More Sights

I’ve visited a lot of Munich in the past week, including a few beer halls and other locales. The Hofbrauhaus was just as advertised—three beers available in a huge place with lots of space. The fact that our waiter was Indian and male detracted from an already traumatizing experience that occurred when our party of thirty (most of the class) was cut off until we could pay the bill for the first two rounds of beer and food. Overall, this was my least favorite beer hall.
The Hirschhgarten was a little more authentic, but it’s reputation as the world’s largest beer hall was entirely based on overflow table space in the park that shares its name. During Oktoberfest, the place has outdoor tables as far as the eye can see, but visiting in early November meant that it was running on one cylinder for the off-season. The food was good, but the dark beers tasted metallic and the light beer was very sulfurous.
Last Friday, my roommates and I met a big group at Lowenbrau for dinner, and the beer was much better in general. I had a Franziskaner Hefeweizen and a Triumphator, and they both were memorable. Afterwords, I was able to swing by Schneider Weisse on the way home for an Aventinus, taking a long time to drink it before amazingly finding my train home just before the door closed on me.
My favorite beer hall that I’ve visited so far was the Agustiner Keller, with the combination of great food and a good selection of beer choices. For being located in the center of Munich despite being relatively small, it sure demonstrates that the biggest places aren’t always the best.
As for class, we have been learning more about the sensory perception of beer, and why certain tastes can be traced back to the raw ingredients used in the process. We are today filtering the beer that we made last week with a plate and frame filter with diatomaceous earth, so it will be interesting to see how difficult it is to balance the clarity and speed of the process. The perspectives of our German instructors are slightly different from our Chicago lectures, but their expertise in the field far outweighs any cultural or philosophical differences they may present.
I’ve had a bad sore throat for a couple of days, but it’s starting to get better and I’ll try doing something fun tonight after class. (Note: My Germany pictures are having trouble loading over the long distance, but I’ll find a way to post them soon.)