.
We tried to have at least one locally brewed beer in every country. Although we failed in France (Paris isn't really known for beer though they do sell Heineken at McDonald's), we made up for it in Switzerland and Luxembourg. The picture on the left is me with my drinking buddies Coutney and Lauren in Switzerland in a bar called "Sport Bar" or maybe "Bar Sport" I don't really remember. The Swiss had just won the semi final to get into the International Hockey Championship the next day so everyone at the bar was in a great mood.
Hofbräuhaus
I can't sleep in cars. I've never been able to. My dad assured me that I'd be able to sleep on a plane though because the engine noise is so loud. Nope. So when when our German waiter brought out ten of these to our table I had been awake for about 27 hours and I had spent my last 3 walking around a concentration camp and the city of Munich. The two hour bus ride from there to Dornbirn, Austria was weird. I think I slept for about 30 minutes.
This beer is called Hofbräuhaus and we drank it at the original brewery in Munich. This ended up being the only German beer I drank while in Europe. Over the past decade this beer has become available in a select few parts of the U.S. including Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Milwaukee, and New York. It was good but I really don't remember how good.
This beer is called Hofbräuhaus and we drank it at the original brewery in Munich. This ended up being the only German beer I drank while in Europe. Over the past decade this beer has become available in a select few parts of the U.S. including Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Milwaukee, and New York. It was good but I really don't remember how good.
Mohren Bräu
Mohren Bräu was by far everyone's favorite beer of the trip. This was the only beer we drank while in Austria and we held it as the gold standard when drinking beer in other countries. No other beer was able to surpass it. I'm not going to pretend that I know enough about beer to talk about it intelligently, but this stuff was really drinkable and really flavorful at the same time. The bubbles rose in a way that I've never seen in any other beer.
This beer is brewed in Dornbirn, the little town we stayed at in Austria. I walked passed the brewery a few times but it wasn't really the kind you walk in and have a drink. The company has kind of a controversial past as their logo is the silhouette of a black man with very large lips and the word "mohr" is a racist term in German used to describe people with dark skin. The company claims that there is no connection and that they're really just paying homage to the original brewer Joseph Mohr.
The picture to the left is at a little outdoor restaurant that sits on the shore of Lake Constance in Bregenz. We also had it at a pizza pub in Dornbirn and at a bar called "America Bar". America Bar prided itself in serving Bud and Miller Lite and playing only American Top 40 music. They really got a kick out of a bunch of actual Americans walking in asking for their beer.
This beer is brewed in Dornbirn, the little town we stayed at in Austria. I walked passed the brewery a few times but it wasn't really the kind you walk in and have a drink. The company has kind of a controversial past as their logo is the silhouette of a black man with very large lips and the word "mohr" is a racist term in German used to describe people with dark skin. The company claims that there is no connection and that they're really just paying homage to the original brewer Joseph Mohr.
The picture to the left is at a little outdoor restaurant that sits on the shore of Lake Constance in Bregenz. We also had it at a pizza pub in Dornbirn and at a bar called "America Bar". America Bar prided itself in serving Bud and Miller Lite and playing only American Top 40 music. They really got a kick out of a bunch of actual Americans walking in asking for their beer.
Feldschlösschen
As you can see, there are no beers (biers) in Europe that don't have a diaeresis (two dots over a vowel) somewhere in the brewer's name. Yeah, I had to look that word up. I was especially laughed at the first time I tried to pronounce this one at a bar called Espresso Bar in Grindelwald, Switzerland. While I drank my first one of these there was a small one man band playing on a stage in the corner of the bar who described his music as "Americana". I didn't really hear it. It was easy to tell that English was not his first language and because of that, some of his heartfelt rhymes were hilarious. We talked to him during his intermission and he seemed like a decent guy.
This one was brewed in Rheinfelden, Switzerland. Nothing really special about it. The picture on the right is in the outdoor restaurant at the hotel that the Espresso Bar was attached to. We had it with our pizza lunch after hiking up and down one of the easier trails on the Eiger mountain seen in the background. We all sort of fell asleep at the table afterword and woke up with sunburnt faces.
This one was brewed in Rheinfelden, Switzerland. Nothing really special about it. The picture on the right is in the outdoor restaurant at the hotel that the Espresso Bar was attached to. We had it with our pizza lunch after hiking up and down one of the easier trails on the Eiger mountain seen in the background. We all sort of fell asleep at the table afterword and woke up with sunburnt faces.
Appenzeller Bier
Here's how I think they made this beer: I think five years ago Appenzeller bought a twenty-four pack of Bud Light at a local grocery store because it was on sale. They didn't have enough room in the fridge so they put it in the basement because "It's cold enough down there, right?" Four years later during an unreasonably humid summer they found the case with three beers missing under a stack of TV Guide magazines that they think might be worth something someday. They poured the remaining 21 beers into a bathtub and ladled some out to see how it tasted. They thought it was pretty fantastic, but knew they could perfect it with one more ingredient. That special ingredient was cigarette butts. And thus Appenzeller Bier was born. After straining out (most of) the cigarette butts they put the beer into a keg and sent it off to Bar Sport in Grindelwald where I drank it out of their special glass featuring a rabid black bear. Possibly the worst beer I've ever had.
