Tettnang-Ravensburg

(Yesterday: Zürich-Simmerberg-Konstanz)

We spent last night drinking at zum Salzbüchsle until 1:00am, so morning came very early today. A great breakfast at the hotel along with a couple of nice strong cups of coffee got me on my way. It's another grey day, but warmer than yesterday; it's actually pretty nice out. Paid €28 for a Euregio Bodensee day pass good for travel all over the Baden side of the lake. All but one of the bus drivers acted like they'd never seen one before, but it all worked out. There's a great view of the snow-capped Alps from the Fähre. With 45 minutes to kill at Ravensburg, I guess I could have had a beer, but I choked down a bottle of mineral water instead. Nasty stuff. That's one thing I do miss about the States: big tall glasses of ice water.

I arrived at Brauerei-Gasthof zur Krone in Tettnang around 11:00am.

Brauerei Gasthof zur Krone, Tettnang	The sign reads, "For 500 years Tettnang was the seat of the renowned Count Montfort. The last of the line, Count Anton, died in this house in the year 1787."

Brewer Franz Tauscher gave me a fun quick tour of the place. He runs a 55-hectoliter brewhouse that produces 6000 hl per year. Beers are mashed using either single- or double-decoction, and the kettle is direct-fired with an oil burner. The beers contain 100% Tettnanger aroma hop flowers. Their bottling line can run 3000 bottles per hour.

Krone's lauter tun	Krone's brewkettle
Krone's bottle filler	Krone's varieties

The Gasthof looks like a pretty upscale place when you first walk in — there are only tables, no bar — but as the lunch crowd comes in, you can feel the Gemütlichkeit. Lunch today was a plate of Katzag'schroi, roughly translated as "the cat's meow": strips of steak grilled with onions and egg. Terrific beer-drinking food, heavy and salty.

Brewmaster Franz Tauscher pours a beer for me	Tettnanger Kronenbier
Tettnanger Pils	Tettnanger Kellerpils and Tettnanger See-Weizen Bio-Hefeweizen
Tettnanger Coronator Helle Doppelbock

You never know who you'll run into there: Max Leibinger was at the next table, meeting with a union leader. I'll certainly go back to zur Krone sometime, probably when I try to reach Schöre Brauerei-Gasthof in Dietmannsweiler on the next trip. Plus I need to find out what "Du freyst mych!" means.

I scooted back to Tettnang Bahnhof and just caught the bus to Ravensburg Marienplatz. It's not a long walk to Friedhofstraße and Brauerei Leibinger, but as usual I misread a sign and ended up hiking all the way up the hill behind the brewery and all the way down the other side. I finally found the Stüble tucked in among all the other brewery buildings. The sign on the door says they don't open until 4:00pm, which is more than two hours away. Leibinger is the only brewery on this whole tour for which I didn't have the opening hours, so it figures they'd be closed when I arrived.

Brauerei Leibinger, Ravensburg	Brauerei Leibinger, Ravensburg
Brauerei Leibinger's Stube

So it's back down the hill, regretting that I wouldn't be able to meet up with Andreas Praefcke this time around. Fortunately, the Bürgerliches Brauhaus Brauereigaststätte is directly on the path to the Bahnhof, so I ducked in there for a Farny Humpis-Original, which I had enjoyed here on my last trip. Even more fortunately, the WC here wasn't locked like the one at Leibinger. If there hadn't been a truck outside the building pumping out the sewer, the beer probably would have tasted even better than it did.

Bürgerliches Brauhaus Brauereigaststätte, Ravensburg	Bürgerliches Brauhaus Brauereigaststätte's Bar

My memory of the evening in Konstanz is pretty hazy. I did some Internetting alongside some Maisel Weissbier at the Shamrock Irish Pub, and my notes say we had dinner and a couple of Alpirsbacher beers at the Schindelstube. All I know for sure is that we drank lots of Köstritzer at zur steinernen Kugel, and didn't get back to the hotel until after 2:00am. Tomorrow morning is going to arrive even earlier than this morning did.

Shamrock Irish Pub, Konstanz	Bierstube zur steinernen Kugel, Konstanz
Schindelstube, Konstanz	The bar at Schindelstube

(Tomorrow: Bad Schussenried)