Out in Freising: Weissbräu Huber

I've just spent the last week back in Bayern, and although I really like the Biohotel Hörger where I stayed the week before, and the first couple of nights this past week, I wanted to get into a town to have a poke about in the evenings. With that, I guiltily checked out of the Hörger and got myself a room in the Bayerischer Hof in Freising. A very cheap hotel. I reckoned Hörger was pretty cheap, depite the really cool rooms and little comforts, but the reason I was allowed change was that the Bayerischer Hof was cheaper. And it felt it too with a 1960's feel to the room, particularly the bathroom, where the only nod to providing comforts were two bars of Hotel Basic Line soap. Still, the room was clean, the bed comfortable and it's right on the main shopping street, so is very central. Besides, I wasn't going to be spending alot of time in the room anyway.

I had done a bit of a search to find the smaller breweries, having been drinking the Hofbrauhaus Freising beers all week in Hotel Hörger and thinking it'd be nice to see that at least. I had spotted what I assumed to be a brewery on Google Earth, Gasthof Furtnerbrau, right on the main street, but when I got there it was clearly closed up for some time, with layers of dust coating the windows. Pity.

My next target was to be the Weissbräu Huber. I was already aware that this brand had been taken over by Hofbrauhaus Freising, but I wasn't sure if the beer was still being made on the premesis. I had also been told they did some pretty mean special meals, so it seemed like a good place to try. Huber is right off the east end of the main street, with tables outside and a nice old-fashioned looking interior. Lots of hop garlands hanging around too. This is clearly a very popular place, as there was a constant stream of customers, to the extent that some had to go elsewhere because the place was just full. It has a nice feel to it, and the crowd is very mixed; young and old, dyed purple hair and bald, local and tourist. I particularly liked the table full of old women chatting away and drinking 250ml glasses of Weissbier. I had a Huber Burger, which was on special for €5.95. It was massive, and you can have as many fries as you can eat with it. I left room for beer. Incidently, I was told that beer hadn't been made on the premesis for about 20 years. Hofbrauhaus Freising had bought Huber and kept it as seperate brand.

I had already tried most of the Hofbrauhaus Freising beers, but a new one for me was their Jägerbier Naturtrub, a pale orange-amber cloudy beer that was served very cold. This is a clean, almost tart beer with a classic nobel hop flavour and a touch of ginger. The finish is dry, and slightly acidic. I reckon it was a mistake to order this with a burger really, as it just didn't stand up to the burger and felt a bit weak in the flavour department. Might be a good summer beer.

I followed this up with a Schwarzbier, which I assumed to be another Hofbrauhas Freising beer, but I just checked their website and they don't list one! I'll have to find out what it was... Whatever it was it has a nice clean flavour, being a slightly less fruity, and a little more roasty than theHofbrauhaus Freising Dunkel. I imagine it is from them. I forgot to ask!

On an aside, beside me was a group of locals who were talking to an American tourist. Yet again I heard local people saying that the Weihenstephan beer wasn't very good. Sure, they were proud of the brewery, its heritage and the university, but preferred the beers from the smaller Hofbrauhaus Freising. In fact, walking around Freising the their beers are advertised everywhere! The fact that the symbol of the town is a bear and Huber have a polar bear as their logo may also help.

And my apologies for the lack of photos! I'll make up for it with my next post, where I visit the smallest brewery in Freising.