Rugenbräu
More Swiss beer. We really had no responsibilities for that weekend we were there. So why not? I tried two of their beers actually. Their original lager from the bar and this strange variety from the grocery store called "Spezial Hell". Special hell? That's pretty neat. I didn't really notice much of a difference between them and the Feldschlösschen we drank. Their website has this to say about their lager: "Unser Meistgetrunkenes, für den Stammtisch und den grossen Durst." Google translated this to "Our Most drunk, for the root table and the great thirst." And on the special hell beer they said, "Erfreut sich immer grösserer Beliebtheit. Unser Spezial Bier - das klassisch Herbe in Richtung Pils, besonders beliebt im Offenausschank." Translated to "Enjoys great popularity. Our special beer - lager towards the classic tartness, especially popular by the glass."
The only story I can think of associated with this beer is that while drinking the Spezial Hell in a hotel room I caught a fly out of mid air and swiftly threw it across the room where it hit the wall, then the floor, buzzed for half a second, and then died. I haven't felt like such a badass in a long time.
The only story I can think of associated with this beer is that while drinking the Spezial Hell in a hotel room I caught a fly out of mid air and swiftly threw it across the room where it hit the wall, then the floor, buzzed for half a second, and then died. I haven't felt like such a badass in a long time.
Appenzeller Holzfass-Bier
Oh man, not another Appenzeller. Wait this one is actually fantastic? No way!
The word "holzfass" has something to do with being brewed in a wooden barrel. This ended up being the only dark beer I had in Europe. It was thicker, and had hints of chocolate or coffee maybe. Very good stuff. Hard to compare with Morhen Bräu. I would drink them for different reasons.
This was the last Swiss beer I had at the coolest bar of the whole trip, Bar Avacado. Bar Avacado was started by an Australian man who wanted to have the "least Swiss sounding name possible." Outside of this bar was a four foot tall game of Jenga with foot long blocks surrounded by old wicker chairs and they played obscure songs on the speakers by The White Stripes. The local teenagers who played Jenga with us blamed me for knocking over the tower even though I totally didn't do it.
The word "holzfass" has something to do with being brewed in a wooden barrel. This ended up being the only dark beer I had in Europe. It was thicker, and had hints of chocolate or coffee maybe. Very good stuff. Hard to compare with Morhen Bräu. I would drink them for different reasons.
This was the last Swiss beer I had at the coolest bar of the whole trip, Bar Avacado. Bar Avacado was started by an Australian man who wanted to have the "least Swiss sounding name possible." Outside of this bar was a four foot tall game of Jenga with foot long blocks surrounded by old wicker chairs and they played obscure songs on the speakers by The White Stripes. The local teenagers who played Jenga with us blamed me for knocking over the tower even though I totally didn't do it.
Diekirch
Diekirch is a European lager named after the city it's brewed in, Diekirch. I didn't know this then, but the brewery is actually owned and operated by Anheuser-Busch. It was kind of bitter but it was pretty good.
Gerard, the elementary school headmaster in Luxembourg, had two of these with dinner and claimed it to be the best beer in the world. A girl at my table at one point was trying to explain to Gerard what a "trashcan" is. A trashcan is a popular college drink with way too many things mixed in and way too alcoholic. About halfway through the explanation he interrupted her and asked, "what are you trying to kill yourselves for!? We here in Luxembourg drink to be happy!" I thought that was cool as hell.
Gerard, the elementary school headmaster in Luxembourg, had two of these with dinner and claimed it to be the best beer in the world. A girl at my table at one point was trying to explain to Gerard what a "trashcan" is. A trashcan is a popular college drink with way too many things mixed in and way too alcoholic. About halfway through the explanation he interrupted her and asked, "what are you trying to kill yourselves for!? We here in Luxembourg drink to be happy!" I thought that was cool as hell.
BOFFERDING
The second Luxembourg beer we had and the final interesting beer we drank on the trip was Bofferding. Gerard was pretty mad at me when I told him I tried this the night before. "In Diekirch we drink Diekirch!" he said. I actually drank this in Luxembourg City but was laughing too hard to tell him that. Also, I liked Bofferding a little bit better but didn't have the heart to tell him that either.
We drank this in an Italian restaurant in Lux City. The 33 of us were on our own to find dinner that night and we really wanted to find cool places to eat but all of us ended up back at the restaurant our professor told us he was going to. I had the ugliest plate of lasagna but maybe I only think that because I had been accustomed over the past week to being presented with multiple dishes with stunning presentation. I don't think our waiter liked us Americans very much. The beer made the whole experience a little better.
We drank this in an Italian restaurant in Lux City. The 33 of us were on our own to find dinner that night and we really wanted to find cool places to eat but all of us ended up back at the restaurant our professor told us he was going to. I had the ugliest plate of lasagna but maybe I only think that because I had been accustomed over the past week to being presented with multiple dishes with stunning presentation. I don't think our waiter liked us Americans very much. The beer made the whole experience a little better.