Bavarian Christmas Interlude 2018, Wednesday: A sensory overload of Munich history and beer.

Diana and I visited Bavaria (Munich and Bamberg) just before Christmas. Prior to departure, there was a series entitled Munich Tales 2018. This is the second of seven installments summarizing what we did, saw, ate and drank. They're being back-dated to the day we were there.

Previously: Arrival and ample Christmas marketeering.
Next: An excursion to my beloved Bamberg.

Wednesday began with a walk, and somehow the walk lasted almost the entire day with two beer stops in between. In effect, we were viewing Munich's centuries prior to World War I, which prompts a useful reminder: Bavaria was an independent kingdom until German unification circa 1871, and even after this, the Bavarian royal family remained intact until 1918.

The Kingdom of Bavaria (German: Königreich Bayern; Austro-Bavarian: Kinereich Bayern) was a German state that succeeded the former Electorate of Bavaria in 1805 and continued to exist until 1918. The Bavarian Elector Maximilian IV Joseph of the House of Wittelsbach became the first King of Bavaria in 1805 as Maximilian I Joseph. The crown would go on being held by the Wittelsbachs until the kingdom came to an end in 1918.

Our walk went something like this.

1. Hotel to Hauptbahnhof to Königsplatz, or King's Square, built in the 19th-century according to neoclassical design. Munich's arts and museum quarter begins here.

2. To Odeonsplatz via Briennerstrasse, stopping first at the Christmas market at Wittelsbacherplatz (the equestrian statue is Maximilian I).

Odeonsplatz was built in the early 19th century on the site of the Schwabing Gate, to serve as the starting point of a royal route along what is now Briennerstrase, from the Residenz (winter palace) to Schloss Nymphenburg (the summer palace).

When World War I began in 1914, huge crowds gathered at Odeonsplatz to hear the announcement. Much later, historians examining photos of the occasion found Adolf Hitler in the crowd.

3. Next, Hofgarten Park and the adjacent Residenz (and another Christmas market in the courtyard there). Of personal importance to me is the building to the rear of the Hofgarten, now called the Bayerische Staatskanzlei. The domed section in the middle originally was part of the Bavarian army museum, constructed in 1905 and largely destroyed during World War II. In 1985, when I visited Munich for the first time, it was a ruin, and I was absolutely fascinated by it. The new building dates from 1989-1993; the central dome was preserved, and modern glass and steel wings added on both sides.

The Christmas market tucked into the Residenz was a delight. Observe the cow's udder method of applying mustard and ketchup to delectable grilled sausages.

4. To Marienplatz and Viktualienmarkt and a second round of perusing the Christmas markets there.

5. For lunch, to the amazing Schneider Bräuhaus restaurant. Prior to the war, the wheat ale specialist brewer Schneider was one of the major players in the Munich brewing scene. It was destroyed by bombs, and production moved to Kelheim on the Danube, where the family owned an intact brewery. The restaurant was rebuilt, and I'd just as soon patronize it as any of the other Munich brewery restaurants.

6. To Isartorplatz, then the Deutsche Museum, then a brief walk along the Isar River. The reconstructed Isartor (Isar Gate) was one of the main gates to the city in medieval times. The nearby Isar River rises in the Tyrolean Alps and flows through Munich in route to its junction with the Danube. In recent years, substantial progress has been made toward restoring the Isar's natural condition, and making it suitable for bathing in summer.

7. To the Platzl, a small square disproportionately famous (infamous?) for the presence of the Hofbräuhaus am Platzl.

The Hofbräu brewery is an anachronism. It began as the royal court brewery, and to this very day is an arm of Bavarian government. We took a walk-through of the Hofbräuhaus, which was a veritable zoo of humanity; we might have gone upstairs to the more civilized dining area, but Ayinger has maintained a presence on the Platzl for many years, and the Wirtshaus Ayinger am Platzl was a far safer haven for contemplative beers and snacks.

Devotees of the Public House will recognize the concept of the Anstich keg, hauled atop the counter, tap applied with mallet, and poured by gravity feed. Of course this was the way it was done every day for centuries, and remains the daily custom at places like Schlenkerla in Bamberg. At Ayinger am Platzl, as at numerous other establishments in Munich nowadays, there's a daily 5:00 p.m. tapping, with the unfiltered golden lager being poured into the stoneware.

It was delicious.

