Acquiring a Taste for Bavarian Beer

I'm one of those people who doesn't like beer. My husband loves it and he'll try any seasonal beer he can when we're at a brewery and is always picking up new micro-brews from the store. I always take a sip of all of them to see if I might like it and it's always the same. I don't like it. The initial taste is okay but the after taste always reminds me of the smell of dirty socks. Don't ask me why that's just the only way I can describe it.

"Beer's an acquired taste" people tell me. But I don't really find the incentive to acquire the taste of something that I don't like right away. That all changed when we went to Germany.

We spent a week in Bavaria this past May and the beer was a completely new and different experience. It was good! No weird after taste and I could hold my own drinking a liter of beer no problem. I ended up finding 2 beers drinks that I couldn't get enough of in Germany.

The first beer concoction is called a Russ'n which is actually half weissen beer and half sprite. It made the beer lighter and a little sweeter and very enjoyable - plus you could drink twice as much and still be able to walk straight later.

If you'd like to sample a russ'n on your own - I was able to recreate this drink decently with just a hefeweissen and a can of sprite - made the bottled beer here in the states much more tolerable!

The second beer that I just loved was an appleweissen. Appleweissen is an apple cider beer but more beer than cider. Light and crispy but not as sweet as a typical hard cider - it was very refreshing.

The only place we went that had the appleweissen was at the Andechs Monastery. The monks at the monestary have been brewing beer here since the Middle Ages. Andechs is set up as a great place to visit. There are a couple of beer gardens and restaurants. The beer gardens have pretzels, meats and other bavarian dishes that you can sample while you enjoy your beer. And as an additional interesting feature Carl Orff, who composed "Carmina Burana" is buried in the Chapel of Sorrows at the monestary.

A couple of weeks ago while dropping by Trader Joe's for a refill on Lambrusco my husband picked up a case of a dunkelweissen. As usual I take my standard sip to give it a try and I was unexpectedly surprised that it was comparable to what we had right out of the tap in Germany. Give it a try to experience a little taste of Bavarian beer or let me know if you think it's comparable too.