And on to Brno

There are several places for a visitor to Vienna to take a day trip. Sopron in Hungary is less than 90 minutes away by train. The same goes for Bratislava in Slovakia and Brno in the Czech Republic. I had been on a trip to Brno before, and I knew what to expect. I therefore chose to revisit the Moravian city.

I like to travel by train, and taking the train to Brno from Vienna was no problem at all. There are several trains a day, and the one I took was an express train to Prague that had Brno as one of its stops.

There are several train stations in Vienna. My Prague bound train went from the Meidling station. On the way through the city, the train passed the site of the old Südbahnhof. The Austrians are building a new main railway station for Vienna there, and right now it is nothing but a large construction site.

The hilly landscape between Vienna and the Czech border is beautiful. You see several small villages, and there is also some farm land.

Across the border the train stopped at Břeclav. I decided to walk into the station building to see if there was any beer available. One of the newsagents' was open, but for some reason it did not sell beer. The other was closed, but of course I could see through the window that various beer cans were available. I went back to the train without beer.

After a short while, the train arrived at Brno. Brno's railway station is a beautiful building. The same can be said about the city itself. It has a compact city centre, and it is easy to walk from the train station to many sights.

One of the most known buildings in Brno is the Cathedral of St. Peter and Paul. The church can be found on the Czech 10 korona coins, and it can be seen from more or less everywhere in the city centre.


Náměstí Svobody is the main square of Brno. It is a short walk from the railway station, but lazy beer tourists can of course take the tram. The trams are the only traffic in the square, as it otherwise is a pedestrian area. That is great, as the square is a nice place without cars and buses.

One of the newest sights on Náměstí Svobody is Brnensky Orloj. This is a clock, believe it or not. From what I heard during my stay in Brno, the work is called the Brno dildo by locals.

When I got to Náměstí Svobody I was thirsty. I knew where to go. Černohorský sklep is based on the square, and it is possible to drink the very good beers from the Černá Hora brewery. It was sunny and warm weather, so a beer in the sun was a must.

I sat down and ordered a Moravské Sklepní pale lager. This is an unfiltered lager beer that I have enjoyed several times earlier. It went down quickly, and I enjoyed every drop of it. Then I had a glass of Kvasar. Kvasar is Černá Hora's honey beer. This is another lovely beer, but in the end it became sweeter than I preferred. I should have chosen another glass of Moravské Sklepní.

I then chose to go inside. The whole line-up of Černá Hora beers were available, and I found out that I would try the dark lager, Granát.

Granát was a nearly black beer with a large, solid head and a minimum of carbonation. There was a touch of coffee in the nose, while the taste was dominated by cold coffee and a touch of sweetness before a semi bitter finish. Once again I had found a lovely beer from Černá Hora, and I knew that there would be more possibilities to try more from the Moravian brewery during the next 24 hours.

Vienna's best brewpub?

Of all the brewpubs I visited in Vienna, I liked Salm Bräu the best. The brewpub is placed near Belvedere, and taking tram number 71 to the Unteres Belvedere tram stop will get you more or less next to Salm Bräu.

The fun thing is that it was not the beer that made me enter the brewpub. Salm Bräu was recommended for good dinner dishes with large portions. I had some spareribs, and they were excellent. The portion was so large that I had problems eating all of it.

Salm Bräu brews several beers. On my visit i could drink Pils, Helles, Märzen, Böhmisch G´mischt and Weizen. As always in Vienna, I started with the helles. This was a cloudy beer with some carbonation and a medium sized head. There was not much aroma from the beer. In the mouth I felt malts, yeast and biscuit before a watery finish with a touch of hops. As I was sitting outside in the beer garden drinking this beer, it felt perfect as the sun was shining.

I also had a go at Salm Bräu's pils. This beer had nearly no carbonation and a medium sized head. I felt a touch of grass in the nose, while the taste was a little bit more bitter than the helles. The finish was hoppy. I also liked this beer a lot, but that day the helles was my favourite.

