Cologne - Going Out in Style

One more blog post from Köln before I return to these fair shores and harp on about village pubs in Oxfordshire.
Mainly because I couldn't fit all my pictures into the previous post.  So indulge me whilst I explore the shopping centre, visit a true classic of a pub, and end up in the Palladium for a bit of live music.

There are lots of interesting stores along the pestrianised Hohestrasse, which I strolled along in the morning - a Lego store, a cheese shop, expensive Belgian chips on offer, and somewhere that meets all your statue needs, large and small...

The delivery charge won't be cheap, but Mrs PropUpthe Bar is gonna be emotional when that bronze nude turns up on the doorstep in time for Christmas.  Quite what emotions, I'm not sure.

Leaving the innerstadt, I made the essential trek across the Hohenzollernbrücke, the iron railway bridge spanning the Rhine, unnecessarily bedecked with padlocks.

The views along the river bank and back towards the dom are fantastic.  The tower in the KölnTriangle on the other side (a building site last time I was here) offers the chance to view the city from its observation deck for 5 euros - and you get to ride the elevator to it rather than tackling those 500+ steps of the cathedral south tower for a view.

The main thing that had brought me to this side of the river at 11am was the opening time of a pub that has a bit of cult status.
Lommi's is such a good-looker that there should really be some strict restrictions about parking directly in front of it and foiling pub photographers. 

Gaststätte Lommerzheim (Siegesstraße 18, 50679 Köln)
Like so many great pubs and bars, this is named after its legendary long-serving former owner.  After his parents had been serving drinks on the site since 1945, Hans Lommerzheim took over and officially opened 'Lommi's' in 1959.  It consisted one 50sq meter wood panelled and brown wallpapered room with a handful of tables and seats at the bar.
It then remained completely unchanged for the next 45 years.
After Lommi's death in 2005 Päffgen brought the pub from his widow and spent a considerable time refurbishing it before opening again in 2009.  Thankfully, modernity hasn't really encroached on Lommi's...

I visited on a Monday lunchtime, getting there just after 11am when they open for lunch.
As such, I was customer number 3, with another dozen folk arriving afterwards, but reports suggest there's often a queue formed waiting for the door to be unbolted on busier days of the week.

I'd barely sat myself down when the first glass of Päffgen kölsch arrived at the table.
No drinks list.  No checking what you'd like.
After all, what else would you be rocking up here at 11 in the morning for, if you didn't want a kölsch.

There's a sizeable menu chalked onto the blackboards - bring your translator - of what are apparantly very hearty portions of traditional cuisine.
This chap strolled in to pick up his takeaway order, finding the time for a couple of swift beers whilst waiting and looking every bit like he did this on a daily basis.

I got through a fair few of those kölschs, keeping up with the neighbouring table, knocking back my beer in preparation for the next pass-by of the waiter when your empty glass becomes a full one in the blink of an eye.
€2.20 a glass - cash only.  I paid my bill and headed back to the riverside to continue my amble down the east bank of the Rhine,  I wanted to have a closer look at the space-age buildings I could see looming over the river in the distance.

They're part of spectacularly redeveloped docks, with a Deutsch sports musuem and Chocolate museum nearby.
For a bit more traditional riverside architecture, the picture-postcard shot is back up near the centre...

Early evening with darkness descended, I opted to veer away from the trad German beer and seek out some Euro craft. 

Délirium Café Cologne (Salzgasse 2-4, 50667 Köln)
Yep - those Délirium folk have expanded beyond that alley in Brussels and now have this outpost in Köln, in the heart of the city on a pedestrianised street surrounded by pubs and food outlets.  As they don't serve food, you can grab your pizza from across the road and bring in to the Délirium cafe to accompany your Tremens.

Whilst playing table football and retro video games...

...accompanied by moody techno pop...Absurd 'Brain', Yvng Patras (who?), Baco Exu do Blues (who?)...
The music may not have been what I'd have picked, but this was a good-sized comfortable bar with a hefty list of 30 beers on offer displayed on digital screens above the bar.

This trip wasn't lengthy enough for me to be pining for a Deya 'Steady Rolling Man' or Sam Smith's 'Chocolate Stout'.
Lots of familiar brewing names on the taps with the best stuff being the Pohjana and Lervig. 

