Zoigl Bier

Saturday night, we got another taste of Germany that not every tourist gets when they visit. Zoigl bier.

Zoigl bier is brewed in two small towns here in the area where I live. It's brewed by communal brewers so it's also called Communbier.

Zoigl is a beer style going back to the times when brewing rights were granted to individuals living in a defined area of town. They place a sign outside the gasthaus, a star often called the Star of David, when the Zoigl bier is ready.

It is only available when this star is out, but oh what a party it is. My neighbors organized this outing. It was our upstairs neighbors, our next door neighbors and then a couple of American friends of mine from post. We hired a taxi for the 30 minute ride each way so that we could all imbibe.

It's called a bottom-filtered beer. Personally, I don't really know what the difference is, but I'm always up for a party. The place we went was a converted house and we were sitting in the garage. They also serve great snacks. I had the cheese plate for dinner. In the middle of the plate was sauer käse or sour cheese. It was actually cheese that was marinated in vinegar and onions. It was pretty tasty.

 They also made fresh pretzels in the same star shape as their signs, but I forgot to get a picture of that. Oops. It was too good and we tore into it right away. We had a good time talking, laughing, eating and drinking Zoigl bier.

As I said before, not many tourists get to experience this side of Germany. Not unless they know about it and can find the small taverns that serve it. I feel lucky, once again, that our German neighbors have taken us under their wing, befriended us and include us in these jaunts around the area. I can honestly say that when my time here is over, I will have experienced Germany as most Americans have not.

Oh, an aside. Armin, my neighbor upstairs told my friend Sabrina that though he had an accent when he spoke English, I've been learning a lot of German and when I speak it, I have no accent. I sound like a German. Cool, huh?

So, who's coming over to visit this summer to try the Zoigl bier?

Back to Business

First of all, thank you to all who posted well wishes for me Friday. It was a happy day for me, though I did have to work the part time job that day. I was bursting to tell everyone, although my coworkers are tired of hearing about it, I'm sure. Suzanne, you are the winner of a free copy of Stellar Heat. Please email me at riley@riley-quinn.com with the email you want it sent to.

This past weekend was a busy weekend. We started off Saturday with a trip into post to do laundry. I think once we know we're staying longer, I'm getting a washer and dryer for the apartment. The German version is much different though, but trekking into post and then NOT being able to do laundry… When we showed up at the laundromat, it was full of soldiers. I mean, every single machine taken. I've never seen it that busy before. So we headed to the PX (Post Exchange – kinda like Walmart) and an early lunch.

Outside the PX was a Turkish company selling carpets. Now, we've lived here over a year. We've needed carpets for the living room for all this time, but we finally got around to buying some Saturday. Below is a picture of the large one. The couch (in pieces, as you can see) sits on it perfectly and I think the coffee table we have coming will slide right into place. We have a smaller rug and a runner coming that should be here on Wednesday. Once we get the furniture (end of May *fingers crossed*), I'll post a pic of the whole effect. I can't believe the difference the one rug makes.

Then we ate lunch, bought groceries and headed home where we were promptly invited to join the neighbors behind us for dinner. Our neighbor's birthday was Saturday and his son's birthday was Sunday so we celebrated by grilling out. I know I've talked about German food before but have I mentioned the spread they put out? Yum. We had bratwurst, bauch (not sure if I'm spelling it right) which is kind of like really thick bacon, and pork steaks along with potato salad, pasta salad, bread and stuffed banana peppers. Everything was so good.

Sunday I did some work in the office, had my chat with my accountability group and then trekked upstairs for another birthday party. There were 3 kinds of cake, coffee and then later in the evening, baked trout. I swear, I don't know how Germans keep from being huge. Must be the schnapps.

So, lovely weekend with beautiful weather. Yesterday it reached 75 and was sunny. As my neighbor, Renate, said, "Balcony season is open." Today is more like the Germany I'm used to, though. It's overcast and rainy. Cooler than yesterday, but still about 60. I guess that's good incentive to get my work done, right. So, I'm off to the laundromat for another try, along with my trusty AlphaSmart. I really want to finish those last two chapters of the rough draft of OOTS this week.

What was your weekend like? Busy? Relaxing? Good weather?

Andlau, France

After leaving Titisee, we headed to France. We first went to the quaint town of Andlau. 

There we visited an organic winery. Really.

Monsieur Durrman, the owner of the winery, took us on a short walk to see one of his fields of vines. He explained some of the techniques that he employed as an organic vintner. He has planted apple trees among his grape vines to help shade them. Then he collects the apples in the fall and makes a yummy apple juice.

After the short walk up the hill, we went back to his wine cellar for the tasting. We tasted 5 wines – a rosé, a Muscat, 2 different Rieslings and a gewürztraminer. I'm not one for dry wines so while they all tasted fine, it was the gewürztraminer that tickled my taste buds. We ended up buying 6 bottles of it.

During the tasting, we also got to sample a regional treat called kougelhopf. It is a sweet bread, though not too sweet, made with raisins and almonds. Monsieur Durrman uses the same yeast in the kougelhopf as he does his wine. During my time in Alsace, I saw this bread everywhere and knew that I wanted to find the recipe. I even bought 2 different sizes of the twisted bundt-like pan used to bake it.

Arriving home, I learned from my German neighbors that it's popular here as well. So I guess I can buy the middle size pan here, right? I did find a recipe and will be trying it out soon. I'll let you know how it turns out and if right, post the recipe here.

Tomorrow on to Colmar.

Ever had kougelhopf? Interested? What's your favorite type of wine? Like to go wine tasting?


 

Rosenmontag

Today is another taste of Germany - a very wild taste.

In Germany and other German-speaking countries like Austria and Switzerland, today is a very festive day, the high point of Fasching (fah-shing). Fasching, or German Karneval, is much like Mardi Gras in the States and Rosenmontag, or Rose Monday, is comparable to Fat Tuesday in New Orleans.

Celebrations usually include dressing up in costumes, dancing in the streets, parades and heavy drinking. Drinking in Germany? No way! Though not a national holiday, in many of the cities that strongly follow tradition (Cologne, Dusseldorf, Mainz), many companies and schools close the Thursday before Rosenmontag through Tuesday. Just before midnight on Tuesday, there is a solemn procession to the Rathaus (rot-house), or city hall and they usher in Ash Wednesday and Lent.

You can see what a fun bunch the Germans can be!





Ever been to Mardi Gras? If so, care to share your experience?