One More Road for the Beer: Bamberg.

Our fifth episode is ready, all queued up for your doodads. We're on iTunes, Stitcher, Soundcloud, and most of those things that cast pods. Please enjoy our radio program while you hit the treadmill or walk the pupper or drive to work or stroll to your next pub.

Bamberg is the smallest city we've done so far, and yet -- as always -- there are a bunch of good places we don't mention. Why? Because we like this format of 30 to 40 minutes. It's digestible, just enough time to give you the highest of the highlights for a weekend trip. Mind you, we would like to talk more. Oh we could go on. We're geeks and it would be easy to blather, start drinking beer, belch into the mic. Instead we're trying to be choosy about the info -- while still putting it into context and drawing you a picture, so to speak. Anyway, that's the goal.

With that in mind I want to mention a useful app for getting more out of Bamberg. Fred Waltman's Bamberg Beer Guide is another thing you can put on your doodad, available in the Apple Store and on Google Play. Or there is a website version here. Listen to Fred, he knows.

Meanwhile this is a pretty good introduction. Here's where we go in this episode, and a map:

Schlenkerla
Spezial
Fässla
Spezial Keller
Wilde Rose Keller
Greifenklau
Torschuster
Café Abseits

Also mentioned:
Hotel am Brauerei Dreieck
Keesmann
Mahr's



We have this rad idea for schwag: black T-shirts that say "One More Road for the Beer: European Tour 2019." On the back would be a list of the cities we're hitting. These shirts should be pretty metal, with skulls and whatnot. You'd buy that, right? If only we could afford schwag. Hey, would you like to be an underwriter?

Next week... We're not sure yet. Maybe Amsterdam or Budapest.

What To Do If You Only Have One Day in Bamberg.

My fantasy is to spend a week in that town, someday. So far I've been lucky enough to go there twice, and unlucky enough that each time was a day trip only. Still, a day trip is enough to make an impact. It's enough to permanently etch some seriously fond and wistful memories into your personal history, ready to be recalled at need. That need may come when you sip a certain beer, when you seek inspiration, or when you simply want to brag. Bamberg is a moveable session, you might say.

And so: If you only have an hour in Bamberg, go to Schlenkerla and have two smoked Märzens. If you only have three hours, add Mahr's and (at least) two Ungespundets. If you only have five hours, add a hearty meal and another Märzen at Spezial. If you really have a whole day, use the hike to Café Abseits to clear your head a little between Mahr's and Spezial. (And if you are more interested in sampling a variety of regional beers than local atmosphere, absolutely move Abseits to the top of your list.) Throw in a Schwärzle at Klosterbräu, one more Märzen at Schlenkerla, and stand proudly. If you can.

But no, seriously: You're going to need a week.

Others might add Fässla, or one of the kellers up on the hill, on which you can perch and quaff and look over the town center. All arguments welcome. However, do yourself a favor and skip Ambräusianum. It's simply not in the same league as its neighbors, poor thing.

Ooohs and Ahhhs in Bamberg.

Beer geeks all know about Bamberg, but how do you explain it to more normal folks? Maybe like this: It might have the highest per capita quantity of quality beers in the world. That is to say, it makes many more great beers than a town that size should. Something like that.

Anyway, we were there last Saturday. Part of our farewell tour. And it's a good thing the most memorable beer of the day was so memorable, because I forgot to take a picture. I guess I was too busy enjoying it to bother.

On the way to Mahr's Bräu from Café Abseits — walking through a pretty drab suburban area but with a buzz so pleasant we didn't care — we passed a beer-touring British couple. The Steve Thomas guide poking out of her purse gave them away. So we flagged them down. The long-haired fellow told us to go and order at Mahr's by saying "ah-ooh." The "ooh" representing capital U for Ungespundet — Mahr's unfiltered lager, served via gravity from the keg.

We followed their advice and received our mugs of copper-colored love. Highly quaffable, as if you didn't know, with a nice hairy bitterness and fruity notes that reminded me of orange zest. I had to have another and the rest of the day was a blur.

Thirsty Junior, all of nine months old now, decided not to join us in Bamberg. He stayed with his adopted Swabian grandmother and thus could not have known about Mahr's Bräu. Yet I swear to you, next morning at breakfast, amid his growing repertoire of syllables, he clearly ordered an Ungespundet.

*The photo is of another Ungespundet in town. Very tasty, but not so amazing that I forgot to take a picture.