Chethma De Mel, Jadetimes Staff
C. J. De Mel is a Jadetimes news reporter covering Entertainment News
While millions of tourists swarm Munich for Oktoberfest each September, the real heart of German beer culture is three hours north in the medieval town of Bamberg. This UNESCO-listed city has attained international fame for its centuries-old brewing traditions, especially in its legendary Rauchbier, or smoke beer.
Rauchbier explains the various heritage of rich brewing tradition in Bamberg. Among the most famous taverns in town, Schlenkerla, has sold it for more than 600 years. Many visitors are often surprised at how Rauchbier tastes, with notes of slow-roasted hams. It is definitely an acquired taste-akin to blue cheese or mushrooms-but one that quickly becomes many people's favorite. According to Matthias Trum, owner and brewmaster of Schlenkerla, you need at least three Seidlas-half-liter mugs-to appreciate its distinctive taste.
Bamberg's brewing tradition is outstanding and a far more subtle approach to beer than Munich's understandable mass-market beer culture. While Munich's beer culture is dominated by just six breweries, Bamberg has 10 family-owned breweries within the city limits and another 174 in Upper Franconia. The Upper Franconia district surrounding Bamberg has the world's highest density of breweries, over 2,500 different beers, and unofficially gives Bamberg the title of "Beer Capital of the World."
Historically, Rauchbier was once the norm across Northern Europe. The distinctive smoky flavor in the beer is from the malting process, in which green malt is dried over a beechwood fire. When the smokeless malt kiln was invented by Sir Nicholas Halse in 1635, smokeless beers then became the standard and slowly but surely Rauchbier faded away. Today, only two breweries, namely the Schlenkerla and Brauerei Spezial, still produce Rauchbier using traditional methods.
This unique brewing culture was rooted both in economic and nostalgic factors. Because the Industrial Revolution reached the Germanic states quite a bit later than elsewhere, traditional brewing methods were able to survive much longer. Also, early 20th-century historic preservation at Schlenkerla testified that the town was maintaining its medieval charm and old brewing traditions.
In celebration of that legacy, Rauchbier was also included in Slow Food's Ark of Taste back in 2017, an international campaign for the protection of endangered foods. To toast this legacy, Schlenkerla and Brauerei Spezial celebrate Smoke Beer Preservation Day every year since 2021, offering tours of the breweries, tastings, and special Rauchbier-themed menus.
But while Rauchbier is perhaps the most famous brew in Bamberg, the city's other breweries also offer an astonishing range that caters to every taste. Why so many different beer styles from Bamberg can be attributed to one historical exception of the Meilenrecht ("mile right"-a law that confined brewing within a one-mile radius around many European cities). Because Bamberg was uniquely placed on busy trade routes, demand for beer far outstripped what could be supplied by city brewers. Surrounding guesthouses took advantage of the situation by brewing and selling their own beer. In time, this fostered the development of numerous family-owned breweries throughout the region.
More, Bamberg is related to its landscape because of brewing traditions: several of the town's breweries use cool rock cellars in the hills as a method of fermentation and storage. This also gave rise to another tradition: drinking beer "on the cellars," whereby locals and visitors alike can enjoy a cold brew in beer gardens with sweeping views of the medieval city.
However, besides its rich history, brewing culture in Bamberg faces challenges nowadays. Due to a lack of interest among younger generations, small, family-owned breweries have been forced to close down. Nina Schipkowski, the director of the Franconian Brewing Museum, describes brewing as a very difficult profession, and youth today is more unwilling to continue this family tradition.
Surprisingly, however, the brewing tradition is intact in Bamberg. The Franconian Brewing Museum was earlier a Benedictine brewery, founded in 1122-a fact that gave evidence of how well this tradition has survived. As visitors walk down the museum, they get to know many of the breweries that existed for so many centuries yet got lost but get hopeful by the survival of unique flavors like Rauchbier.
In Bamberg, beer is more than just a drink; it's a very traditional feature in this town's history. For any beer lover who can appreciate tradition, quality, and diversity, it is a place to offer them real German beer culture.
