More Touring

Note to readers: I'm in Chicago, getting ready to fly back to Portland in a couple of hours. As soon as I get home, the floodgates will open and I'll be posting pictures of my trip as well as wrapping up the last week of my trip in a couple more posts. Thank you for your patience and interest, as well as your support during this last week of relative silence on my part.
After visiting the Bischofshof Brewery on Tuesday afternoon, our bus journeyed into northern Austria in white-out conditions, with all of us amazed at our bus driver's skills. He navigated the tour bus through switchbacks and small roads with only a couple of inches of clearance between buildings, leaving us in silent awe. We finally arrived at the Beerkulinarium, a restaurant in the small town of Shlagl where we were treated to a five course meal with a beer paired with each course. Besides being one of the best meals of my life, the night was capped off when the pale bock served with dessert had a heated iron rod dipped into it, creating a nice visual and a toasted marshmallow flavor.
On Wednesday morning, we visited the Aldersbach brewery, touring a mid-sized Steineker system and a small brewery museum where their old copper kettles were on display. Despite the tour going well at first, our moods soured when there was no tasting at the end or even a complimentary case for our bus ride. Our instructor told us flat out that a brewer that isn't willing to give some beer samples to a class of brewers is shooting his reputation in the foot. Needless to say, Aldersbach will not be included on the study tour for the next class.
After the letdown at the provious stop, we got the royal treatment at the Weyermann Malting Company in Bamberg. While we weren't allowed to take pictures of their facility, it was amazing to see how it's all produced, from the steeping and germination tanks to the roasting drums. Our tourguide even opened the kilning room door for a few seconds, with a blast of warm air giving us an idea of how hot it actually gets. A delicious dinner followed the tour, and the beers brewed at their pilot brewery were very well made. To cap off the evening, a few friends and I went to a beer bar in bamberg to try some smoked beer. I made it through about a liter before the place closed at eleven, but my bacon breath the next morning would have been much worse had I stayed any later.