Yesterday I wrote about Vogelbräu, a brewpub in Karlsruhe Germany. I had neglected to mention that, not only was it an evening with perfect biergarten weather it was asparagus season, as you can see from the above photo.
Now, for those of us who grew up with green asparagus, those funny looking white things in the picture above are in fact white asparagus. I’m not sure how it’s grown, although I’ve heard something about it requiring darkness, but there’s a very short season in June when the stuff is fresh and available, and it’s really quite tasty. The traditional accompaniment …read more

Vogelbräu is a brewpub on the outskirt’s of Karlsruhe’s city center. Being the selfless fellow I am, I checked it out for you in the lovely (and surprisingly large) beergarden which is hidden in the interior court of the brewpub building. The pils was delicious, but not in the classic sense. When I think of pils I generally think of a clear, light-colored, and hoppy beer with relatively little malt taste, and usually highly filtered.
The pils at Vogelbräu, in contrast, is not filtered, and the hops are challenged for supremacy by a strong malt taste. It’s a good beer, although …read more

I’m off soon on one of my periodic trips to Europe (much to my co-blogger’s chagrin), and just in the nick of time, since it’s the beginning of biergarten season.
On a warm summer day in Munich there’s nothing I’d rather do than take the subway (or, better, bike) to Münchner Freiheit and wander through the English Gardens to the beergarden at Kleinhesselhöher See, a man-made lake in the middle of one of the Europe’s largest urban parks. Many guidebooks would send you to the beergarden at the Chinese Tower instead, but I’ll take a beergarden on a lake any day. …read more