A Day in Düsseldorf...and Beyond

Joris Pattyn reports on his recent visit to the home of Altbier

Beer Travels September 23, 2004
Written by JorisPPattyn

Wilrijk, BELGIUM -

When I started to feel my way around in the beerworld, one of my main guides was Michael Jacksons’ “The World Guide to Beer”. There was much attracting my attention, making me wonder what I was missing out. One of those was the set of photos depicting the Zum Uerige Hausbrauerei, full of eating and drinking Düsseldorfer, obviously having a ball.

Düsseldorf is the financial heart of Nordrhein-Westfalen, that part of Germany that is adjacent to Belgium. At the end of the eighties, I managed to make my way there, with Brits and Dutchmen rather than with my fellow countrymen, who - not unlike the Germans - are convinced the only decent beer is being brewed at home.

Being such a modern town, it is a bit hard to picture Düsseldorf exactly as a place where stubborn tradition kept the bottom-fermenting wave at bay, and top-fermenting (Obergäriges) beer, quite British cask ale-like, is still consumed daily on a massive scale. My travelling companion of the day, the landlord of a Belgian beerpub, marvelled at the size of the four beertemples, fully devoted to the consumption of ONE single beer. And the idea of a “secret” beer, only to be consumed on a particular day, twice or thrice a year, for the cognoscenti, completely baffled him.

It was indeed the “secret” beer that determined our choice of day. From an excellent source, Fred Waltman - from California, of all places - I knew that Thursday, 16th of September, Brauerei Schumacher would have its “Latzenbier” on. Michael Jackson tells us about “Sticke” and “Latzen” in his World Guide. Zum Uerige, as Zum Schlüssel, used to do Sticke on days really kept secret, only to be advertised in the brewery about a week before, Schumacher doing the same under the name Latzenbier. But at the beginning of the nineties, it became clear that there was system behind the madness.

In fact, being a particularly hard-headed type of beergeek, I managed to import Uerige Alt - on draught, of course - for a festival I organised in Antwerpen, and in all the hubbub getting this no mean feat done, befriended the sympathetic couple, Josef & Christa Schnitzler, as well as their brewing engineer, operating this most idiosyncratic of all Hausbrauereien. So, as early as 1994, I knew when to go and drink Sticke on draught. These days, it is frequently found in the USA, bottled and even kegged.

The other breweries are not quite that open yet. I personally know nobody that even confessed to have drunk Zum Schlüssel Stike (they write it without c, for some reason). Thus, last Thursday, I felt quite the man, sitting in the imposing Schumacher hall, drinking the Latzen (everywhere pancarded, no mistake possible) and finding it a malty beauty. Schumacher’s the only of the big four that isn’t located in the proper Altstadt (you might think it aptly named, but it just means Old Town, of course). It is much closer to the railway station. I might have stayed in the Altstadt, as Schumachers have a Brauerei Ausschank (brewery tap) in Bolkerstraße, about 25m opposite their competitor Zum Schlüssel, and there the Latzenbier was on as well. But being at the brewery makes it more real, so we had even a bite there: Speckpfannekuche (pancake with sliced bacon) for me - a dish I read about as a kid, and imagined it on par with caviar - and a classical Eisbein (pig’s knuckle) for my companion.

On the way back to Altstadt, I spotted a bar proudly advertising Möninger Kraußenpils “Hefetrüb”. That’s the kind of thing I like to see, but once inside, the only thing served proved to be Jever Pilsener - filtriert, selbstverständlich. I’ve got nothing against the Friesisches Brauhaus zur Jever, but I wanted Kraußenpils. So back to Alt, and arriving at “Im Füchschen”. I have a strange relation to this place. First, I find people (the Kobes, I mean) friendlier than elsewhere. Second, their Alt is great. Third, it’s a nice place. But - I’ve always found their beer just second to Zum Uerige - though less as my points on the ratings might make you believe - and I wouldn’t touch their food with a ten foot pole. All the same, visiting Düsseldorf without going zum Füchschen would be a sin, IMO.

