San Diego Beer Blog

I recently had the opportunity to travel to Europe with a large group (the most cost effective way to take big trips). After spending 5 days with crappy Bulgarian beer, we were off to Vienna Austria. Vienna was 4 days of the metric system, a weak dollar, smoking indoors, street performers, museums, public transportation and most important, bier. RateBeer has put together a solid list of beer bars in Vienna, this was a life saver for us! Without it we would have never hit all the establishments we did.

Vienna’s large network of buses, street cars and subway trains make the entire city easily accessible. I paid €18.50 for a Vienna Card that allows unlimited access to the entire system for 72 hours. As an added bonus, the Vienna Card also gives a discount at most major attractions. I must have saved at least €10 by just presenting the card at various locations, well worth the investment.

Back on to the beer, my only major complaint about Vienna is that they still allow smoking indoors. Smoke kicks the crap out of my ability to smell and taste properly. Plus, the smell always seems to linger around several days after the exposure. I didn’t see any indications of an upcoming ban on smoking, some quick Google searches confirm this. Most places offered a “non-smoking” section, although they were located 10 feet from the people smoking with no airflow. Oh well, gotta deal with it I suppose.

7 Stern Bräu

Brewpub
7stern.at
Because of it’s location, under 1km from the hotel, this was our first taste of Vienna. We visited late on a Thursday night, they were busy. Our group of 10 thought seating was going to be a nightmare, luckily another large group was leaving shortly after we arrived. Our waitress was very friendly, spoke perfect English and recommended drinks for our group members having trouble selecting something. There were a couple of smokers sitting directly behind us. Overall, a great intro to Vienna.

On a separate visit to 7 Stern we used their large outdoor area normally reserved for the warmer months. This area was a great way to escape the smoky interior despite the chilly air (13°C is chilly for San Diego). While outside the Brewmaster was making his rounds and we were given an impromptu tour of the site.

India Pale Ale: A quality IPA, not overhopped. Very smooth. Clean finish. I would buy this at home.
Bamberger Rauchbier: Very strong smoke aroma. Overwhelming smoked sausage flavor. Interesting but not my style.
Chilli: No noticeable aroma. Beer starts out like the little brother of their IPA, a clean Pale Ale with a little sweetness. This is followed by a mild back of tongue and throat tingle. I had spicy burps after this beer.
Hanf: Mild cannibas aroma with a somewhat ‘green’ after taste. Enjoyable.

Plutzer Bräu

Bar
plutzerbraeu.at
Hidden around the corner from 7 Stern was Plutzer Bräu, a small bar with a large non-smoking section that was actually segregated from the smoking. They had 6 beers of draft and no bottle selection. They were out of 2 beers, maybe because it was lunch time? The diminutive selection resulted in me not taking any notes on the beer.

For lunch I had Brew House Cheese Spaetzle, a homemade pasta with cheese and garlic. The pasta had more of a dumpling consistency but it was still a good lunch.

Krah Krah

Bar
krah-krah.at
Across town from our hotel but I wanted to check it out. After figuring out the trains we were off. Krah krah rewarded us with two complete pages of beer, proper glassware and bartender with a good sense of humor. After the bartender explained Austrians distaste for Swedish beer, he made some recommendations.

Krah Krah House Beer: Clean Pilsner style.
Grieskirchen Dunkel: Sweet darker beer.
Erdinger Wheat: Cloudy pale yellow with a citrus aroma. Slight fruit after taste.

1516 Brewing Company

Brewpub
The beer highlight of my Vienna adventure! 1516 is a very international establishment, their food menu ranges from Austrian to Mexican and the staff Australian to Romanian. They have two stories of seating and it was packed for dinner both times we went. Our lunch experience was the opposite, they only had the bar area open with minimal customers.

Our dinners were over 10 people, on each visit we waited for less than 20 minutes to be seated. Service was excellent on every visit.

1516’s beer and food is excellent, this is a place I would visit often if it was stateside.

NZ Victory Hop Devil IPA: Fresh hop aroma, dark amber color, white thick head. Caramel and hop flavor. Hops aren’t overdone, nice balance, very clean.
Governator Strong Ale: Sweet smelling followed with a sweet and warming drink. Very good.
Stout: Pitch black with a very thick lingering white head. A little sweet/candy’ish taste.

That pretty much covers the beer in Vienna. There are two more items worth mentioning here.

Stift Klosterneuburg

stift-klosterneuburg.at
A monastery located just outside Vienna. Easily accessed with the Vienna Card through trains & bus. The architecture and history here is amazing, well worth the trip.

As an added bonus, they’ve been producing wine for over 900 years. They have a limited selection but the wine is very affordable (starting at €1.80 a glass). I started with their ‘cheap’ red, quite drinkable. The ‘cheap’ white is also a decent drink. The ‘expensive’ red adds a lot of body and is very nice.

Naschmarkt on Saturday

An interesting swap meet/farmers market hybrid that spans ~2km and was packed with locals and tourists alike.

Starting Saturday at 6am the swap meet aspect of this market gets going. Locals bring out their lederhosen, fake antiques, Nazi documents, old broken clocks, WWII memorabilia, clothing and other miscellaneous goodies for everyone to rummage through. I found an Austrian bottle opener from the ~30s for €10. I completely overpaid for it but when am I going to be in Vienna again?

Appeneded to this was the food area. Fresh fruits and vegetables, baked goods, a multitude of cheeses, fresh fish, some meat, stuffed olives, herbs and just about anything else you can imagine was available here. The merchants try to sell their products by offering free samples of everything. I made it out with a bag of stuffed olives and a couple donuts.

Overall

I had a great time in Vienna and look forward to going again sometime.