Smoke & Shadow
Exploring Lager’s Roots Around Bamberg
Sidebar: And a Few Pubs
Across from the Alt-Ringlein, in the shadow of the Dom, is the Kachelofen. Named for the ovens that symbolize Gemütlichkeit, this tavern has coziness in plenty. The decor is stoneware, etchings and ancient photos, all of it screaming, “GRANDMA COOKS HERE.” Feast on krustenbraten—roast pork with crispy skin, joined by plush balls of gooey potato dumpling called kloss, surely the world’s purest distillation of comfort food. Schlenkerla Märzen and St. Georgen Kellerbier top the beer list, so it is hard to put a foot wrong. For families with wee ones, there are kid-sized portions and high levels of tolerance.
The next few are open only at night. This grants the opportunity to walk the Altstadt cobblestones under faux gaslight, when it is easy to imagine that the next passer-by will be wearing an acolyte’s robes or monk’s habit.
On Stephansberg, on the way up to Spezial-Keller and the Wilde-Rose, is a clever pub that seems unlikely. Yet there it is. The Stöhrenkeller is wooded yet modern, with dangling light fixtures and generous doses of Bohemian—meaning artsy rather than, you know, from Bohemia. Not an antler in sight. Pride of place goes to two or three of the region’s better lagers dropped from the barrel. On one visit they included Gänstaller Kellerbier from nearby Strassgiech, with a pronounced nutty, toasted redolence like sticking your nose in a fresh sack of malt.
On the way up to Michaelsberg is a small kneipe,or pub, the Torschuster, which aims to have beers from at least seven Bamberg breweries at any time. Enjoy a Mahr’s U while talking to the owner, Tomas, and admiring his rock ’n’ roll paraphernalia. He picks out records; feel free to make requests. It is the kind of place you remember and return years later, to find that nothing has changed except the crow’s feet around the barman’s eyes. Long may it continue (but get there soon just in case).
Down the hill on busy Sandstrasse, in the heart of the Altstadt, is a relatively new upstairs bar called the Rotenschild. It’s a classy pub with woody nooks and crannies, popular with the younger set, one of those rare places when great beer and atmosphere coincide, briefly, with what is hip. The bar has been known to serve from barrels of Metzgerbräu and Mönchsambacher, two smaller Franconian breweries gaining fame among aficionados for addictive, full-flavored lagers. Mönchsambacher’s Lagerbier is a bittersweet, rich, toasted-nut-malt festival that might be world famous if the brewer wanted to distribute more widely. He does not.
Finally, there is the Café Abseits, a healthy 30-minute walk or 10-minute cab ride from the Altstadt. In the past it has been a wine bar and a student kneipe, and those layers remain. Inside there are tablecloths and flower vases, while the garden attracts regulars starting at breakfast. The Abseits is a free house with no obligation to any specific breweries, a rare thing in Germany. Owner Gerhard Schoolman instead prioritizes beers, especially Franconian ones, that he finds interesting or just plain great. He also stocks some new-wave German craft beers, which typically emulate IPAs.
Or you can opt for another Mönschsambacher, or a Metzgerbräu Lagerbier — earthy, bitter and bready.
After all, who comes to Bamberg for the ale?
Joe Stange
Joe Stange is a freelance journalist and co-author of Good Beer Guide Belgium (7th edition, with Tim Webb) and author of Around Brussels in 80 Beers (2nd edition, Spring 2015).
Nice. Only one thing to update: Gänstaller brews at the old brewery owned by Friedel in the village of Schnaid near Hallerndorf; the tavern they used to run (until Dec 2013) was in Strassgiech. Although that place *was* a brewery until the 1960’s, Gänstaller never brewed there. They were more or less forced out of that place by the owner placing unreasonable demands on them, being a looney.