There was also time to try the wheat beer. The weizen was a cloudy beer with some carbonation. It had some banana in the nose, and the banana was also leading in the mouth with some bread and a sweet touch of tutti frutti bubble gum. This was another nice beer.

I had a great time at Salm Bräu, and I can recommend the brewpub for both the beers and the spareribs. A little piece of advice: There is a happy hour on weekdays between 3PM and 5PM and at Saturdays between 12AM and 4PM. All beers are then at half price. That is a bargain!

Another great brewpub in Vienna

Vienna has several great brewpubs. One of them is Siebensternbräu in Vienna's 7th district. It is easy to find. Take tram number 49 to Stiftgasse. From there it is a short walk to the brewpub in Siebensterngasse 19.

When you enter the pub, the first thing to see is a vending automat. Here you can buy bottles of Siebensternbräu's various beers to take away. Inside, Siebensternbräu is a large beer hall with prominent beer kettles next to the large bar. I sat down at a table looking at a beer coaster. It had a clever design presenting the brewpub's seven standard beers. These are Wiener Helles, India Pale Ale, Chilli Beer, Märzen, Prager Dunkles (dark lager), Hanf Bier (hemp beer) and Bamberger Rauchbier (smoked beer). In addition to these beers, the food menu offered a seasonal special. At my visit this was Oster Bock, an Easter beer.

Being in Vienna, the Helles was the right place to start. This was a cloudy, pale lager with nearly no carbonation and a large head. The nose was yeasty with a touch of malts. The taste was sweet with some bread before a slightly bitter finish with more yeast. This was quite different from the ordinary Austrian helles beers I had tried in Vienna, and it felt more like a Czech kvasnicove.

For some reason I have no pictures of the next two beers I tasted at Siebensternbräu. Oster Bock was one of them. This was a golden beer with some carbonation and a medium sized head. The taste was sweet with some malts before a touch of vodka dominated the aftertaste. This bock beer was ok, but it was not a favourite.

The Bamberger Rauchbier was a very nice dark beer. It had a large head and some carbonation. In the nose I felt smoked bacon. In the mouth there was malts, smoke and more bacon. I liked this beer a lot, and it is probably the best smoked beer I have ever tasted.

The last beer I tried at Siebensternbräu was the Märzen. This was a cloudy copper coloured beer with a large head and nearly no carbonation. I felt a solid dose of yeast in the nose. In the mouth this beer had a malty touch together with some caramel and some burnt notes. This beer felt like a hefe version of a Bavarian lager. It was tasty, but I felt that the Rauchbier was the best beer I tried at this brewpub.

Siebensternbräu is a brewpub to be recommended to visitors to Vienna. The beers were very good, and I also enjoyed being in the pub. It is one of the best places for a beer tourist in Vienna.

Finally 1516

I had visited the 1516 Brewing Company brewpub in Vienna on a busy evening, so I decided to be back later. At lunchtime another day I had some time. After taking a tram to Schwarzenbergplatz, I walked to the pub in Schwarzenbergstraße.

I could only have one beer at the 1516 Brewing Company, so I read some beer reviews on the internet before coming to brewpub. There was praise to find about the Victory Hop Devil India Pale Ale, so I decided to have that beer. This is a whole leaf hopped beer that has won prices, so I was happy to find it on the menu.

In the glass this is a cloudy beer with some carbonation and a large head. I felt some grapefruit in the nose, while the beer tasted of more grapefruit and some malts before a bitter and hoppy finish.

Victory Hop Devil India Pale Ale was a wonderful beer, and it was a shame that there was not more time for me to try other beers from the 1516 Brewing Company's menu. But perhaps if I get back to Vienna?

More Austrian lagers

Pale lagers in bottles, cans and from tap are the norm in Austria. Sure, other beer styles are available, but pale lagers called helles, pils and märzen seem to be the most popular beers.

Kapsreiter brewery is based in Schärding am Inn. The Kapsreiter Landbier has one of those nice retro swing top bottles. In the glass this is another average pale lager with some carbonation and a little head. The nose is malty, and the taste is very sweet with a touch of malts before a finish with a touch of vodka. This was not my favourite beer, and it was way too sweet.

