2024 was another breakout year for Beerwanderers. Along with personally guiding 78 new proponents of Beer Hiking in both Franconia and Southern Bavaria, Beerwanderers got to 47 new-for-us beer places (8 breweries with food, 8 stand alone breweries, 23 restaurants featuring beers on tap from breweries with no pubs or a good selection of regional beers, three beer bars with no food and 5 Bierkellers/Biergartens) and sampled 197 beers we’d not had before,124 of which were on tap.These are strictly places in and beers from Franconia. Some friends helped out with car excursions and bringing back beers from their beery exploration. We sure couldn’t have covered so much ground or tried so many new beers without them. To help make all this new information on Beerwanderers more easily found and to commemorate the momentous year, we’re giving out virtual awards to the best finds of the 2024. Please note, to be considered it has to be a beer or place We’d not had or been to before 2024. In instances where a beer was had on tap when it had previously been only sampled in bottled form, it was considered a new “beer experience” and included. Links go to the entries on the site for further elaboration. Here goes:
Top 5 Restaurants (not a brewery but a pub featuring a particular brewery’s beer when they have no pub of their own or ones with a good regional selection):
1. Kosseinehaus (great mountain lodge with three Hönicka beers on tap and excellent food. Best place to sample since their tap closed down)
2. Am Dorfbrunnen (closest thing to a brewery tap for Goikel Bräu featuring their Kellerbier and excellent food)
3. Palais Schaumburg (Nürnberg local with all vegetarian food/regional beers on tap/very nice Biergarten as well)
tie 4. Bastion Marie (if the Kaiserhof Ausschank is closed or you just want a meal with a view, this castle top eatery features a full line-up of Kaiserhof beers and excellent food)
tie 4. Wirtshaus Hütt’n (contract beers along with a good assortment of regional beers on tap/good food)
tie 5. Himalaya Indian Food (former Café Abseits is now an Indian restaurant with the same line-up of well-poured beers)
tie 5. Wilde Rose Restaurant (convenient eatery with”Wilde Rose” beers on tap/excellent food. Should have tried sooner)
Top 5 Bierkellers (a weak year so I’ve included Biergartens):
1. Max-Bräu Keller (finally got to this excellent Keller with a very good contract beer from Zehendner, super Brotzeit and friendly staff)
2. Bähr Keller (scenic Keller/great Brotzeit & contract beer)
3. Hebendanz Keller (I’d been here a few times but when writing up my Forchheim Pocket Guide, I realized I’d never written it up. Not my favorite up on the Hill but worth checking out)
4. Goldene Gans Biergarten (riverside Biergarten with a nice view/good food/decent self-brewed beer/very friendly staff)
5. Herzogkeller (adjacent to Bayreuther Brauhaus, more or less their Ausschank and a Keller with a fair history)
Top 5 Breweries (ones with pubs next to or with official brewery taps/beer, food and pub all considered in ranking):
1. Brauhaus Hersbruck (renovated and reopened brewery tap, featuring full line-up of Hersbrucker beers/excellent food)
2. Kanone Bräustüberl (the Kanone Ausschank is only open one weekend a month but the passionate brewer ensures a top spot. Excellent food and full line-up of their beer)
tie 3. Rosenauer Hofbräu (almost a hobby brewery with good snacks/beer)
tie 3. Altenberger Brauhaus (similar hobby type brewery with some excellent beer/did not eat but looked good)
tie 4. Kaiserhof Gaststätte (reopened Ausschank with line-up of Kaiserhof beers/didn’t eat due to opening times)
tie 4. Schmitt-Bräu (renovated/reopened brewery doing a couple of their own beers/some contract beer/excellent food and a really nice pub)
tie 5. Waldschloss Bräustübl (rustic pub with good Brotzeit)
tie 5. Zirndorfer Bräuschank (shows what money can do/excellent food, full range of their beers, good Biergarten)
Top 5 stand alone breweries with no taproom:
1. Bürgerliches Brauhaus Wiesen
2. Rhönbrauerei Dittmar
3. Bräuhaus Rügheim (Brauverein Hofheimer Land)
4. Brauhaus Unfinden
5. Kommunbrauhaus Junkersdorf (an der Weisach)
Top 5 Weizens on tap:
1. Brauhaus zum Sternla Dunkles Weizen
