Last summer, I had a work trip to Germany. @Mr. Deez helped me figure out some food and drink as it was my first trip there. He made me promise to post pictures here, so just like I complete work projects - 8 months behind schedule - so do I present these. I flew into Frankfurt that week, landing Monday morning, and hopped into this rental car. Still not sure what a Lynk & Co is. I had to make it to my hotel in Sindelfingen (2.5 hours away) by the end of the day so I planned to stop in Heidelberg to sightsee, eat, and buy some German stuff to take home. This is the Church of the Holy Spirit in Heidelberg. I then bought some candy at Baren-Treff per Mr. Deez's recommendation. Good stuff. And some chocolate here - very good! Then it was off to Heidelberg Castle!
I parked near this as I couldn't quite figure out where to park for the castle. Some castle shots With nice view of the river I didn't pay for a tour as I was getting very sleepy and still had to drive 80 minutes.
Tuesday was my first day with colleagues. We ate dinner here as it was close to the hotel in Sindelfingen. This Polish dude behind me had a liter beer. He finished it. The next evening we all drove to Walldorf, which is a small town, for more work meetings. Cool little hotel called the Astralis Hotel Domizil, where the front desk lady said if you have to check out before 8am, you better catch me the day before. Fun to be in a town instead of a tourist spot.
In the evenings in Walldorf, we walked to the entertainment area. This is where the Mr. Deez crash course on German beer paid off. (Actually, it paid off each night, but this is the only spot I took photos of it.) Yes give me dunkel vom Fass!
Obviously any beer made by the big American brewers is going to suck, because they're massively watered down. But even craft brewers in the US sometimes go wrong, because they assume that simplicity can't be good. Accordingly, they'll make what they claim to be a German-style beer, but they'll often add something or do something to it to make it not like a German beer. They think the real thing is too simple and mainstream for them. Case in point - I went to Oakfire in Belton last weekend. It's a very good wood-fired pizza and craft beer place. I ordered the pilsner. I know what a pilsner is. I'm addition to drinking them in Germany, I've drunk them in Pilzen. They're light gold in colour, fully transparent, light in texture, and typically have more head than a helles (pale lager). They aren't watered down, but they're fairly light in flavour. What showed up was unfiltered (so opaque like a wheat beer), orange in colour, and kinda heavy. Its flavour somewhat resembled a pilsner, but it was much heavier and had an almost fruity edge to it. It wasn't a "bad beer," and I drank it. But it bore almost no resemblance to a pilsner. A dunkel will run into the same problem. The real thing is obviously dark in colour and has that roasted malt flavour, but it's still a lager and is fairly light-bodied. A US craft brewer won't be satisfied with that. He'll probably make it much heavier and amp up the bitterness. He'll assume that just because it's dark that it has to be a heavy stout. Kinda sad in a way, because there's a place for both kinds of beers.