8. Now well after dark, we concluded the day's eight-hour, seven-mile hike by ambling back to the Hauptbahnhof, cutting through it and south to the hotel.

I remember sleeping very, very well.

THE BEER BEAT: Cincinnati area lagers during Reds baseball on Thursday, June 8. I hear they serve Bud Light at Louisville Bats games.

On Thursday, the Cincinnati Reds hosted the St. Louis Cardinals at Great American Ball Park.

For me, day baseball is the bee's knees, and I gratefully accepted Mark's invitation to join him and Graham for a 12:35 p.m. "getaway game" (afterwards the Reds were to fly to Los Angeles to begin a road trip). The Reds won, completing a rare home sweep of the Cardinals.

We parked in Newport on the Kentucky side, just a block away from the Hofbrauhaus. After a delicious Schwarzbier and pretzels in the Biergarten, it was a 25-minute walk across the Purple People Bridge to the stadium.

Thursday was a humidity-free afternoon, with temperatures in the mid-70s, variable cloudiness and a breeze here and there. Just glorious for baseball.

Admittedly I didn't undertake a meticulous examination of the beer selections at Great American Ball Park. Therein lies a digression.

Honestly, 15 years or more spent highlighting the myriad deficiencies of Louisville Bats management with respect to generally truncated local "craft" beer prospects has worn me to a nub. It's been at least three years since I bothered attending a Bats game for precisely this reason, and I can't be bothered to so much as complain.

Philistines then, now and forever, but look -- new for 2017!

Craft Beer Friday

New for 2017! Enjoy your choice of a variety of regional, local and national craft beers located at the Craft Beer Friday portable on the main concourse behind section 127. Each month will feature a new craft beer.

How very avant-garde of them. Next thing you know, Bats management will admit to the existence of iPhone selfies and have a special commemorative event -- or maybe it's finally time for a Mike Calise Bobblehead Night.

At the same time, periodic visits to major league parks in recent years have convinced me that in the big leagues, they're getting it. In Minneapolis in 2014 and Cleveland last year, local "craft" choices were many and varied, if predictably pricey.

On Thursday in Cincinnati, with exemplary seats down the line behind first base, there actually was an entertaining game to watch on a beautiful afternoon. At the risk of heresy, beer almost was secondary.

Still, I did some foraging.

Just behind us on the concourse was evidence of what happens when AB InBev hoovers the "craft" options and runs them through the Grand Trojan Zombie Filter. At first glance, it's a decent enough selection, but with all the profits going to the wrong shareholders.

Sorry, but AB InBev has enough money. They don't need any of mine.

Acknowledging that most of the cash spent on a $14 stadium beer is going to concessionaires and wholesalers -- in fact, I believe one of those ten commandments on display at the nearby Ark Encounter reads to this hallowed effect -- I'd rather it go for a local beer.

Blessedly, there were options. Obviously, Bud Light isn't local, though the others are.

It's called the Brewery District, located on the main concourse, situated behind home plate. The layout is logical, with Cincinnati-brewed beers on one side and national/international choices on the other.

For the record, I had only a couple of beers. Both were good, and I was satisfied.

1. Listermann Brewing Company's Losantiville (or Losantaville, or Losantville) Pre-Prohibition Lager, with as many as three alternate spellings and almost no on-line information (grr), although it was tasty.
2. Christian Moerlein Helles Lager, which I found exceptional and would seek again.

Next up: Cubs versus Rays in Chicago on July 5. My last time in Wrigley Field was during the Reagan Administration. Is there anything better than Old Style there now?

Get thee to the Hofbrauhaus Newport. Seriously.

(Originally published a few days ago at Potable Curmudgeon, my beer blog)

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Few institutions in the world of beer and brewing are as revered as Munich’s Hofbrauhaus.

Few are as misunderstood.

People the world over tend to confuse regional Bavarian culture with that of Germany as a whole, something that never fails to elicit sighs from residents of Bremen, Idar-Oberstein and Hannover. In like fashion, the Hofbrauhaus is erroneously viewed as the exact model of how German beer is made, served and celebrated, but in fact it is uncommon to see such a large-scale beer and food service entity outside of Munich itself, even in the remainder of Bavaria.

