Tuesday, October 13, 2015

Beer or Wine?

Beer for two in Munich
A Liter at the famous Hofbauhaus
Anyone who hangs out with me knows that I prefer wine, and by wine I mean Chardonnay. I know that sounds crazy boring, but hey when you find what you like ...it is what it is. It isn't that I haven't tried many varieties of wine because I have. My husband and I lived in San Francisco when we were dating, and as I like to say 'we dated our way though wine country.' 

But here's the thing about wine in central Europe. First off, white wine is served only slightly chilled. And secondly, California style wine doesn't exist. The wine tends to be either quite sweet, or Rhine style from the Rhine River Valley, or it's crisp as in French style wine. To me, crisp is sharp and grassy, which I just do not prefer.  

So what's a girl to do when on the road in Europe? In a word; beer. Beer in central Europe is fantastic. It comes in so many flavors and styles, and all on tap. It is rich, deep and many are somewhat creamy in flavor. YUM! It is beyond recognition from the bottled varieties in the store at home. My favorite was the Bavarian style dunkle lager (or dark lager) which we had while in Munich. And the best part of beer is it comes stone cold, and on a hot day what is better than that? I think the least amount of photos we took at any location along our trip was Munich (our photos over on Pinterest). Not sure why exactly. Perhaps too busy sampling beer? Could be.

13 comments:

  1. Where in SF did you live? I was on 20th x Geary in the Richmond District and I worked downtown on Market x 3rd. Sadly, despite my best efforts in life, I just have never liked either beer or wine. I'm such a bad Italian. I used to be able to tolerate Mondavi or Berringer Zinfandel, and an occasional chardonnay. As to beer, I always cut off my sense of smell/taste to drink it for the buzz. I've been to all the craft breweries in the Bay Area in the 90s, and i've brewed beer and belonged to a brew club in those days but I never got used to the taste. Now I'm allergic to alcohol so I don't drink at all.

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  2. Bavaria is definitely a beer place :) Glad you had fun sampling! Malt beer is about the only beer I drink, as I prefer wine as well, from the Rhine region of course :)

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  3. It must have been a blast trying the different beers! I actually enjoy beer tasting more than wine tasting (although I prefer wine for regular drinking). I hear you about not having a taste for European wines. We have tried so many and always go back to the palette pleasing CA wines.

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  4. I'm generally a wine gal too....I love Moscato! But if we go boating or out for a long night, I stick with beer. Creamy beer sounds quite tasty!

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  5. I vote for tea! :) I've never been a beer drinker and never cared for wine either until I tried wine from one of my best friend's winery. Yummy! Thank Cod I met her! MOL!

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  6. And it looks much different from locally sold beers, too. I'm not a beer drinker (I'm a wine girl) but my husband would certainly enjoy this!

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  7. I don't drink wine at all - though I buy a lot of it for others around here that drink it! Each year, we take a tour of the wineries in Virginia - I do enjoy the tastings! (Must be the atmosphere) One of my favorite vacations was to San Francisco - 1995 orso. Had the best tour of Wine Country, both Napa and Sonoma. There is a winery in Sonoma - Viansa - that when I close my eyes, I am still there. Their wine was superb (to us!), their winery was just like Old Italy, the food was OUTSTANDING, and they have an area preserved for Wetlands. I still buy their wine online to give as gifts for Christmas.

    Now beer - yes ma'am! :) Especially on a hot day!

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  8. I don't like beer at all but in your pics it looks good and the way you describe it it's only yummy delicious ;)

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  9. There is nothing like European beer enjoyed in Europe! And the darker the better. These photos are activating my salivary glands :-) You guys seem to have enjoyed every drop of flavor and visuals Europe offered you.

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  10. What a perfect place to be sampling great beer! I'm pretty much a wine or margarita girl but do like a cold one on a hot day. I'd like to try one of those dark, creamy ones!

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  11. I'm a wine gal too! (Red wine's my thing, though!!!) It must have been fun to try out the beers while abroad!

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  12. When we went to Ireland, we toured the Guiness brewery (as one does). My husband was thrilled that I've never been able to develop a taste for beer, since that meant he got my complimentary lager at the end of the tour. Now, it was a completely different story at the Jameson distillery -- I was a happy camper! And I'm with you on the sweetness of many German white wines...

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  13. I'm definitely a beer over wine gal myself for sure. I like wine okay. . .but only every once in a while. I'd love to go on a beer tour of Europe, oh how fun that would be. Yours look delish. . .and the description you've included with them. . .even better!

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