New Munich Beer Challenge
I made a pact with myself this year that I would holiday alone at some point. I wanted to prove to myself that I could go away by myself and not want to turn my own face inside out from the boredom of my own company. When an invite to a wedding in Bavaria came through I seized my chance to piggy back a few days in Munich ‘allein’ as they say.
I wasn’t going to let a minor hurdle like the language barrier get in my way. I thought it polite however to at least learn the phrase, “I do not speak German, do you speak English?” just to make an effort. I studied this sentence all the way from Bristol to Rosenheim train station. On arrival I very proudly stated “Ich sprechen kein Deutsch. Sprechen sie Englisch?” The response was a cool and sharp “No”. Damn. That’s as far as I got with the German lessons en route. So I learned to communicate with a range of smiles & nods and a very stylish array of hand gestures. It got me by. Slapping your train ticket against the kiosk glass is a useful language for many a traveller to learn. I found my platform eventually through the medium of expressive dance...
The wedding was wonderful. If you ever get a chance to attend/gatecrash a Bavarian wedding DO IT, highly recommended, even worth getting deported for. Following a relaxing few days of lake swimming and beer swilling I took myself off on my solitary venture. Following a guided ramble through the city I signed up for a beer tour. It is afterall the beer capital of the Universe and they take it very seriously indeed! You won’t find your Carlsbergs and your Stellas here but what you will find is this hangover free golden nectar. Yes really - hangover free! This is down to the Purity Law whereby no beer can contain anything other than grain, hops and water. Rest assured that this is the good stuff and I should know, I’ve had my fair share of beer headaches.
First beer was Tegernseer Hell (don’t be spooked by the name, Hell simply means light...my German is improving you see) and we got to drink it on the street without shameful tuts from passers by. They allow street drinking in Munich. I guess as a nation of rule followers the Germans get the leniency that we don’t, lucky sods. Next came the Hefe Weissebeer, Hacker Pschorr, which I enjoyed in the Viktualienmarkt, the outdoor farmers market in the city centre. Now I was starting to get tipsy and the ginormous pretzels were calling. I was on a roll here so I moved confidently onto a litre of Augustiner Edelstoff. I had to use both hands to pick this bad boy up. The next beer (the name escapes me for obvious reasons) was a helles beer or light beer but due to it being brewed right there on the premises it took on the appearance of a weisse beer. It was like a German thunderstorm - cloudy, moody and exciting! The evening was finished off with a Jäegermeister and a bout of memory loss (see above).
The following morning was sketchy, I was experiencing my first German 'beer head'. Compared to the British and Irish ones I had previously encountered it was a breeze and I had a dose of ‘Hair Of The Dog’ and half a pig at the Hofbräuhaus before taking my flight homeward bound. Those Germans sure know how to show a foreigner a good time. I rolled all the way back to Bristol and discovered I'm not bad company afterall.
http://www.newmunichtours.com/daily-tours/new-munich-beer-challenge.html
Image: Sinéad Millea.
