The (only?) positive about going through a break-up is the constant urge to stay busy. For me, it's been important to rediscover why I loved living in Karlsruhe for a year-and-a-half before meeting the Freund. Luckily, this weekend made it easy with an array of festivities, with the highlight being the Karlsruher Bierbörse. Bierbörse, which translates to beer market, is a 2o+ year old traveling beer festival in Germany. The event is dedicated to brewers from all over Europe, who serve up their best stuff. This festival is unique as ever beer stand offers tasting samples for €1-4 per 0,1L sample.
The free event boasted more than 50 stalls and over 400 beers to taste. The beer certainly was a bit pricey, but it was exciting to be able to taste beers normally not available in Karlsruhe (and some not even normally in Germany). You could pay anywhere from €4-8 per standard half liter glass. One thing to be aware of at German festivals is the Pfand, a glass deposit. Here the Pfand was €1-3, but you receive it back upon returning your glass. Over the weekend, I tried a honey beer from the Czech Republic, a Augustiner Weizen with banana juice (delicious, especially for breakfast!), a czech grapefruit beer, and several sips of others' beers!
Munich's Lieblings Bier - Auguststiner!
Young's Double Chocolate Stout
Chodovar Honig (honey) Bier
a local cover band, Danny and the Boys
My amazing, silly, drunk friends bought the band a round of drinks to sing and dedicate Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here" to them. It was costly, but epic.
Beer festivals come in all shapes and sizes in Germany, so if you're visiting and looking for a drinking festival, you're certainly not limited to the likes of the world famous Oktoberfest. The Bierbörse took place in fifteen different cities this year.
20 comments
My husband would've been in hog heaven at this beerfest! He is a self-proclaimed beer snob and refuses to drink any watered down lagers provided by mass American breweries. So happy you are staying busy with great friends to keep you company!
ReplyDeleteLooks so fun! I love trying new beers. We went down to Portland for the Oregon Brewers Festival in July and it was awesome!
ReplyDeleteYAY, the ship!! Love that stand :-D
ReplyDeleteAh I'm glad you had fun! I think the same one was here a couple weekends ago - I recognise the pirate ship that I found incredibly disappointing when I found out they *just* had beer... I'm not a huge fan ;)
ReplyDeleteLooks brill! Your blog really makes me want to visit Germany again. We may have to stop there on the way to Italy next year!
ReplyDeleteWeeeee can't wait for Oktoberfest!
ReplyDeleteAhhh, sorry to hear about you and the freund... break-ups are never easy regardless of reasoning :/ That being said, I'm glad you're keeping busy! This beer festival looks awesome, and like you had good company to share it with :) Keep your chin up! xxx
ReplyDeleteI' m not all that adventurous when it comes to beer. I do try local breweries when I travel, but I hate weird beers with strawberry or banana or chocolate or whatever ;-)
ReplyDeleteagreed, it's important to stay busy. looks like you've got it under control and there's like one beer fest a year in dallas and you can bet I'm going to it!
ReplyDeleteThat looks like a great place! I never had chocolate beer! But I do have to say that I am not a friend of Bananenweizen! I can drink three sips and then I have enough of it.
ReplyDeleteTried commenting on the previous post but not sure where it went... Has been happening lately for some reason. So I'll say again, sorry to hear about the Freund, it's not a great boat to be in but I hope you have good people around you. That helps. :)
ReplyDeleteSecond thing: why doesn't this fest come to the Nürnberg area? That looks like wicked fun. Beer tastings are fantastic, and I'm jealous that you got your hands on a Czech beer that I've never even heard of! Well done!
Wow very jealous, huge beer fan ;) Looking like I need to visit Germany this year! x
ReplyDeleteso happy that you're staying busy. And it looks like in the best possible way :)
ReplyDeleteHow much fun!!! Staying busy is a must right now!
ReplyDeleteI'm still trying to get my head around the fact that there were over 400 beers to taste! And a pirate ship... bonus! :)
ReplyDeleteHappy you're staying busy and smiling xo
Thank you so much, Heather. I will have to check my spam folder and see if it got trapped in there. Glad this comment made it through. I'm sure there's one somewhere nearby - you should definitely look into it for next year. Or maybe they just think y'all are too spoiled already with all the beer events in Bavaria ;)
ReplyDeleteStart with the radler, maybe you can learn to like it :)
ReplyDeleteOh lady, I can totally sympathize...thank goodness for beer, amiright?! Sending you hugs!
ReplyDeleteGreat post on Bierbörse! My work travels bring me frequently to Karlsruhe, and I happened to be in town that weekend- a buddy and I write a beer blog in our spare time, post is here: http://goo.gl/x4A33N Having fun browsing your blog, perhaps I'll run into you on a trip sometime- cheers! ~shandy
ReplyDeleteVery cool! Glad you found my blog!
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