Wieselburger Gold is a pale lager with some carbonation and a medium sized head. There is nearly no aroma from this beer. In the mouth I feel malts, sweetness and a watery finish. This is another boring lager from the Austrian brewery, which also sells beer under the Kaiser label.

A Zipfer trio

The beers from the Zipfer brewery seem to be available in most supermarkets in Vienna. Zipfer is based in the Austrian city Neukirchen an der Vöckla, and it is owned by Heineken. During my stay in Austria I bought four different Zipfer beers. One of them, Zipfer Radler, is the brewery's take on shandy. I felt the beer/lemonade cocktail was refreshing, but I will not go into detail on that beer. Instead I will focus on the three others: Zipfer Urtyp, Zipfer Medium and Zipfer Märzen.

Zipfer Medium is a version of Zipfer Urtyp with a lower alcohol content. The beer has 3% alcohol and is a pale, fizzy lager. There was nearly no aroma from this beer. In the mouth malts were dominating before a watery finish. The beer was quite alright at this alcohol strength, but I felt that it is not a must buy-product.

Zipfer Urtyp had nearly no carbonation and a medium sized head. This pale lager has 5.4% alcohol and a nose of sweetness and grains. In the mouth there is malts, grains and a touch of lemon before a sweet finish with more lemon. This was a very good pale lager that I would have liked even more with a less sweet taste.

I tried Zipfer Märzen from bottle. This is a pale lager beer with 5% alcohol. The beer had some carbonation and a medium sized head. There was nearly no aroma from the beer, and in the mouth malts took the lead combined with some sweetness. Zipfer Märzen is an average pale lager, and of these three I prefer the Urtyp pale lager.

Zwei helles, bitte!

Spring can be warm in Vienna. As I was coming from a meeting, the thermometer showed more than 20 Centigrades. It was hot being on tram number 71, and I had more than an hour before my next appointment. Just before the Rennweg tram stop I saw several pubs. Obey your thirst, a commercial for a soft drink told us once upon a time. I did that. I jumped off the tram and entered the taproom advertising a beer I had not tried before. It was Hubertus.

Gasthaus Binder was a place for both a meal and some beverages. I was not hungry, so I went for the beer option. Being in Vienna, I asked the waiter for a large glass of pale lager, helles.

The helles arrived, and to my astonishment I was not given a half litre of Hubertus. Instead, a glass of Ottakringer helles was there to take care of my thirst. The Ottakringer helles is by no means a bad beer. In the glass it is a pale lager with some carbonation and a medium sized head. The aromas were fruity with a touch of grains. In the mouth I felt more fruits. Then there was a somewhat bitter finish. I liked the beer, and it was a nice pale lager for a thirsty person.

I was ready for another beer, as the Ottakringer helles went down in a few minutes. I asked for another helles from another brewery. This time a helles from the Hubertus brewery appeared. The brewery's logo is very nice. The first time I saw it I thought of the Jägermeister logo, which is alike.

In the glass the Hubertus helles was very fizzy. It was a pale lager with a large head. The nose was malty, but there was not that much taste from the beer. I felt some apples and a touch of malts before a watery finish.

My visit to Gasthaus Binder was short and enjoyable. The friendly bartender spoke an Austro-German dialect that was difficult to understand, but he did a great job serving me. There were more draught beers on sale, but I had not time to check them out. But perhaps next time in Vienna?

Austrian wheat beers

There are several breweries in Austria making good weissbier. One of them is the Edelweiss brewery. The brewery's slogan is "Alpenfrischer Genuss", which can be translated into English as "fresh enjoyment from the Alps".

In a supermarket in Vienna I found two wheat beers from the brewery, and of course I took some bottles back to the hotel room. I first tried Edelweiss Hofbräu. The beer was cloudy with aromas of banana. The banana was very assertive in the mouth with a bready touch. I liked this wheat beer a lot, and I would like to try it again head to head with excellent German weizens like Paulaner and Weihenstephaner.

