Written by Franz Hofer for Tempest in a Tankard The Wirtshaus is a Central European institution deeply rooted in medieval times. During the early and high Middle Ages, inns with taverns sprung up along trade and pilgrimage routes, offering food and accommodation to weary travelers, along with stables to quarter their horses. The vast majority …
Continue reading “The Origins of the Contemporary Wirtshaus”
Written by Franz Hofer for A Tempest in a Tankard
If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times: You can never have too much Munich in your life. But what about those times you really do need a break from the big city? Maybe some meadows dotted with cows, Alpine scenery, pristine lakes, or all three? Last week I posted on my …
Continue reading “Out and About Near Munich: Beer Gardens, Breweries, and Beer Halls”
Written by Franz Hofer for a Tempest in a Tankard Cantillon with its cobwebbed rafters sheltering rows of barrels. The cheerfully riotous Delirium Café. Moeder Lambic with its rare beers. The Morte Subite, elegantly attired in art nouveau. You could spend days or even weeks in Brussels without coming close to exhausting your possibilities for …
Continue reading “Belgian Beer Café Vignettes: Poechenellekelder, Brussels”
This is a story happening right down the road from where I live…and that is not a figure of speech. The road is Washington Route 16, connecting the South Puget Sound with the Kitsap Peninsula, and the drive is 21.7 miles, door to door. The destination takes some searching or a good GPS, because the name of the destination is not in a lot of less comprehensive GPS databases…yet. That, I predict, is about to change.