Mainz to Munich

Today was a day of travel between Mainz and Munich and we are riding the train at the moment, so I thought I’d tell you about one of our “cultural fieldtrips”. I don’t think it’s a stretch to imagine this but traveling to Europe with a group of students may include an occasional sampling of local food and beverage.

After wrapping up a great stay at the European Business School and finishing up our presentations on Grohe we spent our last night heading to one of the regions oldest breweries in Mainz. We took the train back to Wiesbaden that night and in the morning we headed to Munich for the next part of our European Business Tour.

In Mainz, we discovered that the brewery is in fact a family business, one that has lasted a few generations. This is pretty typical throughout the wine and beer region and it has its roots in the church. For example, the monks of Kloster Eberbach started producing wine and beer because the water couldn’t be trusted at that time. Even in Roman times, when soldiers were posted in the region in early 400 AD, centurions were paid with three litres of wine each day. It makes you wonder how they could stand up let alone soldier but I’ve been told the alcohol content was fairly low. But we were there not to discuss Romans, but to sample a traditional German feast and to enjoy two traditional beer experiences: the “Yard” and the “Tower”.

I can tell you that the food was delicious and it is truly a wonder that the Germans are not the largest people on the planet. The “Pigs Knuckles” sound revolting but in fact this is a translational issue more than anything. The “knuckle” is more like a leg shank and in order to finish this gastronomic platter you have to have skipped a few meals first and bypass the salad bar. I had traditional schnitzel whereas others sampled the goulash and bratwurst.

We took a tour of the brewery, learned about the process of fermentation and then got back to sample the Yard. This is actually 8 little glasses of beer where your table could sample the different types of flavours. The other thing that I hadn’t seen before is the Tower – a giant tube of beer with a spigot on the bottom where a table can share a glass. I liked them both very much. Others liked them even more.

I’m hesitant to speak further about the evening except to say this was a wonderful team building exercise. We learned a little German – Du ist wundeshien – you are beautiful – and the younger guys in our group were encouraged to practice on the local students to see if it helped in “building cultural bridges”. I can say unequivocally that it didn’t work that well, but it might have been the accent they used. Still, they will undoubtedly keep trying with these new experiences under their belt. ~ MH