2. Rosenauer Hofbräu Saschi’s Weiße
3. Kommunbrauhaus Junkersdorf (bei Weisach) Weizen
4. Freudenecker Fischer Kellerweisse
Top 5 bottled Weizens:
2. tie Dittmar Rhöner Weisse / Dittmar Rhöner Schwarze Hefeweizen
3. tie Wiesener Räuberweisse/Kanone Weizen
5. tie Felsenbräu Weizenbock/Zehendner Weizenbock (didn’t have five new Weizenbocks but the best of the lot)
Top 5 Festbiers on tap:
3. Weiherer 150th Anniversary Festbier
4. Wagner Bräu Oberhaider Mühlendbier on tap
5. tie Brauhaus zum Sternla Dunkles Festbier/Schroll Kerwabier
Top 5 bottled Festbiers:
Top 5 bottled Bock beers:
2. Roppelts (Trossenfurt) Bock
3 tie. Wiesener Frühlighsbock/Hönig Eichen Bock Rauch
5. tie Wettelsheimer Bock Dunkel/Gessner Dunkler Bock
Top 5 light-colored Bocks on tap:
1, Ulrich Martin Josephi Bock gravity barrel at Bockanstich
2. Hölzlein Bock from gravity dispense
3. tie Hübner (Wattendorf) Maibock/Friedels Friedelator
4. tie Göller (Drosendorf) Maibock/Göller (Zeil) Helles Bockbier
5. Adler-Bräu Hellerbock on tap
Top 5 dark-colored Bocks on tap:
1. Roppelt (Trossenfurt) Bockbier from gravity dispense
2. Zum Löwenbräu Stark Löwe gravity
3. Kloster Kreuzberg Weihnachtsbock gravity
4. Altenberger Brauhaus Maibock
Top 5 bottled light-colored non-Bock beers:
1. Wiesener Altfränkisches Landbier
Top 5 light colored non-Bock beers on tap:
1. Hölzlein Rauch gravity dispense
5. tie Kaiserhof Pils/Kesselring Pils
Top 5 bottled amber colored non-Bock beers:
1. Dittmar Rhöner Landbier Premium
Top 5 amber colored non-Bock beers on tap:
1. tie Hartleb Vollbier gravity dispensed/Brauhaus Rügheim Spezial Lager
3. Brauhaus Brünn Hausbier at BR Radl Tour
5. tie Thomann Füchsla/Bierprinzessin Hassberg Vollbier
Top 5 bottled dark beers:
1. Weiherer Zapfenduster Hofzfassgelagert
3. Gasthausbrauerei Hufeisen Urdunkel (previously had a very bad one on tap)
Top 5 dark beers on tap:
1. Altenberger Brauhaus Schwarzbier
2. Reh Altfränkisch Landbier Dunkel
3. Bürgerbräu Hersbruck Dampfsud
4. Hönicka Bräu Wonnesud Dunkles Spezialbier
Top 5 Kellerbiers on tap:
3. Bähr Pils (brewed by Göller in Zeil)
5. tie Goikel-Bräu Kellerbier/Waldschloss Bräu Kellerbier
Top 5 Adventures:
1. Back to Back to Beer Hiking
2. I feel fine on the Kösseine
tie 3 What’s in a name? A lot when it’s Dittmar
tie 3 Framing Unterfranken in Frammersbach
tie 4. A blind man walks into a Franconian village with three breweries & can’t find a beer
tie 4. Kronach: The Kaiser, The Duck & the Pächter Fäctor
5. On finding Unfinden
Top Five Fests:
1. Ebern Genussfestival 2024: A Beer Enjoyment Odyssey
2. Kerwa Kalender & Kronicles
3. BR Radl Tour 2024 in Ebern: The beers after the storm
4. Not Bad in Bad Staffelstein: the Bierbrauerfest
5. Franconian Bockanstiche Round-up 2024
Top 5 innovations for Beerwanderers in 2024:
1. Search for a Brewery/Pub/Bierkeller by Interactive Map
2. Bockanstiche Calendar
3. Search for a brewery by transit hub:
4. The Pocket Guide to the Best Bamberg Countryside Breweries
5. The Pocket Guide to the Best Forchheim & its Countryside Breweries
I know I have a tough job but someone has to do it. It does cost money visiting the various breweries, especially as Beerwanderers goes further into the harder to reach parts of Franconia. Hopefully, this information will be helpful for your future planning. Please consider buying me a beer 🍺!
Beerwanderers was busy not only exploring new beery locations but also showing 78 people new to the area the wonders of our beer hiking paradise. I won’t even try to pick a Top 5 of the wonderful groups I’ve had the pleasure to get to know but I will post a few photos to show the good times we had:
Want to learn more about Franconian beer styles: Try ABeerC.
Heading to Bamberg. Don’t leave home without The Pocket Guide to Bamberg’s Best Beer.
Looking for someone to take you there? How about me?
Awesome list. What a great way to make a living. Need an apprentice? lol. There is so much material to read just off of these lists…thanks for all the details.
You’re most welcome, Matt. Glad you are enjoying the content and most importantly finding it useful. It’s not a very high paying job, in fact I believe I am probably in the red but it’s certainly very enjoyable.