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Beer Travel
Vine Park’s mission to have fun with beer & wine goes global! Every year we host a trip to a great Beer Destination that our customers are invited to join with us. The trip for 2008 is just in the planning stages but for now you can enjoy reading about our adventure in Bavaria. If you are interested in being part of the next trip, contact Dan at the brewery. Currently our ideas for 2008 are Ireland, Belgium, or even a trip combining several countries. In the end, we’ll go where we get enough fun people to commit to. And, wine lovers keep talking to us because we are looking at 2009 for our first Wine Trip.
2007 Vine Park Beer Trip to Bavaria
 Swinging a thousand feet over bare rock & sparse patches of snow, I wondered again how I came to be there. Oh, that’s right; I’m in the middle of a Vine Park Beer Trip on my way to the highest beer garden in Germany. After two trains, I was now in a cable car approaching the peak of the Zugspitze.
Fourteen of us were topping off our third day of beer tripping by adding high altitude beer research to our accomplishments. Already, we had explored downtown Munich, Oktoberfest, two monastery breweries with hundreds of years of brewing experience, and one of the world’s most automated breweries. And we had seven more days of fun ahead of us!
Eleven Minnesotans, two Texans, and our guide, Mike, who hails from Montana, made up the crew. Most were experienced travelers but we were balanced by two couples making their first trip outside of the United States. One of the most frequently used phrase by both groups was “everywhere you look, it’s like a postcard.”
From the former Winter Olympic city of Garmish-Partenkirchen, we would venture on to the fairy tale castle of Neuschwanstein built by the King of Bavaria known as Crazy Ludwig to Americans. Walt Disney was inspired by this amazing castle to create trademark castle of Disney World.
Rolling thru the countryside between fabulous beer stops in a bus built for sixty with only fourteen meant lots of room to stretch out and crack open some tremendous beers from such renowned breweries as Kloster Andechs, the sacred mountain of beer brewing. Five liter mini kegs are very popular in Europe and we felt this was an important industry development that we needed to further research.
Later in the trip we would tour the former Maisel’s brewery. When production moved to a larger more modern facility, the old plant was converted to a museum of brewing technology. Thank goodness, the old tasting room was no glassed in museum exhibit but a wonderful room to taste beer and to talk about the interesting displays. These included the world’s largest collection of beer steins. Makes the few steins I bring back each trip seem pretty weak in comparison. On the other hand, I use my steins when friends visit.
While the first half of the trip focused on Southern Bavaria & the beauty of the Alps, the second half took us to the northern area of Bavaria known as Franconia. Here we spent our time exploring the beer gardens of medieval walled cities, walking the Braurei Weg (Brewery Way) hiking trail, and having dinner at the Schlenkerla brewery on the night of the tapping of first Bock Beer Keg of the 2008.
Personal Quests
Traveling with a group means lots of time together but our trips leave plenty of time to pursue a particular interest or two. Mark was determined to collect just the right Hefeweizen glassware for each of his sons, Scott pursed local food delicacies, and I was determined to return to a favorite small brewery in Munich. My wife, Deb, set her sights on acquiring traditional Bavarian dresses called dirndls. End of the trip found all of us successful although Scott learned that when you order and the waitress looks disgusted, maybe you should think again.
The Braurei Weg
After winding our way thru tiny towns with twisting streets (ask any of us about the logging truck we played slow motion chicken with) we arrived in Aufsess. This is the city with the highest per capita number of breweries in the world. Set in an area of rolling hills and winding streams, the locals have created a hiking path linking the area breweries called the Braurie Weg. In English, the Brewery Way is a series of paths favored by tourists who enjoy the outdoor pursuits of hiking and beer gardening.
 After a lovely brewery lunch, that included one of the finest pilsners I’ve ever had, we slowly strolled over the mill stream and headed over rolling hills to the Kathi Brau. Perched on top with lovely views of the countryside, our group sampled the local dark lager. In the garden with us were many native Germans who, from their outfits and backpacks, were clearly serious about visiting many if not all of the local breweries. We took the bus.
