Hi! Ken here, psuedo-member of Friends with Suitcases. And to put it simply I love beer and traveling. I have an Instagram account that centers around travelling all over the world and trying the local beers @brews_traveller. So if either of those things are of interest to you, keep reading to learn all about why you should travel to Austria! Even though I’ve only been to Europe a few times, I’ve visited the beautiful country of Austria before. So what would make me go back there instead of visiting one of the many other destinations in Europe? The answer to that is delicious beer and amazing views! Austria is famous for its Alpine views and its shared love of beer with Germany. So these reasons are two of many to visit Austria! I also decided to go during December which is Christmas market season because I absolutely love Christmas and the Old World Christmas charm in Austria is unbeatable.
I’m going to start off by saying I don’t think that there is any place on Earth that does Christmas better than Austria or Germany. Except maybe Bethlehem, but they have no excuses honestly. And Austria and Germany take their Christmas markets seriously. So seriously that I could write an entire blog just on the Christmas markets alone… maybe I just might! (Hint – I am)
A stand at the Munich Rathaus Christmas Market
My plans were to visit Munich, Vienna, and London. Since I was going to be in Austria, I said to myself “What better way to experience a true Austrian Christmas than to experience it in the Alps?” Ok, don’t worry. I don’t talk to myself all that much. Yes you do. No you don’t…
With that weird internal monologue over, I decided to get everything set for my European Christmas Vacation (Fun Fact: That’s Vacation movies #2 & #3 combined but unfortunately I experienced fewer zany antics). After having a blast in Munich and checking out their multitude of Christmas markets, I took a train to Kirchberg in Tirol, Austria. It’s incredibly easy to get there via train or car. Munich and Salzburg are the two main cities most people come in from and each is about 2 hours via train. Sadly it’s only a two hour journey, because there’s nothing like travelling by train through the Austrian Alps.
As soon as I arrived into Kirchberg, I knew that the village was special. It’s one of the cutest places I have ever seen. Essentially all of Austria looks like a storybook, but pretty much every building you see in this town is right out of Heidi. Kirchberg in Tirol is famous for its hiking trails, mountain biking, walking trails and of course skiing. Some hikes and biking trails can be more strenuous than others, but each one rewards you with one spectacular view after the other. The skiing is also fantastic here, but more on that later.
During my time in Kirchberg, I was fortunate enough to stay at the simply amazing Haus Alpenblick. It’s the perfect example of a quaint, Alpine country guesthouse situated in the heart of the Austrian Alps, complete with a beautiful sloping roof and balconies adorned with seasonal flowers and home grown hops, more on why this is important in a sec. First built in the 1930’s, it has undergone several renovations since then and in 2003, it was bought by Australian and New Zealand ex-pats, Emma Marcus and Chris Bullinga. Staying at The Alpenblick is exactly like staying with the best kind of friends. Their warm hospitality, home cooked meals, fresh beer (brewed onsite!), and jaw dropping mountain scenery meant I never wanted to leave.
Emma and Chris have made some great changes to the guesthouse, but the most important one I think (it’s why you’re probably reading this honestly) is Chris opened up a microbrewery in the bed and breakfast. WHAT? A microbrewery/bed and breakfast?? I had never heard of such a thing and it was the reason I chose this place out of all the others! Why this is important (besides the fact that there are delicious craft brews and postcard views!) is that there hasn’t been a brewery in Kirchberg since 1905. Personally, I think 100+ years for a town to be without a brewery is criminal, so I believe Chris is sort of like Batman; fighting crime in his own way. He is already a certified beer sommelier after all, so let’s just think of him as a Beer Batman. A Beertman? No… that was terrible… He opened WildeGams Brauerei und Bier Café in 2017 and currently brews several styles: A Weizen (wheat beer), a Kellerbier (lager style), an English Ale, an IPA and a Bock beer. He plans on expanding his selection with another dark beer (most likely a Porter or Stout) soon. Since he grows his own hops, his first crop of homegrown hops that beautifully adorn his balconies and garden area is going into this new batch of beer.
Left: Chris proudly standing at his bar with his own Weissbier. Right: His next brew
I was greeted by Chris immediately upon my arrival and after getting situated in my room, I was treated to a tour of his new brewing area. His passion and knowledge for beer really comes through when giving his tour and he loves to answer questions, so pick his brain! Remember: beer sommelier (or Beertman in case you forgot).
After the tour, I had a chance to relax and enjoy the stunning views from my room. Each floor has a balcony and the views of the mountains were breathtaking. My room overlooked the Kitzbuheler Horn and the old church on a peak in the middle of town. The room was incredibly spacious. Honestly, I was imagining a tiny farmhouse room with barely any space to move, but it was very comfortable and well appointed. The bathroom was modest as is the case with most European WC’s, but the bed was huge and comfortable! The wooden furniture and decorations inside hinted at a traditional, rustic setting, yet still was updated, comfortable, spotless and modern.