Then it was time for Edelweiss Hefetrüb. This was another beer with much banana in the nose. There was nearly no carbonation, and it had a medium sized head. In the mouth I felt some banana and bread before a watery finish. Edelweiss Hefetrüb is a nice wheat beer, but Edelweiss Hofbräu is the better and tastier choice.

During a visit to a pub in the city centre of Vienna I tried another wheat beer. I have forgotten the name of the pub, but it offered a wheat beer from the Zwickl brewery. This cloudy wheat beer was far from fizzy and had a decent, medium sized head. The nose had aromas of bread and banana. In the mouth I felt bread and yeast before a finish with a touch of banana. Zwickl weizen was another nice wheat beer, but I felt that the Edelweiss Hofbräu was the best of these three beers.

Two brewpubs in Vienna

There are many pubs and taprooms in Vienna. If you want a beer, it is easy to find somewhere to drink. Among the pubs there are also several brewpubs spread around the Austrian capital.

One of the brewpubs is the 1516 Brewing Company. It is based in Schwarzenbergstraße street in the city centre. If you take the tram to Schwarzenbergplatz, it is just a short walk to the brewpub. I was visiting the 1516 Brewing Company on an evening in April. It was a soccer game on the screens, and the place was packed. There was nowhere to sit down, so I decided to leave the brewpub for now.

Instead I went into the nearby Schellinggasse street, which also has a brewpub. The screens in the Schwarzenberg Stadtbrauerei also showed soccer, but there were several places to sit down. I guess Schwarzenberg Stadtbrauerei is not as popular as the 1516 Brewing Company among the local soccer crowd.

It was time for a beer, so I ordered a Schwarzenberg Helles. It was one of five draught beers on offer. They also sold a dark beer (Dunkles), a wheat beer and a honey beer. If you like a mix of pale and dark beer, a G'mischtes was also available.

Schwarzenberg Helles must be considered another decent pale lager. In the glass it had nearly no carbonation and a large head. It had an aroma with a touch of malts, and in the mouth I felt more malts, some bread and some bitterness. It was a nice lager, and I felt it was a great session beer for Summer.

I should have tried some of the other beers at Schwarzenberg Stadtbrauerei, but the helles was more than good enough that evening. After another half litre of helles, I left the brewpub in a good mood.

A visit to the Schweizerhaus

The easiest way to get to the Prater park in Vienna is by taking the U-Bahn to the Praterstern metro station. The park is next to the station, but first you must walk through the fun fair.

There are several eateries and restaurants in the Prater park. One of them is the traditional Schweizerhaus, which has a large beer garden. The menu has an extensive selection of Austrian courses, and there are several beers available on tap.

The Czech Budvar golden lager is the main beer at Schweizerhaus, but you can also get Budvar's dark lager or a G'mischtes where you get a mix of both lagers. Also available as draught beers are Grieskirchner Dunkles, Paulaner Hefe-Weißbier, Rotes Zwickl and the alcohol free Clausthaler.

I have had my share of Budvar on my visits to the Czech Republic, so I started with a Rotes Zwickl after sitting down at the beer garden. This brownish beer from the Ottakringer brewery is a naturtrüb beer. In the glass it had very little carbonation and a medium to small sized head. The nose had malts and a touch of yeast. In the mouth malts and caramel had a dance together with a touch of sourness before a bready finish with some yeast. A lovely beer!

In retrospect I should have taken another Rotes Zwickl or tried the Grieskirchner Dunkles. Instead I went for a beer I know very well, Paulaner's wheat beer. For some reason I had a craving for a weizen, and I knew that I would get a good one.

Paulaner Hefe-Weißbier has a lot of banana in the nose, and the taste is dominated by banana, bread and a touch of spices before a sweet and lasting finish with more banana. The beer is lovely, and it is one of my favourites. It is also better as a draught beer than from bottles, so it was pure bliss. The Paulaner brewery knows how to make an excellent wheat beer.

I left Schweizerhaus knowing it was a great experience being there. The beer was good, the weather was good and the beer garden was good. Actually, life and Vienna was good.