Smoked in Bamberg
The ancient city of Bamberg was the last major stop of the trip. Bamberg is the only place north of the Alps where a Pope is buried (see we do our cultural research too) but clearly this group was most interested in exploring the city. Exploring as in finding where are the ten breweries in town that are all within walking distance from our riverside hotel.
Here we enjoyed the smoked beers of Bamberg, walked the cobblestone streets, popped into small shops for local delicacies, and found grand buildings with a touch of whimsy. If you look at the painted side of the local city hall, which was built in the middle of the river, you will find a man’s leg extending out of the painted scene. In one of the grand churches, you will find hideous faces painted on the ceiling. Primarily visible to those addressing the congregation, their story involves workers who felt shorted in their wages packing up the scaffolding and leaving town.
 Local legend says that Bamberg was saved from destruction in WWII by the ghost of Kunigunde. The long dead queen arose and let her veil of smoke & fog drift over the city thus confusing the Allied bombers. Thus hundreds of years of beautiful buildings, breweries, and riverside parks survive to enthrall visitors from all over the world.
Alas, all good things must end and our trip to Bavaria ended where it began: Munich. After a hearty dinner at the Rathskeller under the Munich city hall (where Scott’s mission of trying to eat schwine Haxn in every town finally concluded) the group had its last group beers. Many would leave the next day, but a few of the hardy (or is it foolhardy?) would stay for the last day of Oktoberfest 2007.
Oktoberfest 2007
On our first night in Munich we concluded our walking tour by entering the Weisn or fest grounds. Imagine the Midway of the State Fair with ten times the number of people and all of them are consuming beer. Clearly this is an event that some people will love and others would hate to anywhere near it. It was now everyone or couple for themselves. Here I had the best chicken I’ve ever eaten and Scott had a cleaned fish folded over in bun. This is a place of extremes.
One of our Texans, Dan, is a free lance writer commissioned to do a story on Oktoberfest for an international airline’s in flight magazine. Deb and I decided to accompany Dan to Oktoberfest because he had joined the group late and missed our first adventure. Dan had a story to get & pictures to take, so we headed off around 4pm.
 Being the last day of Oktoberfest the crowd was less tourists and more Bavarian. It also was less crowded and we actually got into a tent. This is critical because you can’t get a beer unless you have a seat at a table. An hour later Dan decided we needed to go exploring. To the amazement of our tablemates, we actually gave up seats & left. To our amazement, we actually found spots at a table in the Hippodrome tent. We amazed both ourselves and our new best friends when Dan decided we needed to do more exploring.
 This time it took wandering thru several more tents before I spied a tiny wedge of space at a table. We squeezed Dan & Deb onto the table and I hung around in the walkways. They got the beers and I wandered around whenever security came by. Of course, this allowed me to appreciate the traditional dress of Bavaria.
Interesting things I learned about Oktoberfest: only Munich breweries are allowed to sell beer there; thus the direct ancestor of the couple whose wedding is celebrated by the event can not sell his beer there. And despite Oktoberfest being the style of beer created long ago for the event, only the traditional Munich light lager Helles is served. And the Bavarians are risk takers; sparklers are handed out to thousands of revelers and lit up in these giant tents during last song. By the way, they also turn off the lights…
 So last year, I was sitting up to my neck in steaming hot beer in the small Czech town of Chodovar Plana. This year, we ascended Germany’s highest peak and braved the world’s largest party all in the name of beer research. Just what will I be getting myself into next year? And, will you be coming with us on Vine Park’s 2008 Beer Trip?
If you want to see lots more pictures of the trip, just click on the links below:
Dan’s Photos
Official Beer Trip Photos
Email 'Dan[at]Vinepark.com' or call 651-228-1355 for more information.
Back to main Beer Travel page
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