The stunning view from my room
Before dinner, Chris invited me to enjoy a beer tasting. Since it would be absolutely rude of me to decline a beer invitation from Beertman (ugh why do I keep bringing that up?), I gladly accepted. First up was a Schwarzbier from Monschol Breweries in Germany. It was an incredibly smooth schwarzbier and slightly sweet. I highly recommend this beer. Hang on, I need to make sure we are on the same page. If you follow me on Instagram @brews_traveller you have probably noticed that I rate each beer I review. For the beers Chris had me taste, I am going to use the same rating system. Imagine the beer glass emoji as the “stars.” With that in mind, the schwarzbier was 4 out of 5 mugs. Then came a dunkel by Weltenberger Kloster, another German beer. Not a bad entry into the dunkel category. Nothing strikingly good or bad about it, just not fantastic; 3 out of 5 mugs for this brew. After that, an Orval Trappist ale from Belgium. I’m a sucker for Trappist beers. Orval has a terrific malty flavor to it and the finish is sublime. Not my favorite Trappist beer mind you, but even a bad Trappist is better than a great IPA. I give it a 4 out of 5 mugs. Then Chris brought out two of the beers that he brews himself at Brauerei WildeGams, a wheat beer and an English Ale. Both beers were fantastic! The wheat beer was sweet in character with hints of clove and an ABV of 5.2%. Wheat happens to be my favorite type and it is also Chris’ which is probably why he took such care in its brewing. This was definitely a 4.5 out of 5 mugs. And his English Ale was also deserving of a 4.5 out of 5 mugs with a respectable 4.9% ABV. It was rich and deep in flavor with a smooth finish.
A tall glass of Chris’ Weissbeier from Brauerei WildeGams
Dinner was a traditional Austrian dish of a hearty Tirolean Barley soup called Gerstensuppe and dessert was a terrific Apple Strudel. Of course after that I enjoyed more beer! A Belgian Tripel from Adrianus Brewery in The Netherlands. Honestly, it’s one of the best Dutch beers I have ever had. 4 out of 5 mugs. Though sadly nowhere to be found stateside. (Oh well, I guess that means another trip to Europe soon). I retired for the night and collapsed after a long day of traveling.
After taking in some fresh cooked breakfast and morning views of the mountains, Chris took me to Innsbruck for the day. Innsbruck is one of those places in Austria that cannot be missed and is very convenient to get to from Kirchberg. It is an hour by train or car and well worth it. On the way, we stopped at a very old Austrian castle, Schloss Tratzburg. Crazy enough, even though the castle is a big tourist draw, a family actually lives there! How would you like to have people come through your house every day taking pictures of everything? Unfortunately, it was closed to the public that day, but the restaurant at the castle, Schlosswirt Tratzberg was still open (I wonder if the family gets a discount?) Our meal there was probably some of the best food we had in Europe. No kidding, an out of the way restaurant at a medieval castle had the best food! After lunch, we continued on toward Innsbruck.
Innsbruck is a medieval town and is the capital of Tirol. Even the emperor Maximilian I resided there. It’s been home to multiple Archdukes and proclamations affecting all of Austria were made from “The Golden Roof”. It even hosted the Winter Olympic Games twice in 8 years! It’s the quintessential Austrian village and pictures don’t do it justice. It simply must be seen in person to be fully appreciated. After loading up on coffee and sweets (you know, all the healthy stuff), Chris drove me back to The Alpenblick, where I retired for the evening after a long day of Christmas markets and local food.
Innsbruck’s famous Golden Roof and Christmas Market
The next day, I woke up to another fresh breakfast and afterwards I decided to head to the famous ski town of Kitzbuhel. It’s just a ten minute train ride from Kirchberg. There is a reason why this town is so famous for its winter sports. The town is built at the bottom of one of the best ski mountains in the Alps. The whole village is practically a ski resort. It’s even set up so that you can literally step off the train and walk right onto a ski lift. That’s how serious this town is about their skiing. Kitzbuhel is full of scrumptious restaurants and cute coffee shops and has an amazing nightlife. It is a ski resort town after all! And of course, it has a bustling Christmas market. I’ll spare you the details about the copious amount of beer and food I had. After a few hours of checking out the adorable town of Kitzbuhel, I headed back to Kirchberg and to The Alpenblick for the true highlight of my trip, the dinner and the beer tasting.
Dinner was prepared by the lovely and talented Emma. She really takes great care in her meals and all of her food is sourced locally using seasonal, fresh ingredients. I started with a prawn salad with citrus dressing and toasted almonds. Next up was a carrot orange and ginger soup. Delicious! The main course was wiener schnitzel served with Austrian potato salad. Deliciouser! And to end it was sweet pancakes with caramelized bananas and bourbon vanilla ice cream. Delicousest! Emma made me an amazing dinner and it was the perfect way to lead into the star of the trip, the guided beer tasting.
