The Search for the Perfect Pint

Sunner um Walfisch - Alstadt

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This fine little boozer can be found in the Altstadt in Koln about two minutes walk from the banks of the Rhine. We chanced on this pub after trying unsuccessfully to get into a pub that boasted that it sold 100 different beers. (It was closed and it was Saturday afternoon).

I thought the beer in here was excellent, again priced at 1.70 euros for a 25cl glass but we were served by the most miserable horsefaced cow we've ever had the misfortune to meet. She made us feel most unwelcome although this was quite probably her normal happy self. (See below). The also sold giraffes of beer. Which is nice.


Horse face.

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5/1 favourite for next Grand National

Beer mat

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Giraffes in the Sunner um Walfisch

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Brauerei Paßen 

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Another beauty of a pub in Koln. This is in a huge square and even though it rained throughout our visit, it didn't stop us standing outside with the locals supping a fantastic Kolsch or ten. They even laughed when Tededned nudged the umbrella stand and drenched one of their party.

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Bierhaus en d'r Salzgass - Altstadt-Nord
Salzgasse 5, 50667 Cologne,

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If you want good kölsch and good food - and why wouldn't you? - this is the place to come in Cologne. An English visitor expecting a pub that serves food may be surprised to find that there is no bar on which to lean and drink, so to that extent it's more like a restaurant that serves beer, but none the worse for that. The interior has a lot of dark brown wood and a sort of weathered cosiness, and when we went there (admittedly on a Saturday lunchtime when Cologne were playing Borussia Monchengladbach) nearly all the tables were full so we were lucky to get a seat and for we could watch the barman dispensing kölsch, holding the circular tray with its fifteen glasses by the central handle and twirling it under the spigot of the barrel until they were all full. When the barrel was empty a sort of Lazy Susan took it down to the cellar and another one came up. The waiters were on the go all the time dishing the stuff out, and the guidebook is right - when your glass is empty they offer you another one, and mark your tally on your beer mat. The food is solid and tasty;  Kölsch is not an aggressively fizzy beer, and so goes well with food. Don't come here for haute cuisine - come for bustle, brisk waiters, hearty food and good Kölsch.

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Bier Museum - Buttermarkt 39, Altstadt-Nord

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This isn't a kolsch pub but a bar that allegedly serves 100 different beers. I t probably does but we only tried about 10 of them. A good range of German and international beers. This is the pub that was closed on a Saturday afternoon in 2009 but when we went back in 2010 and tried it later in the afternoon it was open. Recommended, althought the toilets are difficult to get to as the stairs to the basement are quite steep. Especially after a skinful!!