Monday, 12 January 2009: Ummendorf, Laupheim, and Biberach an der Riß

Yesterday: Planes and Trains

Today began early, as Paris had to meet her new colleagues for breakfast. They all drove to Biberach together, while I walked the mile or so to Bad Waldsee Bahnhof.

View from the hotel window

I should have brought my skates

As I was sitting on the train typing up yesterday's notes, I completely missed the stop at Biberach and found myself in Laupheim. So today's schedule got more or less inverted.

Kronenbrauerei und Malzfabrik Paul Eble doesn't have a Gasthaus, but the office staff kindly directed me to the nearby "3 Mohren" and sent me on my way with a bottle of Bock.

Kronenbrauerei und Malzfabrik Paul Eble, Laupheim

Laupheimer Bock

Gasthaus 3 Mohren, Laupheim

The conversation I overheard at the Stammtisch was surprisingly intelligible Hochdeutsch: African politics, brewing equipment, and which German dialects are taught in school vs. spoken at home. Lunch consisted of Flädlesuppe and Maultaschen alongside the Kronenbrauerei beers.

Because I had already botched my schedule so early in the day, I ended up waiting a half-hour for the bus to take me to the train station, and a half-hour waiting for the train to take me back to Biberach, and 45 minutes waiting for the bus to take me to Ummendorf. But I did get there in the end, around 2:30pm, and checking the schedule I found a perfectly-timed bus that would take me back to Biberach so I wouldn't have to walk the five kilometers. Bräuhaus Ummendorf is just a couple of blocks from the bus stop.

After I had sampled the beers, Owner/Brewmaster Stefan Dobler showed me around the brewery.

The pictures would normally appear here, but it seems my camera ate them. Not happy.

Back in Biberach an der Riß, I found Brauerei Grüner Baum. They no longer operate their own brewery, but they serve beers from Berg Brauerei, which I haven't been able to visit yet.

Beer Me! contributor Roland Rashleigh-Berry joined me at Grüner Baum for a few beers. It turns out that he's working for Paris' new client here, and there's a good chance that they'll run into each other during this project. Small world.

I got back to the hotel much later than I expected to, but not so late that I couldn't have a couple of beers and a sandwich at the bar, then Paris and I polished off the two bottles I had picked up along the way.

Tomorrow: Hailtingen and Zwiefaltendorf