I wanted something dark, so ordered the Dutch Two Chefs 'Stroopwafel Stout 6%.  I feel like a stroopwafel stout should be double-digit strong and thick as treacle, so this light easy-drinking brew was maybe not as exciting as I hoped it would be.
I decided to look for something more local on the beer list, grabbing myself a Superfreund 'Rookie' IPA - a collaboration between the Schleswig-Holstein brewer and the Berlin Brewdog crew. 

My final night in Cologne was set to be soundtracked by Celtic folk punk rock over in the Mulheim district, watching the Dropkick Murphys at the Palladium.
Quick bite to eat from VeganLand...

Then a 10-minute walk to the venue, housed in old industrial buildings.

Boston punks Haywire opened proceedings pretty much as soon as I'd stepped through the door. 
I had time to buy a vastly over-priced souvenir tour t-shirt, followed by some vastly over-priced beer (Gilden kolsch or Radeberger Pils dispensed into your €2 deposit plastic beaker).

Frank Turner and the Sleeping Souls were the second support act.

Playing a set of favourites in front of an enthusiastic packed house, it was easy to forget that Frank wasn't the headline act and there was still another band to take the stage.
I know not everyone likes him (my friend Mr Baker took the time that very evening to text me from Portland and remind me he "didn't rate him").  But the band delviered a pretty perfect, finely-tuned 45-minute set, culminating in Turner throwing himself into the crowd during Four Simple Words.

Leaving the Dropkick Murphys to close the evening.

They delivered a 25-song set spanning their whole career: 3 tracks from their 1998 debut through to the first live airing of the just-about-to-be-released A Hero Among Many.
Plenty of old favourites too...that shouty one that everyone knows from The Departed movie, the trad folk-rock rendition of The Fields of Athenry, and a corking version of Rose Tattoo.
It was loud.  It was raucous.  It was great fun.

Waiting for the tram back from Mulheim to the city centre I reflected on a great short break - football, trad beer houses, new-fangled craft ale, a bit of sightseeing, and a bit of live music.
Hopefully it won't be too long before I'm back in Germany doing it all again.
Goodnight, Cologne.

Cologne - Kölsch Explorations

After three posts waffling on about craft beer bars, rotten weather in Aachen, and lower league football in Siegen, let me return to my base in Cologne and sample a few varieties of the local brew.

Kölsch has protected geographical indication status, meaning it has to be brewed within 50km of the city.  It also has to follow conventions set by the Cologne Brewing Society and brewed according to the Reinheitsgebot.

I was under the impression there were loads of different versions of Kölsch to try, but it turns out not to be the case.  There are 15 brands, eight of which are brewed in the same place (Früh), two of which are smaller brewers in satellite towns of Cologne, and one which is brewed for supermarket chain REWE.
Brewing giants Radeberger own six brands, but as they aren't able to outsource brewing to wherever the German equivalent of Burton-on-Trent is without losing that protected status, they've struck up a deal with Früh to contract brew for them within that 50km limit.

This post sees me knocking back 7 of the brands in the city centre at the venues below...

Früh and Sion are the obvious ommisions on my central map - both skipped on this occasion as I've visited previously and realised there was only so much Kölsch I could drink during one trip.

Let's start at the bottom of the map with a lunchtime visit to Malzmühle.
If I can get there in one piece...
From the Heumarkt you're the wrong side of a tricky road layout - there were no less than 7 sets of traffic lights to tackle, tram lines to cross, and buses swinging into a layby to present one extra traffic hazzard before reaching the front door.

Brauerei zur Malzmühle (Heumarkt 6, 50667 Köln)
Malzmühle was rebuilt after the war, the grey stone doorway being all that was standing of the original building.  A revolving door whisks you into a pleasant interior of dark wood panels and traditional-looking rooms spread over a couple of floors.

Drinker-only, I was directed to a high table near the stairs and provided my first 200ml stange of Mühlen Kölsch...