Other than a shared fondness for pilsner-style lagers, which is a relatively recent historical development, beer and beer culture vary widely throughout Germany. Munich has no smoked beer; Bamberg does. Cologne and Dusseldorf brew Kolsch and Alt, respectively, and both are top-fermenting, but neither city has a tradition of wheat ales, which are a Bavarian innovation … except for Berliner-style wheat ales, which are something entirely different and come from much further north.

To be sure, Bavaria’s self-promotional savvy conjures imagery of Lederhosen, Bratwurst and “Ein Prosit!”, and as such, it is perhaps appropriate that a pilgrimage to the Hofbrauhaus at its Platzl address has been de rigueur for tourists in Munich ever since the current building was constructed in 1897. Be as curmudgeonly as you please, and yet no one seriously doubts that a visit to the Hofbrauhaus is fun, memorable and infinitely capable of being photographed.

Paris feasts may be moveable, but Hofbrauhaus stories are expandable. Typically soft, clean Bavarian lagers are served in oversized liter mugs, pork in all its conceivable bodily incarnations is expertly prepared, a vast and sprawling acreage of diners and drinkers clink noisy toasts and sing along as they are regaled by tuneful brass bands, and restrooms the size of Rhode Island are patronized constantly and tended by grimly serious cleaning personnel.

While the Hofbrauhaus well represents Bavarian beer, cuisine and communal traditions at an almost lunatic, exaggerated extreme, experiencing these wonders would be nowhere as delightful if their intrinsic worthiness were not so transparently obvious to beginners and veterans alike.

But can that worthiness be transplanted to foreign climes?

In 1999, and with much fanfare, the Hofbrauhaus was cloned and a second location opened in … yes, Dubai, of all places. This was followed by a third site in Newport, Kentucky (across the Ohio River from Cincinnati, Ohio) in 2003, and then another in Las Vegas. A fifth Hofbrauhaus is slated to open in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in the fall of 2007. More are sure to follow.

I had not had the chance to visit the Hofbrauhaus Newport until last Saturday afternoon, when it was crammed to the rafters with locals and tourists devoting a gorgeous day to enjoying resurgent Newport’s aquarium and surrounding shops and eateries, or, like my party, preparing to walk across the nearby pedestrian and bicycle bridge to watch the Reds play at Great American Ball Park in downtown Cincinnati.

Hofbrauhaus Newport’s web site takes a reasonable approach to expectations in spite of muddling the Bavarian with the German:

The first authentic Hofbräuhaus in America is here. Guests are now able to enjoy many of the traditions from Germany that have made Hofbräuhaus famous.

So it was for us, and we enjoyed the ongoing translation of these venerable traditions into something comprehensible for the masses, and that for the most part has not lost its potency and relevance during the course of the conversion. As one who has been to the Hofbrauhaus Munich and numerous establishments throughout greater Bavaria many times since 1985, the ultimate compliment that I can pay the Hofbrauhaus Newport is that during much of my time there, while devouring a workmanlike facsimile of Leberkase and several (small for varied sampling) mugs of tasty Bavarian style Helles, Dunkles and Export, it was indeed possible to drift off into an incredibly relaxed continental reverie – and accordingly, almost impossible to resist hopping a cab to the nearby Northern Kentucky airport for an immediate flight to the original Munich address to sate the voracious desires thus released.

So, just remember: You’ll enjoy “many” of the traditions, and “much” of it will be authentic, at the Hofbrauhaus Newport, but an exact match it is not (and to its credit, does not claim to be).

Brewing is licensed and supervised by German brewers, and it shows, although the presence of a “light” version reminds you that it’s the Ohio outside and not the Isar. Televisions at Newport make sense; not in the Munich Hofbrauhaus. The Newport menu has numerous reliable Bavarian beer hall options, and the overall effect is quite close to the mark, but to be blunt, Americans simply don’t do pork as pork is done in Bavaria – and burgers aren’t exactly on the Speisekarte at the Platzl location. Finally, Bavarians instinctively understand one crucial truth about beer and the average male: Allow him to drink liters of tasty lager, and he will make frequent trips (somewhere) to return that spent liquid to nature. That’s why the Hofbrau Munich restrooms are so thoughtfully large … and the HB Newport might profit from it.

By and large, these are niggling criticisms, and a trip to the Hofbrauhaus Newport is highly recommended by the Publican.

Riding back to Louisville after the game with a busload of human karaoke machines is much less desired. In Bavaria, they’d have been speaking German, and while still obnoxious, not so painfully fact deprived.