Beer in Freiburg

I believe it was Ben Franklin who once said, “beer is proof that god loves us and wants us to be happy.” Now, Ben was a man who looked like he could knock back quite a few pints, so I trust his judgment, and fully agree with his statement.

I, too, love beer, so studying in Germany was a logical choice. Of course, I took the actual program into consideration when making my decision, but I knew the beer culture would be a nice perk.

Freiburg im Breisgau has several breweries of the macro- and micro- variety. The main brewery in town was called Ganter, a privately owned and operated brewery.

Their standard session beer was Ganter Pils, a nice light pilsner which was clear yellow in color, and to be honest, tasted like soap. The locals downed it by the liter, but I wanted something a bit more crisp and with more of a hop character. Thankfully, Ganter made another pilsner, the aptly-named Freiburger Pils. It had a taste that matured as the bottle went down, a quality of excellent beers. Much to my deligh, Ganter had a promotion at the local university one day with free bottles of Freiburger. We were also given a Christmas present by the Ganter Brewery: buy-one-get-one-free coupons for cases…yes, cases…of Freiburger! So one day, a friend and I walked to the local grocery store, and walked out with four cases of Freiburger. We walked happily down the street, with 96 bottles of glorious beer clinking against each other. Ganter also makes Wodan, which according to ratebeer.com is one of the best doppelbocks one can find. Doppelbock is a variety of heavy beer that was originally brewed by monks to keep their stomachs full during times of fasting. In the process, they made a darn tasty beer. Wodan was among the better doppelbocks I've ever had, right up there with Ayinger Celebrator and Spaten Optimator.

Another local favorite was Rothaus Tannenzapfel, a beer made by Badische-Staatsbrauerei (The Baden State Brewery). It was among the cheapest beer one could find, yet there was no drop in quality.

Mad props to Ganter and Rothaus, but I fell in love with a microbrewery in town called Feierling, named after the family which owns it. The beer selection was somewhat limited, but what they lacked in quantity they made up for in quality. My two favorites were Brünnhilde (a doppelbock named after the mythical Germanic queen) and Inselhopf (a crisp, cloudly, unfiltered, tasty, glorious, refreshing, smooth pilsner). The beer selection was complemented by a menu of great German food. One could find anything from pretzels to Müchner Weißwurst (a sausage platter traditionally served at Oktoberfest).

Various other breweries from Freiburg and the surrounding region offered a wonderful selection of other beers, some of the more interesting ones being Colaweizen (wheat beer mixed with cola), Bananenweizen (wheat beer brewed with bananas).

Sure, America makes some great beer (and some awful beer…Budweiser “lager” for example). Sure, the Belgians make some stellar beer (the Chimay line, Gulden Draak, Babãr being some of my favorites). But I’m of the opinion that the Germans are the best beer-makers in the world.

So now dear friends, raise your pint glasses, liter mugs, beer boots, beer steins, tulip glasses, snifters and dimple mugs to the sky. As Homer Simpson once said, “to alcohol: the cause of, and solution to, all of life’s problems.”

-- Posted by Dave, IES EU Program, Fall 2007