In my life, I’ve always wanted to do this; go to a brewery and see just how the stuff of Gods is produced; I was not disappointed.
Beautiful ruby red beer from the Ludlow Brewery
There were about 12 of us that took part in, the almost 2 hour long tour, and all seemed to be fascinated by it, both in the smelling of the hops, grains, etc – and in the tasting later!
I thought that it was:
* Interesting; it was very local oriented about their beer and their philosophy in making beer.
* Fascinating and new, when they spoke about malts, particularly the ones that are used to brew the alcohol, and then some that are only used to flavour the beer. I have made beer before, but simply didn’t know that they used this type of technique
* Links –
An interesting site, where many tours can be booked, here.
Another, where Visit England has some that are recommended.
As the title says, I still have some memories from the recent travel to Deutschland and will publish them, along with more from my trip a few weeks ago to Ludlow, in the beautiful county of Shropshire.
In addition, there are a good deal many new places here in Glasgow, that I’ve visited and will do several reviews even!
But first, just look at this old map of the travel system in Glasgow:
An old map of Glasgow’s Transport System (year unknown)
And compare to the modern plan; it’s changed. Equally, the blue circle above is the Glasgow Subway, and can be compared to the modern subway, shown below:
Glasgow Subway, the “Clockwork Orange”
To my knowledge, the Glasgow rail network is the largest all-electric one in the UK or outside of London, I can’t really remember the exact fact, and the Glasgow Subway (one line clockwise, the other counter clockwise), is one of the oldest in the world.
When I first arrived here to attend yooni, there was something called a “sub crawl”, where one would get off each station, and have a pint (or whatever)! I do recall trying it, but was completely unsuccessful . . . I wonder why.
It was only a few months ago when I was in Ludlow for a short stay. Very impressed with the “living museum” type of feel, the food, drink, architecture and the Shropshire Hills, so why not try it another time?
I did and was impressed yet again at their Ludlow Food Festival, and with it came beautiful weather as well (Ed; Of course, it’s way south of Glasgow!).
The “buyings” can be sorted into the two types of my faves; alcohol and non-alcohol!
The one thing that fascinated me, were the many alcohol stands on display, mainly aimed at Gin, but also spirits such as Whiskey; English Whiskey! I tried two of the whiskeys, a young one less than 3 years of age, and a casked one – the difference was immeasurable! The latter was like nectar, and I subsequently received a hand written email to contact the distillery, as only 400 bottles are produced each year.
I bought a bottle of the whiskey later at the Ludlow Farm shop just outside of town. The subsequent taste was similar to fire water though I think over ice or mixed it would do just fine; though to be fair it is technically not a whiskey (and it does say that), as it has not been aged for 3 years in a barrel.
Whiskey and Ale
The other purchase, was a variety of ales from the local Ludlow Brewery Co. (where we also had a tour – more on that later), with the “Red Dawn”, I believe a ruby ale, being a personal favourite.
Take a look at these bikes. They are your basic rental bikes that exist both here and all over Europe. They were in western Germany and are quite standard and functional.
Nextbikes in Germany (Rheinland-Pfalz)
I rented these for several days and were quite basic and adequate. On the other hand, whilst in Bavaria I went for a shop-based rental and got something that though more advanced, did not really have as much comfort.
It was while I was outside the shop, that I noticed MANY second-hand bikes on sale; at surprisingly high prices in my opinion!
Prices from left to right €549, €449 and €239!
I can only put this down to the German mentality of not wasting perfectly good bikes and / or their emphasis on useable quality. All of these will easily stand the test of time, and no doubt can endure the rigours of city use.
The week is among us, and I’ll continue looking back at my trip to Germany and Bavaria specifically. As above, I did a cycle tour in northern Bavaria, Franconia, and lo and behold, came across the birthplace of Levi Strauss, in Buttenheim.
I didn’t know that not only was he born in Germany, but did not leave there until he was in his very late teens. The above photo is his house and is now a museum (though it was closed on the day we cycled there).
Various from Buttenheim
This was only part of our cycle tour, which we’ll be showing more from this week, in addition to commenting on our various COVID tests that we had to do (highly bureaucratic) and looking at more things in Glasgow and beyond.
I went into a LIDL whilst in Bavaria, naturally as they are both German and exceedingly good value. But the prices and variety of the “bevvy” was exceptional.
