1993 Summer "Beer Tour" of Germany & Belgium

View 1993 Summer in a larger map with points of interest table of contents 

In the summer of 1993 I did a trip with a fellow named Don that I knew from high school. Since we intended to try a variety of Belgian & German beers, this would be the Beer Tour of 1993!  We didn't consume a great quantity of beer - but we did sample an astonishing range of very different beers.

We started off in the aptly named Beersel, a town on the southern edge of Brussels in the Payottenland, home of the lambic brews. 3 Fonteinen is a great restaurant with many beer-based items on the menu.

The Oud Beersel unfortunately is no more  - as a traditional tavern: it was purchased by new owners in the early 2000s and is now a more modern microbrewery without a sit-down tavern. Although the new beers are fine, something intangible has been lost.

Here's the camping in Beersel:

We did a day trip to Brugge, where we visited 't Beertge Brugse (house of 1000 beers) & tried a decades-old aged Liefmans Goudenband (oud bruin). Then we traveled along the coast a bit...

...before visiting the St. Sixtus Abbey in Westvleteren, where even the tavern across the road was closed!

Returning to Brussels, we visited a la Becasse, ate at in't Spinnekopke, toured the Horta House Museum & I bought Taylor an Art Nouveau mirror at a shop called Isadora in the Sablon.

Leaving Brussels, we visited Leuven, with its 'wedding cake" cathedral & the then-independent Domus brewery, where we enjoyed a wonderful maibock.

Then down to the Abbey of Maredsous, more beer & a stop at Wepion, buying strawberries at a roadside kiosk & watching rock climbers across the river.

After brief stop in Liege, we motored to Koln, where we had a hefty sampling of various Kolsch brews & ate heissen stein style at Zum Peters in the Altstadt. Then south, with a stop in Bonn to try "Bonnsch", along the Rhine through Rheinfels at Sankt Goar to camp in Bacharach on the Rhine (where aggressive swans demand bread!), taking a Rhine cruise up the river.

After visiting Burg Lahneck, we followed the course of the River Lahn to Runkel, then headed south through Frankfurt ( cider & wurst) to Heidelberg, where we ate in a funky student bar.

Heading along the Neckar over to Schwabisch Hall we stumbled on some impromptu street theatre, before making the obligatory pilgrimage to Rotenburg ob dem Tauber, where I bought a bier stein emblazoned with "Gott Sie dank Ich Bin a Frank" heading south along the Romantische Strasse, we pause for a hefeweizen in Dinkelsbuhl, where I treat myself to medieval peasant's hat.

After a lunch of wild boar & sauerbraten in Diessen on the Ammersee, we headed for the castle brewery of Kaltenberg for some PrinzRegent Ludwig - but the castle was hosting some sort of jousting festival, so we had a quick quaff & split for Munich, where we sampled a number of excellent Bavarian wheat beers (Hofbrau,Spaten,Schneider, et al) We ate at the Hofbrauhaus. Then up to Nurnberg.

From Nurnberg we drove to Kulmbach for Monschof then to Bamberg for the piece de resistance : rauchbier & Frankische Bierhaxe at Schlenkerla (which became another perennial favourite for food & drink).

heading into the former East Germany, we visited Meissen & Dresden...

...then through the odd Spreewald, where I channeled a medieval gnome...

to Berlin (tried Berliner Weisse with red & green syrup added :-( -  & then Potsdam

Finally we headed towards Munster, visited a wasserschloss, quaffed Export in Dortmund, then dropped into Dusseldorf for Dussel Alt at Zum Uerige and a few other establishments.

Returning to Amsterdam, we camped at Gaasper Camping, sampled a local delicacy & tried a few brews at De Wildman before flying back from Schiphol.