To start, I was introduced to Bloemen Bier, a Belgian spiced fruit beer by De Proefbrouwerij from the Netherlands. It was delicious, sweet and had an amazingly light finish. At 7%, it was a fun way to dive right into our tour de hops; 4 out of 5 mugs.
After this well rounded starter, I had an Malamut American Pale Ale from an Italian brewery Birrificio Di Buti. Italy does many things well: food, wine, art, but what it does not do well is beer and I have to say that I was not a fan of this beer. It was kind of bitter and slightly sour for a pale ale; 2 out of 5 mugs.
Then we moved on to one from Chris’ own label Braurei WildeGams, a Double IPA. I want to start out by saying that I have never been a fan of IPA’s, but this did not taste like your normal DIPA. It was very smooth and flavorful without that harsh punch associated with most IPA’s. I really enjoyed this beer and I would have had a few more, but this was a beer tasting after all and I need to be able to stay vertical through to the end; 4.5 out of 5 mugs.
The most surprising beer of the night was a Bock from Oettinger in Hamburg, Germany. By its own merit, this beer is a good straightforward Bock. It was smooth and malty and had a slightly sweet finish. Then something happened that I have never experienced before. Chris came out with a metal poker he had super-heated. He applied the hot poker to the beer and it transformed the beer almost entirely. He explained the process and I was simply astonished. The heat from the hot poker caramelized the sugars in the bock changing the consistency and flavor to an almost creamy beer. Chris informed me that only Bock beers have this characteristic due to the high sugar content. This malty magic was discovered accidentally by blacksmiths 100 years ago when they tried to heat their beers when they got too cold. Just another example of something to file under “Crazy crap you discover when drinking and playing with fire”. **Disclaimer** Don’t try this at home. Well… unless really you want to. Go for it! Maybe you’ll get to wear an eyepatch or something cool like that. This brew gets a 3.5 out of 5 mugs for the Bock pre-caramelization and 5 out of 5 mugs post-caramelization.
Things are about to get heated
I continued on my Journey into inebriation with this next heavy hitter, Samichlaus Classic by Schloss Eggenberg, a local Austrian brew. This beer truly impressed me. It had been aged eight years as it was bottled in 2010. But what is amazing about this beer’s journey to my palette is that it is only brewed once per year on December 6th, Saint Nicholas’ Day, hence the name Samichlaus, German for Santa Claus. Then it is aged 10 months before being bottled. It’s a 14% Double Bock Weiss and a perfect end to our beer tasting. Keep in mind that this beer has been aging in the bottle for 8 years so it had gained a lot of character and flavor over time. I cannot say enough about this beer. It was sweet, complex, malty, fruity, spicy and smooth. It was one of the most intriguing beers I have ever had the pleasure of trying. I wish we had tried to put the hot poker in it since it was a double bock but after all the delicious high percentage beers, I was not thinking about that; 4.5 out of 5 mugs.
After thanking my gracious host Chris for the tremendous tasting, like any good performer, he thanked me but had an encore in store. He brought out a beer no longer produced, Schneider Weisse Unser Aventinus Weizenbock. At this point, I have realized how much I like Bocks. Chris had mentioned that this is a rare beer, and that he had bought a case of it years ago and only opens one beer from this case per year, just so he can see how the beer’s complexity changes over time. Emma later told me that Chris knew of my love for beer and he was waiting for my arrival to open it so he could share it with me. I wish I had known about this at the time, so I could tell him how much I appreciated this gesture. I don’t know what the previous years’ results were, but 2018’s was phenomenal. I am considering planning another trip in the future just to take part in this annual opening again! A solid 5 out of 5 mugs.
With that, I finished the beer tasting and it was time to get some rest since I was headed to Vienna the next morning. Little did I know, it began to snow heavily during the night and I woke up to church bells sounding off against the backdrop of pristine, snow-white alpine mountains. Chris took me on a tour around the village of Kirchberg and gave me a private history lesson and guided walk to the old church, as well as the cemetery and through the whole of the town including the scenic river.
Chris, Emma, and The Alpenblick itself truly epitomize the friendliness and warmth of a traditional Austrian guesthouse. Situated centrally in the heart of the Austrian Alps in Kirchberg, with easy access to the major tourist destinations of Kitzbuhel and Innsbruck and with its beautiful mountain scenery, the amazing food and of course the fantastic beer, The Alpenblick is the perfect place to spend a night or a week! If your goal is to spend your summer hiking or biking along the various trails or to spend your winter skiing or snowboarding in one of the best ski resorts in all of the Alps, all the while enjoying fresh beer and true Austrian hospitality, The Alpenblick is the only choice!