That’s right, £1.00 for a bottle of Merlot!
As you can see, a bottle of perfectly fine Merlot (Ed; In your opinion), will only set you back a quid! Extraordinary. Though this may have something to do with both the number of local wines produced in Germany as well as the tax structure in the UK and Glasgow.
What I also saw, and have seen before, were the different types of “whiskey” – Queen Margot? But now, this “formula” has been applied to gin and gin schnapps, that have a very similar look to other, more famous real gins.
Queen Margot whiskey anybody?
But the last thing I saw, was the beer; with unbelievable prices.
Various beers and shandys (Radler)
Whether that be a very fine bottle of wheat beer, Patronus, to a nice can of Spaten (from Munich).
The week ahead, will once again be filled with Germany, as I am at present in Bavaria, but first. . .
After Frankfurt from last week, I decided to go to one of the many different wine producing areas in Germany (they have a lot!) and arrived in the area referred to as Der Pfalz; which also happens to be the hottest area in Germany.
I was based for several days in a delightful village called Nussdorf (just north of Landau), that as is common practice here, seems to have that every other house produces there own wine, to a very acceptable level!
The food is delicious; I as usual had my favourite, Flammkuchen, thrown down with a beautifully fresh and fruity Muscatel (Muskateller), that I had on more than one occasion.
I’ve been here before and of course will be back, but what always strikes me here is the utter lack of any pretension. Believe me, if this place was in France or Italy the entire world would know about the region. But if you were to read this ridiculously pretentious article, I’m glad that they don’t know about it as much.
From grapes in the street, to vineyards, to new restaurants – Nussdorf
It’s hot, inexpensive (a class bottle can set you back 7 Euros), the walking and bike riding (as it is actually quite flat) is superb, and the proximity to other regions in Germany are easily traversed, whether by car or train.
I’ve been here before in order to watch the World Cup in 2006, where I only had a few of these (in cans), but they still blew my head off!
For this latest trip, we went to Kannonesteppel, on the Textorstrasse, which seemed to be a mecca for Apfelwein enthusiasts, as there were other of these types of pub / restaurants here.
Bembel with Schnitzel and Grüne Sauce
First of all, the Apfelwein is served here in something called a Bembel; that’s the pitcher that you see here (above).
Secondly, it was a bit more flat than before and less strong (though similar to a British Scrumpy).
Finally, I was told that it is only about 4 -5 percent alcohol, and I was mixing it with mineral water so that I could stand upright at the end of the night! This combined with the schnitzel and “Frankfurter Grüne Sosse” made this meal divine. I loved it, and the hof that was packed with punters loved it too!
This week, and the following, will really only consist of my present trip in the continent, to and inside of Deutschland.
Yes, we will look at TV and also various “German’ish” things that I find and encounter on my voyages the next few weeks. for the blog,
Lady Lucan
but first, my UK TV of the last week was a fascinating interview with Lord Lucan’s late wife (she died shortly after this hour long interview was filmed in 2017), and this follows on from my TV of the Week from last week, about the Lord himself. This was fascinating, not only for the “what really happened” that night in 1974, but in the look at the psyche and mind set of the minor, though wealthy, Lords and Ladys from a bygone age. Their wealth did start to go downhill after the tax increases post-World War 2, but with many of them by the time the 1970s had started, they were simply also rans in the scheme of things. In addition, the look of this haunted and very unsympathetic woman was at times shocking, as she admitted after being questioned about her relationships in general with friends and family, that she was “always cold with people”, including her children, who apparently shunned her until her death.
German Trip:
I started this, my most recent trip to Germany, by going to Frankfurt and doing a night in one of their many Apfelwein Pubs. In reality, this was more than a pub, but a packed restaurant in a tree lined hof, that was divine. More on this later, but first, the state of airports in general and specifically, Glasgow Airport.
As always when I go to an airport, I have to stop at the duty free / perfume concessions in order to “have a spray”! Hell, it’s free and why not? This time I chose the Hugo Boss, and thought it suited me perfectly
HUGO Perfume
During the short Lufthansa flight to Frankfurt, I had the posh tea whilst the coffee was actually freshly ground, and came complete with a special drinking top to be added to your plastic cup. Never saw this before.
After landing, noted both a Lunar Rover copy and a crap table conveyer belt. I look forward to the rest of the trip.
Curious Bystander 