Ruhr towns apart from Koln/D'dorf?

In article , bruce snipped-for-privacy@my-deja.com writes

I spent a summer in Solingen in my late teens and have fond memories of it. It all depends on what you want, we stayed in Gräfrath where the German Cutlery museum is/was and Wuppertal with the suspended railway is just up the road, and the beer wasn't bad either.

Mike

Michael Swift a écrit :

I'll second Wuppertal ( drunk there some Schwelmer Alt, IIRC, and it wasn't bad at all), with teh suspended railway and Friedrich Engel's house, a nice little museum nowadays.

Another City I'll recommend visiting on the Way to Köln is Aachen, quite a few beery places, some alternative cafés, and a magnificient cathedral.

Cheers !

Laurent

Muenster definitely, for the Pinkus Mueller brewpub and restaurant. This place brews the only Altbier the same colour as a Pilsener which I have yet come across.

Thanks for all the suggestions.

What do people here think about these two towns in NW Germany, both originators of massive brand names in beer?

Hamburg -- home of Holsten Bremen -- home of Becks

What's Becks/Holsten taste like on their home patch? Bruce

Aachen is a lovely town, but I'd not consider it particularly beery; it doesn't even have its own brewery any more. However, in going from Hamburg to Düsseldorf via train, one would have to make a considerable detour to get to Aachen. In fact, one would have to continue on to Cologne/Köln and change trains to go to Aachen.

It's an unusual Altbier in more ways than one. It also undergoes a lactic secondary fermentation to give it a touch of sourness, a bit like a Berliner Weisse, but not quite as sour as one of those. The brewpub also makes a variety of interesting beers, and does a sort of mixed beer and fruit-syrup concoction that's quite refreshing.

Dortmund isn't necessarily a must-stop any more; it might have been once, but the brewery consolidations that have take place there have decimated the industry. In spite of this, there are still a couple of interesting brewpubs, Hövel's Hausbrauerei and Wenker's, both in the city centre. If you've got the time, they're each worth a session.

Are the versions of Holsten band Beck's sold in the UK brewed in Germany, or are they license-brewed in the UK?

If the latter, you might notice more crispness and hop flavors in the German version. If not, you'll simply notice that the German versions are a bit fresher, particularly when served on tap.

-- dgs

The Holsten is OK in Hamburg, but it has (or at least had) serious competition. Arguably the most popular beer in Hamburg is Astra, brewed by the people who own/owned Jever. The best of the bigger ones though is Ratsherrn Pils, very nice beer, if it's still around.

The place not to miss, though, is the Groninger brewpub on Ost-West-Strasse. A cavernous cellar of a place, whose house brew reminds me very strongly of what Czech beers used to taste like. Lovely stuff!

Just got back from a railway holiday there ... so very little beer. However, did go to the Wuppertal Brauhaus (by the Rathaus) which is in an old smimming baths. The helles and dunkels were both very good (must admit I preferred them to the Koln kolsch). Further down, the Bonnsch brewpub in Bonn does a good helles, though the weiss was a little thin. Probably not worth the journey down from where you're going.

Cheers

Mark