The Birthday Beer Crawl

While my brother was visiting, he had his birthday (no, I'm not going to disclose his age, it's depressing enough for him, without me posting it all over the internet!). So we decided to spend the day in Düsseldorf sampling some beers. 

Beer in Düsseldorf? I thought all the good German beer came from Bavaria!

Oh, dear reader, strike these stereotypes from your mind. Germany brews good beer everywhere (well mostly everywhere, I would suggest avoiding Rauchbier in Bamberg). And in Düsseldorf, they're known for a special type of beer called and "Altbier." This literally means "old beer" and is so called because it's an old method of brewing (pre-lager, for beer nuts out there). And during the whole game changing Rheinheitsgebot (purity laws) of 1516, the Rhineland people were just like "hell no, we're keeping our beer the way it is!" 

There are 5 Altbier breweries in Düsseldorf that also double as pubs, so we made it our birthday goal to hit all five. But, of course, before any Altbier was to be drunk, I had some old scores to settle with Düsseldorf and therefore started our Birthday Beer Crawl with a Beer on a Boat! And yes, if you must know, the beer on the boat was everything I'd hoped it to be. And so much more. We enjoyed it so much, in fact, that we decided to stay for a second beer. I also informed my roommate that we would be heading back to Düsseldorf every weekend just for a beer on the boat. 

Our first actual Altbier brewery on the tour was Uerige. This was also one of my favorite beers. We chose a seat inside since we were a little chilled from the boat and the walking and sightseeing in between. The atmosphere was relaxed and friendly - as, I suppose, any beer hall's is, really. If I get anymore visitors, this place has definitely been added to the list of to-dos in Düsseldorf. 

Altbier number two was Schlüssel. Here, we opted to stand with the masses outside under the tents. 

From there, we headed to number 3, which was our first one that wasn't actually at the brewery. Instead, we enjoyed a Schuhmacher Alt at their well-known old city stand-alone pub location. The real brewery/pub is a little bit outside the old city, so we decided not to strain ourselves. Not going to lie though, this was our worst experience of the day. The waiter was incredibly rude, and not just in a this-is-Germany-and-there's-no-costumer-service kind of way. So we had one beer and booked it out.

For number 4, we actually broke away from the original list of 5 and opted for an Altbier that, though still brewed in Düsseldorf, does not have the actual brewery in the city center, as with the others. But we still enjoyed our Frankenheim Alt, as well as some Currywurst and Pommes (fries).

The 5th beer was at Kürzer. When we arrived at the brewery, we were the only people there, but slowly more people filled in. As a brewery/bar, this was definitely my favorite. Not in a touristy way, but in a I would totally come hang out here if I lived in Düsseldorf kind of way. I guess the best way to describe it was a little bit trendy. It was very enjoyable and I plan on visiting again when I'm back in the 'dorf. 

The 6th and final beer was, well, pretty much a stretch. We didn't make it to the brewery at all. It was dark and we had no idea where it was. But on our way back to the station, we found a normal bar that served the the type of Altbier we were looking for. So we ducked in and ended our night with a Füchschen Alt.