By now it was dark. I guess it was about 18:00 (6:00 p.m.). Harald led us to yet another pub. This time it was the Brauerei Pfaffen.
We shuffled in and found an empty pair of tables in the back next to where the beer was poured. That was perfect! The beer came from oak kegs which had a tap hammered directly into the side and was operated by gravity! It was a very interesting operation to watch.
The beer was kölsch, of course. It was their own brand. I don't know where they brew it, but the kegs were stamped with their name on it.
When they poured a round of beers, they needed to let the tray rest a while in order for the head to settle. Then when a keg would kick, one of the servers would carry a full one in and replace the empty one on the counter. We knew how much one of these kegs must weigh, so we made a big deal out of seeing them carrying them in. We also made them hold them a little longer while we got our cameras ready! The guy in the picture gave us his e-mail address and I sent him the picture when we returned home.
The tables we were standing at were also unique. The tables were tall and we weren't sitting, since there were no stools. The center of the table was a round hole where a bronze statue stuck his head through as it held up the table.
What in the world is Joyce doing?
Once again, we were faced with the chore of leaving a perfectly good bar in search of another! Harald then led us to Peter's Brauhaus.
This pub was very crowded. We worked our way through until we found an open area to stand which had a narrow counter down the middle of the floor which provided a place for us to rest our beer glasses. We parked ourselves there and ordered some kölsch. While waiting for our beer to arrive, Marty happened to look up to discover a circle of hops hanging from the light fixture. To be sure they were real, Marty reached up and plucked a few cones off and gave them a sniff. Yep, they're hops alright! They were extremely stale. I wouldn't want to brew with them, but they were hops. A whole bunch of them, too. That's the first time I've seen that before. I soon found out that it was a somewhat common practice, as I saw more hops in other bars while in Germany as well.
Soon our beers arrived. Peter's Kölsch. Tasted like any other kölsch at that point. Then we began a conversation with a small group of 'locals' who where standing on the opposite side of the counter from us. They were very friendly and talkative. They spoke fairly good English. I noticed that one of them looked like Lech Walesa, in my opinion. We soon learned they were not local to Cologne. I think they said they were from Bavaria. We ask what their favorite kölsch was. They didn't have a favorite kölsch, they all agreed. "It tastes like piss", they said as they drank another round! We didn't agree, but we kept our opinions to ourselves. They felt sorry for us to have come all this way only to drink piss! Oh, well, what do they know. One of them gave me his e-mail address, but I can't read it. Every attempt to send to my best guess of what he wrote, comes back as undeliverable.
Harald grew a little tired of them, so we left. Yes, we went to yet another bar! Have you been counting? That's right, six. This one would be our last...for the evening.
This next and last pub was Haus Zims. They serve Gilden Kölsch.
Well, it was bound to happen. After consuming about a hundred beers, someone finally spilled one. And judging by the look on my face, I'd say I was the guilty party! About the only good thing about kölsch being served in these tiny .2 liter glasses is when you spill one, you don't waste too much.
We ordered a much needed late night snack. I had some kind of omelet. It was good, I think. While we waited for our food to come, I noticed a couple of Japanese guys at the table next to us. They looked like they were enjoying their kölsch as well. After spilling the beer at our table, I was too embarrassed to stick around, so I decided to join the Japanese guys. They were very friendly. They also spoke relatively good English. It's funny how someone with poor English has excellent English when you are in a country that speaks a different language!
They were from Osaka and were in town on business. They work for a company that makes circuit boards. They also gave me their e-mail addresses and one of them, Takeshi, actually sent me a reply. I think that is him on the left.
We had a long conversation. I explained the reason for our trip. They told me I must come to Japan because they brew good beer there, too. That sounds good to me!
We noticed we and the other guys were the only ones left in the place and the servers were busy cleaning up. That was our hint that it was finally time to call it a night. So we headed back, past the Dom which was wonderfully lit at night.
Got back to the hotel and crashed. I was too tired to look for my ear plugs, so when Jeff started to snore, I found another effective technique to shut him up. Since the twin beds in the room were spaced only 2 feet apart, I was able to reach my hand across to grab the end of his pillow and yank it partly out from under his head. Jeff would wake up not knowing what happened, but at least he would stop snoring for a few minutes! I had to repeat this a couple of times, but I finally fell asleep.
Next, More Cologne!