€2.40 a glass, the beer mat marked with each one delivered to the table.  The small measures are supposed to ensure your beer is always fresh, the expectation being that you'll stay and chalk up a few of those marks.
Mühlen was somewhere I was happy to have a few - their interpretation of the style has a malty touch, which makes sense being as they're named after a grain mill which once used to stand on the market square. 
Very smart loos in the basement, too, with a nice bit of bottle top decoration...

Next up, Gilden, at the impressive gabled building on the market place...

Gilden im Zims “Heimat kölscher Helden" (Heumarkt 77, 50667 Köln)
This is the same thing that caught me out in Aachen - wonderful looking exterior tempting me in...dubious modern interior.  Malzmühle's revolving door was good.  Having to push aside a heavy curtain that drapes around the door is ideal.  Automatic sliding doors, as experienced here, are a feature that don't belong in pubs or bars.
This is somewhere that has recently had a hi-spec refurb making it all very smart whilst keeping to the trad layout of tall casual tables near the bar and dining rooms beyond.  Fake wooden barrels dispensing the beer stood on an immaculate stainless steel bar counter with neon signage on the front of it.
Oh well, at least I got to try another brand of kölsch, this one now part of the Radeberger empire.

The Gilden was priced at €2.40 a glass again, although I wasn't as keen on this one as the Mühlen - a bit too carbonated and indistinguishable from a pils for my liking.  A couple proved enough sat in this touristy place with a disco pop soundtrack, the cover version of Coldplay's 'Clocks' signalling it was definitely time to move on.

It's just a short walk through the altermarkt to reach the next venue: past the wedding parties taking photos in front of the unphotogenic modern side of the town hall, and the workmen laying cables in the first prep for the Christmas market.
A right turn down Mühlengasse took me to Peters.

Peters Brauhaus (Mühlengasse 1, 50667 Köln)

Not the friendliest staff encountered in the city, the person by the front door deciding shuffling a pile of menus was more important that paying me any heed.
So I took myself to the taproom to exactly the same spot I propped myself almost 10 years ago when I was last here.  This area has one giant table in front of the bar counter with huge 1.FC Köln flag hung above it.  A good spot if you want to watch the barman filling the circular kranz carriers in which the kobes whisk eleven or more beers around the bar, replacing any empty glasses.

This site has brewing history, being the home of Brauhaus zum Kranz until 1898, before spending most of the 20th century in different guises.  It looks traditional within, but Peter's only took over in 1994 and created their version of a brauhaus.
No denying they've done a pretty spectacular job, especially the back room...

Next up, one of the handiest trad kölsch outlets in the city.
Gaffel am Dom is directly opposite the towering spires of the cathedral - the view from the seats around the barrels in the front window are a stunner.  It's also very handily a couple of minutes from the railway station contributing to the fact that it always seems to be busy.

Gaffel am Dom - Brauhaus (Bahnhofsvorpl. 1, 50667 Köln)
Gaffel trace their history back to a brewery on Eigelstein which was first documented in 1302.  At the beginning of the 20th century, the Becker brothers purchased the brewery and started concoting ales under the name Gaffel, turning this into one of the cities best-sellers.  They're  currently the second biggest Cologne brewer in terms of output.
Not that any of it is brewed in the 'brauhaus' - the shiny coppers are just for show...

I went into this place with little expectation and found I really like it.
Characterful rooms bsutling with trade, plenty of casual drinking tables at the front.
I had a couple of the Gaffel kölsch, then switched to their Wiess, a cloudy unfiltered wheat beer, weighing in at 5%.  It was a joy to nurse a large mug after a succession of 200ml glasses.  And it was oh so drinkable. 

Time to call into what's now the only remaining brewpub in the centre of town.
It's a bit of a trek through the eastern streets of the innerstadt to reach Päffgen, but most sources tend to agree that this is an essential visit.

Brauerei Päffgen (Friesenstraße 64-66, 50670 Köln)

Unfortunately, I have no pictures to justify how nice this pub is within.  The main room is a long beerhall-like space with wood panels part-way up the walls, plentiful coat pegs, some stylish lighting, and grand old pictures on yellowed walls.

As the solo drinker though, I grabbed a table along the central corridor, which in the past would have provided access from the street for the carts ferrying beer from the brewhouse at the back out to the street for deliveries.