Im Füchschen have been seriously altering their policy in recent years. They bottle more and more their beer, so I could effortlessly purchase their summer beer - a Weizen of course - Silberfüchschen for takeaway. Again a revolution, led by Zum Uerige, but I have to concede that this time, Füchschen is doing a better job than the people at Bergstrasse 1 - and by far. I’m convinced to have seen advertising for a secret beer 1½ decennium ago, but these days, they just have a “Weihnachten” (Christmas) strong ale. It will be available bottled from December on, and tapped around Christmas day.

After Im Füchschen, we hopped in Zum Schlüssel, as it is an obligatory stop. Why, I wonder, as their beer is a pale imitation of the real thing, rather to be put in the category with the industrials: Frankenheimer, Rhenania, Schlösser, Düssel - or Gatz(weilers), under which name it finds its way abroad. One thing, I’ve eaten quite well in there in the past.

For the Düsseldorfer finale, we went to the beervalhalla at Bergstraße. For those, never having been there, sorry for disappointment, but I’m not going to try to describe it - as this place defies description. I will just state that it is a bit of a beer Mecca: the place you’ve got to go to at least once in a lifetime, if you’re a believer in Good Beer. For those not having been there for sometime: they are operating a Beergarten at the other side of the Bäckerstraße, under tall trees, with yet another bar. And the beer is as good as ever.

All this meant that we had “done” Düsseldorf around 16.00 PM, so that left us quite some time to go elsewhere. I had kept open a few options in the “neighbourhood”, or on our way home, and there and then I opted for Krefeld, some 25 km away, as I had had some additional info on that town. Our first destination being Hausbrauerei Gleumes. If this can be called Hausbrauerei in truth, is an open question as it has quite some other outlets, and exports in no small way. But what struck us most on our visit, is their absolute inability to sell their wares.

On their menu, three beers were advertised, with a picture; Hell, Lager and Weizen. Yet the man serving us, immediately assumed we would take “zwei Biere” - with which he meant two “Lagers”. Only thing is - that beer is in reality an Alt, not bottom fermented at all. The Helles is in the database under Kölsch, and I see no reason to change that. Neither proved to be in the least exciting. On the walls, there were posters everywhere for an 18° (=Plato) Bock beer, in bottles. So I figured to buy that Bock, as the Weizen, for takeaway. No such thing, they did not, would not sell any bottles. Unbelievable for a brewery! On exiting the pub, realisation dawned that the Bock was probably available on draught. But I was going to be d*mned if I would have gone in again.

So far, Krefeld was a disaster. But I was not downcast by far, as my good source Fred, had given me another address: “Dachsbau”, only a few streets from Gleumes. Figuring out what the name (without an extra r and Umlaut) meant took me longer than knowing why to go there: this place harbours 18 taps. Yes, 18 different beers on draught, that is a German equivalent for the Falling Rock, or La Vaudrée, as few or none German bars haven ever more than the 2-3 taps their associated brewery can deliver them. Besides, they advertise some 25 bottled beers - German beerheaven.

As it turned out, there were some missers (one of the taps served… Belle-Vue Kriek!!) but the larger part were beautiful offerings: Bolten Ur-Alt, Feldschlosschen Duckstein, Garley Bock, Löwenbräu Triumphator and Oktoberfest, Köstritzer Schwarzbier, etc. As you can see, from all over the country - excellent. And, as they had a kind of mussels festival on, we each had a good pot, or Teller with Zeeland mussels, feeling quite at home. In the end, we spoke to the owner, and it turned out he knew a score of the EBCU-people, as Tomas Perera or Jos Brouwer, so he offered us a glass, and I had to try an Oktoberfest, instead of finishing my beautiful Garley Bock, which I had kept wisely for closing the day… Great pub, worth the detour if you’re in western Germany.

It was half past nine gone, and pitch-dark when we started searching for the Autobahn, back to Belgium. We felt really satisfied, and my idea, that a day in one of Germany’s beertowns, be it Düsseldorf or Bamberg for that matter, is always worth the trouble, as long as you know a bit where to go looking. Try for yourself, I’d say.

JorisPPattyn, September 2004

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For those, never having been there, sorry for disappointment, but I’m not going to try to describe it - as this place defies description. I will just state that it is a bit of a beer Mecca

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