Tübingen, Germany – We arrived in Tübingen on a rainy Sunday afternoon. After dropping things at the hotel, we made a beeline for my favorite brew pub in the world, der Neckarmüller. In the interests of full disclosure, I should tell you that I once worked there. That was during one of the hottest Summers in living memory in Europe, and I had the dream job: working in the Biergarten at the Neckarmüller. Here, nestled under stately chestnut trees on the banks of the Neckar river was the best place to escape the Summer heat. It is also the place to go for some of the best beer in the world. While we worked, we were allowed to pour cold glasses of beer for ourselves. I will stop now before I become all weepy.
For me this restaurant and Biergarten combines all the right ingredients: the passion for microbrewing, fabulous styles of beer, wonderful food and the perfect location. Having consumed many pints of Ganter and Fürstenberg Hefeweizen in Freiburg over the past couple of weeks (both respectable beers), I still found the Neckarmüller Hefeweizen to be the best I’ve ever tasted. It is less sweet than the others, and goes down so smoothly on a hot Summer day. Sarah ordered the dark version, which turned out to be equally as tasty. It was slightly smoother, with the dark malt flavor coming through.
There seems to be a trend in Germany to reach back to older beer recipes. Like the Ganter Urtyp, the Neckarmüller’s Kellerbier is an unfiltered bier which reigns in the hops. So far we haven’t seen any brews made with gruit: in Germany it could not be called beer.
At the moment they are also serving a Kristalweizen, which we did not try.
For those who are interested in the brewing process, and knowing more about beer in general, the restaurant organizes beer lectures.
Gasthausbrauerei Neckarmüller
Gartenstraße 4
D-72074 Tübingen
Telefon: +49 7071 27848
Geoffrey hails from the U.S., but has lived in Germany, Sweden, India and China. In his many travels he has sought out the best drinks to be found. He's burned his fingers on cups of Madras filter coffee in India, and discovered the effects of Baijiu on body and soul in China. He has tended bar at both a pub and Biergarten in Germany. He is co-author of a forthcoming publication on Udipi Restaurants.