So, another good spot for watching the beer being poured from the 10l barrels - note also the pulley system to winch the next ones into place.
I found the Päffgen by far the most drinkable kölsch - light and fruity with a subtle spicy flavour - those 200ml glasses seem to empty themselves remarkably quickly.

Next up was a Kölsch brewer that I almost missed, despite their tap being just a couple of minutes from my hotel.
The Brauhaus zur Schreckenskammer is located north of the station, next door to the Basilica St Ursula - a church which is well worth visiting but which keeps limited and challenging opening hours.

The pub hours aren't that straightforward either - I'd had to wait until the 4:30pm opening time.

Schreckenskammer (Ursulagartenstraße 11-15, 50668 Köln)
Rather worryingly, the name translates as 'Chamber of Horrors' although there is nothing to justify this ghoulish moniker within the 1950's bar.
The brewery dates back much further and was once located on the route to the cities execution site.  So legend has it that the condemned were ushered into the bar for a last meal, which may just be where the name comes from.  Or maybe not...

To the right of the front door is a homely dining room with decor that gives it a lot more character than you'd expect on first glance outside.  Turn left on the way in and there is a vertical drinking area with several high tables and propping spots adjacent to the bar counter.

The Schreckenskammer kölsch is another good'un.
They may be small measures but were adding up and I was at that stage where photographing the WC signage seemed essential.
And, more worryingly, it took me a second glance to work out which was which.

 

Finally, with dark descending on the city frightfully early on these short November days, I called in to Sünner, right in the centre of town.

Brauhaus Sünner im Walfisch (Salzgasse 13, 50667 Köln)
I've saved the one 'til last from which the name kölsch appears to have originated.  The top fermenting pale beer they'd been brewing since 1906 was first referred to as kölsch in 1918.

It's possible to drink it at source in the brewery in Kalk in the west of the city (where they also brew Mühlen) although I never quite timed it right to make the trip out there.

That said, this building on Salzgasse is a striking one and their 1996 makeover has created pleasant and cosy rooms within - not a sliding door or neon sign in sight.

To the right of the front door is a drinking area with a one large communal table with bench seating surrounding it and a graveyard of tall 5-litre drinking vessels on the windowsill behind.  (I once watched those being filled in a bar in Mainz - a tricky operation that makes the collection of cracked and broken tops no surprise).

I think that the Sünner kölsch was the priciest I encountered at €2.50 a glass, although it seemed worth it to be drinking in the characterful old building.

And with that I'm declaring: Quite enought Kölsch, thank you very much.

Sportfreund and Zwickel

A trip east of Cologne in search of some fourth division footballl and a brewery tap.

Back in the 2010’s, I started making trips to Germany taking in a couple of football matches and brewpubs - my autumnal "Bundesliga and Beer" breaks.   Reviving them this year, tickets for a top flight clash eluded me.  No way was I lining tout pockets to get into 1.FC Köln at wickedly inflated prices - not to mention that I’d spend the whole build-up worrying if the ticket would actually get me in.
I looked instead to the fourth division…"Regionaliga and Riesling", maybe?

It’s 87 minutes on the RE train from Köln to Siegen, exactly the amount of time it takes to watch Stand By Me, or to make some progress through the new Mick Herron book. Except, after a while, the scenery of rolling wooded hills and meandering rivers became a distraction.

The city of Siegen is home to just over 100,000 residents. Being at a significant rail junction proved unfortunate in WW2, making the town a target for bombing raids which led to 80% of the buildings being destroyed.  So, what could have been a charming hilly University town drawing in the crowds with olde worlde gabled buildings now has little in the way to attract the tourist masses.

To be honest, the murals looked better than the real thing...

You get the Unteres Scloss next to an old church on the hill, my photograph scuppered by the construction of a Christmas market on the square in front of it.  And you get a bear donated with thanks from Spandau (the borough of Berlin, I think, rather than the new romantic hit-makers).

 

But...
And this is the game-changer...

They've got a Gasometer...

It's a 'protected monument' and one of only four such spherical gas holders remaining in the world.  I'm such an oddball tourist that this really clinched my decision to make the trip to Siegen.  That and a brewery tap...

