Thursday 16 April 2009

Lorraine FM


Lorraine FM. Click onto the link, have a listen and get into northern France! Chill!
LORR FM

What, where is Lorraine is probably what you are thinking.

Bier-Mania! Cultural Beer Tours
We will show you. Awesome.

Our Biere de Garde Special tours run all year. They can be combined with the Ardennes Special for a unique insight into an area of northern France that few tourists really get to grasps with.
The Biere de Garde Special is part of Bier-Mania!s Great Belgium Beer Tour in any case!
Be good to see you on a tour.


Cheers,
Andy

Franconia & Annafest 2009 Special (SB-090801) FULL



Our other (second) Annafest tour is from Saturday 01-Thursday 08 August.
We also have a training day on Friday 31 July in Bad Windsheim....
Tour Map

Pick-up is Frankfurt airport on Friday 31 July.
Drop-off is Nuremberg airport on Thursday 06 August.

Tour Highlights
* Historic Berching
* Burg Randeck
* Josef Schneider's brewery guesthouse
* Altmühltal region
* UNESCO Regensburg
* Weltenburg Monastery
* Weisenhohe Monastery
* Meet one of Bavaria's female brewers (Hofmann brewery)
* Annafest 2009
* Rappenkeller
* Visit Levi Strauss' birthplace.....
* Country brewery crawl
* Lunch @ Kathi-Bräu
* Burg Rabenstein
* Historic Pottenstein
* Maisels Brewery Museum
* Will brewery
* Vierzehnheiligen Monastery
* UNESCO Bamberg
* Bamberg's 10 breweries
* And much much more...

Download Tour Itinerary

Photos-
Top right-Josef Schneider brewery guesthouse where we spend a great night, good food, good beer and awesome view from the beer garden
Middle-Forchheim's Kellerwald where the 23 cellar bars are the scene of the 10-day Annafest! Nice sandals.
Bottom-Klosterbräu in Bamberg, a great place to have some lunch-they also have probably the best selection of beers in Bamberg!
Credits-Andy Neil

Cheers,
Andy

Although our Annafest tours only run over the 10-day Annafest period, our Franconia & Bamberg Special tours run all year, rain, sun or snow!
Be good to see you on a tour.

Franconia & Annafest 2009 Special (SB-090723) FULL

Our first of our 2 awesome Annafest tours is now on and unfortunately for you it is full, unless of course you are booked on the tour!
It is a 9-day tour which includes the Bayerische Wald (Bavarian Forest), a visit to Pilsen in Czech Republic as well as Zoigl Land and of course Franconia.
The tour finishes at the end of the Bierstrasse in Bad Windsheim, cheers!
Tour Map
Outline Itinerary
Thursday 23 July 2009Friday 24 July 2009
  • Schneider Weisse brewery tour
  • Regensburg UNESCO
  • Böbrach scnapps museum
  • Overnight @ Eck brewery guesthouse (Bavarian Forest)
Saturday 25 July 2009
  • Pzeňský Prazdroj Pivovar otherwise known as Pilsen Brewery Czech Republic
  • Windischechenbach & Zoigl night at Binner
  • Overnight @ Weissen Schwan, Windischechenbach


Sunday 26 July 2009
  • Weisenhohe Monastery
  • Hofmann brewery
  • Annafest 2009
  • Overnight @ Schweizergrom, Forchheim
Monday 27 July 2009
Tuesday 28 July 2009Wednesday 29 July 2009
  • Bamberg's 10 breweries
  • Overnight @ Hotel National, Bamberg
Thursday 30 July 2009
Friday 31 July 2009
  • Tour ends in Frankfurt!
  • Bye bye!
Download Tour Itinerary

Cheers,
Andy

Sunday 5 April 2009

Oktoberfest 2009 Update


Latest news from Germany.

We have now confirmed beer tent reservations at the Hacker-Pschorr tent for ALL Bier-Mania! tours this September and October.
When we are in Munich, we use the Concorde Hotel, a central **** hotel just around the corner (not too close) to the Hofbräuhaus.

This year we have the following 5 tours, 8 people maximum on each tour.

Dates
Tour 1 MB-090918 (18-21 September) FULL
Tour 2 MB-090922 (22-25 September) 6 places left
Tour 3 MB-080926 (25-28 September) 6 places left
Tour 4 MB-090929 (29-02 October) 8 places
Tour 5 MB-091002 (02-05 October) 8 places

Cheers,
Andy@bier-mania.com
Bier-Mania!

Great European Beer Tour/Oktoberfest 2009

Proposed Itinerary
The Proposed Itinerary for THE Great European Beer Tour/Oktoberfest 2009 is now out.

This really is the tour of all tours! 3 countries in 11 days, we even take in Munich’s famous Oktoberfest at the end with our reserved tent reservation at Hacker-Pschorr.
We take you from the oldest known remains of a brewery in Europe in Kulmbach (no longer functionaing!), through the amazing ‘Zoigl Land' (Zoigl at Wolframstuberln) and into the Czech Republic and the home of Pilsner beer.
The it is Budweis, Salzburg, the Alps and ending in Munich's Oktoberfest!
Read on, a truly awesome tour!

The itinerary can be seen by clicking the link-Proposed Itinerary.

Tour Map
Click on PM-090911-Tour Map.

Cheers,
Andy

It is planned to run this tour all year, rain, sun or snow! Please email for further details and give dates you would be interested in. Be good to see you on a tour.

Saturday 4 April 2009

Instant Altbier!

Bolten brewery in Korschenbroich (near Düsseldorf in Germany) have just released their latest beer, they call is 'Altbier to go'.

For more see the news clip!

Crazy Germans.

Thursday 2 April 2009

The Beers of Germany-Part 2 (History)


Welcome back to our blogspot.....been awhile! So to continue with the Beers of Germany.

Firstly a bit of history.
As man came in from the trees and decided that he could have a better life cultivating the land and growing crops he realised that the barley, wheat and the whole host of other cereals that he grew could be mashed and then fermented to make an alcoholic beverage we now call beer. It was great to drink, nutritious and was a great way to use any leftover cereal he had. There started man’s love affair with the amber nectar of life-beer!
The oldest remains of a brewery in Germany is near the town of Kulmbach in Bavaria and dates from around 800BC (in other words a long long time ago) and the Germanic tribes have been brewing beer ever since, initially the responsibility was down to the women folk who combined beer ‘cooking’ with the baking of bread, well they are from the same ingredients after all!
The picture on the left doesn't show a Jewish cookpot but shows the original brewery, the sign is from Alchemy and denotes the 4 ingredients of beer!
Before we continue we must mention caves. It was most likely by accident that in the Middle Ages (or maybe before!) the Bavarians discovered that if beer was left in cellars in the rock at just above freezing then the yeast sank to the bottom of the barrels and however continued to ferment very very slowly, hence started the original ‘Lagerbier’.
Some of the best examples of these caves or Felsenkellers (rock caves) can be found in Forchheim’s Kellerwald in Franconia, tours can be arranged via the tourist office or Bier-Mania!.
The picture on the right shows the 'chute' where ice was 'stuffed' down the cellar, cool eh?

Bier-Mania! Cultural Beer Tours are running 2 tours to this year's Annafest where you can see the caves and experience a traditional Franconian folk festival, complete with funfair!
For more information email andy@bier-mania.com