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07-11-2013, 13:24
Visit the Tandleman's Beer Blog site (http://tandlemanbeerblog.blogspot.com/2013/11/dear-do-in-dusseldorf.html)
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-W9whb21awXc/UnqS0hPgKNI/AAAAAAAAFXQ/Ie1TSKzrr10/s200/kuerzer.jpg (http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-W9whb21awXc/UnqS0hPgKNI/AAAAAAAAFXQ/Ie1TSKzrr10/s1600/kuerzer.jpg)Germany, well North Germany, is getting an expensive place to drink. On my recent trip to Düsseldorf, the brew pubs in particular, the glorious four of Uerige, Schumacher, Fuchsen and Schlussel all the alt beer hovered around the €1.80 mark for a 25cl glass. That's pretty hefty, especially when you effectively pay €2, as given that when there was a lot of us and the bill was paid jointly, you ended up chipping in two euros for convenience. Even when you paid yourself, it seemed a bit petty to wait for 20c change. I'm guessing too that is pretty standard. Not a great deal for the drinker, but admittedly it was at least nice for the waiter. Twenty five centilitres isn't much either, so you end up with quite a few glasses to pay for.
Germany is wealthy. North Rhine Westphalia is one of the better off places in a better off country. Düsseldorf is one of the better off places in a better off state. You see the picture. The place seems to be booming. The pubs were pretty much full to bursting point. We were refused admission to some, so busy were they. Even with these pubs typically flowering into room after room receding into the distance and deep into the bowels of the earth where even more rooms lurk, it was "house full." There was no room (or very little of it) at the inn. Dining, despite its sameness in that part of the world, edges drinkers out too and a point for those that think smoking bans always affect trade adversely, North Rhine Westphalia has recently extended its ban to all but the smallest of places and that seemed to make no difference to custom at all. Pub going was a thriving affair in every way.
Nor, in most cases, did you have to run a gauntlet of smokers outside. They all seemed just to be getting on with it despite smoking being more or less a national sport. A different world it seems.
There is a degree of confidence, maybe more than that in Germany that you just don't get at home. More to follow.
More... (http://tandlemanbeerblog.blogspot.com/2013/11/dear-do-in-dusseldorf.html)
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-W9whb21awXc/UnqS0hPgKNI/AAAAAAAAFXQ/Ie1TSKzrr10/s200/kuerzer.jpg (http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-W9whb21awXc/UnqS0hPgKNI/AAAAAAAAFXQ/Ie1TSKzrr10/s1600/kuerzer.jpg)Germany, well North Germany, is getting an expensive place to drink. On my recent trip to Düsseldorf, the brew pubs in particular, the glorious four of Uerige, Schumacher, Fuchsen and Schlussel all the alt beer hovered around the €1.80 mark for a 25cl glass. That's pretty hefty, especially when you effectively pay €2, as given that when there was a lot of us and the bill was paid jointly, you ended up chipping in two euros for convenience. Even when you paid yourself, it seemed a bit petty to wait for 20c change. I'm guessing too that is pretty standard. Not a great deal for the drinker, but admittedly it was at least nice for the waiter. Twenty five centilitres isn't much either, so you end up with quite a few glasses to pay for.
Germany is wealthy. North Rhine Westphalia is one of the better off places in a better off country. Düsseldorf is one of the better off places in a better off state. You see the picture. The place seems to be booming. The pubs were pretty much full to bursting point. We were refused admission to some, so busy were they. Even with these pubs typically flowering into room after room receding into the distance and deep into the bowels of the earth where even more rooms lurk, it was "house full." There was no room (or very little of it) at the inn. Dining, despite its sameness in that part of the world, edges drinkers out too and a point for those that think smoking bans always affect trade adversely, North Rhine Westphalia has recently extended its ban to all but the smallest of places and that seemed to make no difference to custom at all. Pub going was a thriving affair in every way.
Nor, in most cases, did you have to run a gauntlet of smokers outside. They all seemed just to be getting on with it despite smoking being more or less a national sport. A different world it seems.
There is a degree of confidence, maybe more than that in Germany that you just don't get at home. More to follow.
More... (http://tandlemanbeerblog.blogspot.com/2013/11/dear-do-in-dusseldorf.html)