The Daily Procrastinator

If you’re joining us late, please read my reviews for the first part of my trip here.

On to Berlin and the seemingly blinding array of choices that confronted me at my local biergarten. It appears that as the main city in Germany, Berlin has adopted every regional beer and put them on the largest beer menus I’ve ever been faced with. Every meal was a daunting challenge.

The beer was a lot like the label: classic, but uninspired.

At dinner in Potsdamer Platz, I opted for a Schofferhofer hefeweizen. I’m a big fan of hefeweisen, but this one didn’t really inspire like some others that I’ve tried. The aroma of clove and banana was there, but there was an underlying almost bread-like heaviness to the wheat.

As a side note, I feel that it’s my public duty to share instructions on the proper hefeweisen pour. What makes a hefe a hefe is the yeast in the bottle, which of course must be transferred to the glass. To achieve a proper pour, tip the glass and gently pour about 2/3 of the bottle in, minimizing the head. Stop. Swizzle the bottle around to capture all of the yeast. Pour about half of the remaining beer into the glass. Repeat the swizzle and pour. There you will have the perfect hefeweisen. You’re welcome.

On my second night in Berlin, I was encouraged to have dinner at a tiny burrito shop near Alexanderplatz, one that was surprisingly good, given the distance from Mexico. Yet the beer selections were abysmal. I was in Germany. Did they seriously expect me to drink Dos Equis or Corona? The answer, sadly, was yes. And then I discovered a lone Tannenzaepfle in the case. German beer for the win!

Stay tuned as I move on to Munich where my favorite beer awaits: Franziskaner Weissbier.