Destination: Munich

There are a couple places that come to mind when someone says, "Drinking Capital of the World". One place that I can assure you is on everyone's top 5 list is Munich. There is a perfectly good reason for this. Many people believe that the water around Munich is perfect for creating several styles of beer (Hefeweizen, Helles, Dunkel, etc.) As a result, there are a ton of breweries in and around the city, most notably the Big 6: Löwenbraü, Hofbräu, Augustiner, Paulaner, Hacker-Pschorr, and Spaten. Here is an account (in beer, of course) of one day with Lindsey in Munich. 

We had previously done a lot of the touristy sight-seeing things in the city, so we decided to relax a bit. Another bit of advice, if you don't drink just a ton of beer in Munich, you might not deserve to be there. There is no shortage of places to drink in Munich. You could just walk into any bar and get some of the best beer in the world. We decided to go to some of the major beer halls.

12:30 pm: Ayinger

Ayinger is not a beer that your will see too often in the US.  We decided to take advantage of the chance to drink such a wonderful beer. I got a dunkelweizen, while Lindsey got the Hefe. Both were fantastic and the bar was a very bright and pleasant place. Now, most beers in Munich are served in 2 sizes, 1 liter or .5 liter. These happen to be the .5 L variety (wheat beer glasses are generally .5 L). 

 1:00 pm: Hofbräuhaus

Hofbräu has basically become synonymous with Munich. The beer hall (right across the street from Ayinger) has become one of the major tourist attractions. This doesn't mean you should skip it. The beer is light and refreshing and the food is delicious. I got a dunkel and a wurst platter, Lindsey got a Helles and käse spätzle (some of the best stuff you will ever eat). The liter steins go down surprisingly easy and the atmosphere is fun and uplifting.  

2:00 pm: Schneider Weisse

Schneider may have been the most crowded place we went, but the beer was also probably the best. At this point, we had both consumed around 1.5 L of beer. Naturally, Lindsey ordered one of my personal favorites, Aventinus (if you haven't had it and like Hefes, do it) and I got a Hopfenweisse (a collaboration between Brooklyn and Schneider). Neither is particularly light, both in body and in ABV, but both are delicious. You may notice a trend. Beer in Munich is fantastic, it's hard to go wrong. 

 3:30 pm: Franziskaner

This one took us a little longer to find, because it was down a smaller alleyway. It was very nice though, providing us with brezeln (pretzels) to munch on as we both enjoyed our Hefes. Franziskaner is a perfect representation of a German Hefeweizen. Among Hefes, I will choose it almost every time.  

6:00 pm: Paulaner

Paulaner was the furthest place from the city center, fortunately, it was close to our hostel. For the last beer of the day, I got a classic Paulaner and Lindsey went towards the dark Salvator (a dopplebock). Let me tell you, these were hard to finish. When you wind up drinking in the vicinity of 3.5 liters of beer, you get kind of full. Totally worth it though, everything was delicious. Don't forget to eat though. 

Note: The perfect snack while drinking in Munich is butterbrezeln. These are probably the best thing in the whole world. The premise is simple, cut a hot pretzel in half, butter it, and put it back together. It is far more delicious than it even sounds. You don't even need to be drinking, I promise.

See: Delicious!

Munich's motto really sums up the city: "München mag Dich". This means, "Munich likes you". It really does.

If you want me to look at a particular beer, drink, place, or have anything to say to me, email me at monksandmalts@gmail.com. You can send me cool photos too, if you like.