Brauhaus Irle (Haupstrabe 18, 57074, Siegen)
Good news for reaching my 10,000 steps (and way beyond) - bad news for aching feet - was that the brewery was over a mile-and-a-half out of the centre in the wrong direction for the football ground.
I shaved 1/3 off Google's estimated walking time which meant I arrived scruffy and sweaty, at odds with most of the clintele of this smart place.

Irle are the big regional brewer, dating back to 1693, with a considerable complex of brewery buildings surrounding their brewery tap.
The stylish restaurant hadn't been quite what I was expecting, a fair number of Sunday lunch parties arriving after me.
I grabbed a cocktail lounge-style cushioned high stool at the bar in front of the beer taps.  First up: the Festbier seasonal special, a darker shade of pale with sweet toasty malt flavours.
Followed by my favourite: the dark, malty Zwickel Dunkel.
And finally the Zwickel Helles...

All in super-quick succession.  I felt the need to apologise for the speed I was knocking 'em back, unecessarily explaining to the lovely bar staff that I was against the clock with a long walk to the football ground. 

The only Irle beer currently available that I missed was the Pils, which I'd happen to find later at the stadium.  I set out with Google maps to hand, directing me over residential hilly streets which cut off a corner and meant I didn't need to bactrack right to the middle of the town.

Seriously, who put the brewery and the football ground so far out the centre in opposite directions.  C'mon Tristan Vitt - stop practicing your Jimmy Carr grin and sort out the town layout...or at least some more buses on a Sunday.

Just under an hour later (🥾...strewth) I was happy to be traipsing across a gravel car park towards a portacabin where a few scarfed football fans were queuing to buy tickets.
€12 gained me entrance to the Leimbachstadion for this Division 4 tie against Fortuna Düsseldorf U23's.
By the time I'd brought some chips (€4), beer (Irle Pils, €4, plus the necessity to buy another sturdy plastic beaker, €2), and souvenir mug (€9.90), I'd still spent five times less than they were asking for 1.FC tickets. 

I loved it in the Leimbachstadion, although I might not have said that had it poured with rain on the open terraces.  I was able to wander around the ground to my hearts content and watch the match from various vantage points.
Three-quarters of the Leimbachstadion is an old oval bowl with concrete terraces. Along one side is the covered stand with seats behind the team benches and a couple of standing sections in either corner.

Trouble with letting these Under 23's or B'teams into the leagues is that it zaps any atmosphere that away fans would have brought with them.  There is a lone Fortuna flag hung from the fence at the far end of the empty curve, but no-one visible cheering on the visitors. 
Not that they would have had a lot to cheer on - Sportfreund Siegen were two-up within 17-minutes thanks to a free kick and a penalty.

The hardcore Siegen support gathered in a corner of the covered stand and made a steady racket throughout, orchestrating the occasional call and reponse chant with supporters across the pitch on the open terrace.

 

Who on earth put that sticker there?

Düsseldorf kept themselves in the contest, slotting a goal in on the 35th minute, suggesting they may just sneak back into this.  That was until Dustin Willms scored a super 2nd half goal to make it 3-1 and guarrentee the 2,706 supporters left the stadium happy with 3-points.

Trekking back to the centre I realised I'd have 45-minutes to wait until the next train.  Would there be anywhere for a beer in this distinctly under-pubbed town?
Fricke's will do (it'd have to)...

Fricke's (Alte Poststraße 9, 57072 Siegen)
I can't say I was particuarly impressed by Fricke's, with its dubious font on the signage, dour staff, and lack of comfortable seating.  Somewhat dull, regardless of how many coloured lights have been strung from the ceiling.

There were about a dozen blokes in, several more arriving back from the football whilst I was there.  1.FC Köln's big Sunday afternoon fixture was showig on the TVs, Paulaner was the pick of the big name German brews on offer.
The bar was just a bit sparten and souless - crying out for a carpet, bench seating, breweriana, and Timothy Taylor Landlord on cask.

Oh well, it passed 25-minutes until it was time to head to the station.
Not a day for craft beer and cosy pubs, then, but a day I'd enjoyed none-the-less for a great lower-league football excursion.
And the gasometer.  Not to mention the urban cows...