Bamberg | Germany | Old Town | writer | Frankfurt

On a man's man trip to Germany, our writer drinks his way through a few local firewaters.
Most anyone will agree there are certain occasions in life where a cold beer goes a long way. But it's probably more of a guy thing to go a long way for a cold beer. That's precisely why I find myself in one of the most remarkable watering holes I have ever had the privilege of drinking in - the Spezial Keller in Bamberg, Germany - gawking at the views of the single greatest beer-producing city in the world. ¶ Bamberg is for beer lovers. There are 10 historic taverns in this small town (population 70,000), many dating back to the 16th century, and 300-plus breweries in the surrounding countryside (the highest concentration per capita in the world). Many of the beers for which this region is famous are rarely found outside its boundaries. It hardly needs pointing out that Bamberg beer is unparalleled, and brew fans don't think twice about traversing oceans to get hold of some. So grab a buddy (you'll need each other to navigate the cobblestones at night's end) and get acquainted with the holy grail of pub-crawls.

Fly into Frankfurt (we'll get to that later) and Bamberg is a two-and-a-half-hour train ride west into northern Bavaria, but don't tell anyone from Bamberg that. The city sits deep in the staunchly ethnocentric region of Franconia - no Bavarians here - an area that prides itself on, among other things, its beer (insert testosterone-fueled bellow of joy here). As if God were playing some sort of joke on your local swill house, Bamberg is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site, having emerged from the bombings of World War II virtually unscathed. As you bar hop through the city's perfectly preserved Old Town (many buildings date back to the Middle Ages), you'll literally drink in the history.