Bamberg: Beer Country

Earlier this month was a trip to Bamberg. If there is a beer city, this is it. 10 breweries in town and most with their own taverns. We visited Spezial, Fassla, Keesmans, Mahrs, & Schlenkerla.

All were excellent but Spezial and Mahrs stand out for me. Spezial had a wonderful smoked lager and marzen while Mahrs had their Ungespundet or U-bier. As the late Michael Jackson described it: Ungespundet "means 'unbunged', indicating that the maturation was in a vessel open to the atmsphere (ie not controlled by a pressure valve). This makes for a lesser carbonation. With a diminished gassiness, there is less carbonic "bite" on he tongue, so the drinker is more sensitive to the flavours in the beer". In Mahrs they serve it from a gravity barrel (see below in the photo).

The smoked beers from Spezial were also a real treat as they are more lightly smoked than the more well known  Schlenkerla brands. I enjoyed the subtleness that came with them. Overall Bamberg is a place that they beer lover must see.