Bundesliga (2) and Beer
Kiel was just an hour and ten minutes on the train from my Hamburg base. An hour and ten minutes of grumbling stomach for someone who got carried away at the DIY waffle station in the hotel breakfast room.I'd brought train tickets the day before, waiting for an age in the reservation office. However, this proved well worth it as it saved me €20 compared to the selections I would have made on the automated machine. The guy serving me double-checked that it was Kiel I wanted to go to (maybe it's not a regular place tourists ask for). I told him I was on my way to a football match so he asked who was playing. "Ahh...Kiel vs Ingolstadt" he replied, "now that is a proper 2nd division match".
Yep, I was on my way to a proper 2nd division match.
I had a stroll around Kiel on arrival, trying my best to find the pretty bits.
By 10.30 I conceded that, even on a nice sunny day, there weren't a lot of pretty bits of central Kiel. Sorry.
So at this early hour it seemed sensible to visit the brew pub, Kieler Brauerei (Alter Markt 9, 24103 Kiel).
I wasn't the only one to have this idea - the place for bustling with revellers enjoying plates of eggs and bacon with their beer despite not having reached 11am yet.
Grabbing a seat adjacent to the brewing coppers and enjoyed a couple of Kieler Biers, a 4.8% kellerbier which was pleasant enough.
Being so busy, service was a little unpredictable. My attempt to order a dunkel saw another of the Kieler Bier arrives and I sat with an empty glass for some time waiting to pay. This led to some checking of the watch and the realisation that it was a fair old trek out to the football ground and I'd left it a lot later than intended for a 1pm kick-off.
Completing something of a speed-walk through the northern suburbs I was relieved to see the sight of the tall floodlights. I queued to collect pre-paid tickets at a porta-cabin, then found myself on the terrace behind the goal at the Holstein Stadion. This is presently a three-sided ground as they've levelled the old Ost Kurve open terrace with plans to build an impressive new stand there. The ground has the sort of character and quirks that attract me to the 2nd division - it's a mis-match of terracing, an old main stand straddling the half way line, make-shift VIP boxes and big traditional flood-lights.
The most devoted fans in the middle of the West Kurve made a racket throughout, despite the home team trailing to bottom-of-the-league Ingolstadt for a large portion of the match. They managed to snatch a deserved equaliser late-on to salvage a 2-2 draw.
Football over, I strolled back towards the centre along Holtenauer Strasse, stopping for coffee and a sandwich, then swinging westwards in a risky search for a brewery. It was risky because their facebook page and website didn't really make clear whether or not they would be open. Not for the first time this weekend I found myself wandering around an industrial estate , but having corrected my initial wrong turn I spotted large glass windows with brewing equipment behind them and...yes!...lights on.
Similar to Langang in Hamburg the evening before, this was a huge space, with the brewery equipment lit up with coloured lights. They had a food truck parking inside there getting ready, so I guess that if I'd have been here later it would have been much busier. I was just happy it was open. As well as their own beers there were some varied guest ales on tap, so after trying the Lille stout I picked an intriguing 'Who Shot the Almond Brothers?', weighing in at 10.2% and brewed by the superbly named Sudden Death Brewery.
I walked back into the centre, contemplating that I'd clocking up around 10km today traipsing the pavements of Kiel. Reaching the aldstadt and passing Kieler Brauerie again, just across the square is Tom Kyle Brauhaus (Alter Markt 16, Kiel). I headed up the stairs into the Sports Bar section and grabbed a seat in front of the large screen where this evenings match was about to kick-off. They also had a couple of smaller screens, one showing Arsenal v Liverpool in case I was missing the Premier League, plus a couple of pool tables and electronic darts boards.
Beer-wise it was disappointing - I tried to order a Flensburger weiss beer, but was told it was unavailable. "Just for today" the waitress added helpfully, although I wasn't about to make the trip back the next day to find out. Likewise, the dunkel was unavailable, so I had to settle for Flensburger Pilsner, a let-down after today's earlier beers.
But I'll give the place it's credit - a super spot to watch football and, in great contrast to the Kieler Brauerei, service superbly attentive. One staff member passed by a couple of times just to check everything was okay, which made me wonder if I was doing anything weird, but I was reassured to see that he checked on every other table as well.
Time came to catch the train back to Hamburg. It was a day with a few brilliant beers and a great bit of nostalgia standing on the terrace behind the goal at a football match again.
Kiel Ahoy!
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