The next morning we hiked into town to meet the others at the St. Elisabeth Church in Marburg for a tour. However, we got our times mixed up and got there too late for the tour. Cäsar had already taken Harald, Marty, Joyce and Jerry through the church. I did get some nice photos of the outside, though.
Before we left for the Licher brewery, we met up with a couple of Harald's friends that were going with us on the tour. Then, as usual, we piled into the tiny cars and headed south, past the town of Gießen or Giessen, to the town of Lich.
We were about an hour early, so we had time to look around a bit. Across the street from the brewery was a statue of a brewmaster carrying a large keg.
That was next to some train tracks. Naturally, Marty was interested in that. He got real excited when a light-rail train rolled past. Across the tracks was a small snack bar. Since it was close to noon, some of the crew indulged.
Finally, the tour began. First we sat in a small theater and watched a short marketing presentation (in German). Then our tour guide started us off. Fortunately, the tour was in English.
The tour guide showed us the old copper kettles that, like many breweries, are no longer used.
Then he showed us the new stainless steel stuff. Nothing unusual about that. But when he said the wort in the brew kettle was brought to 90 degrees Celsius (not boiling), that's what got the group's attention. What? The wort doesn't boil? Technically, you can make beer without boiling, but we have never heard of such a thing.
For you non-brewers out there reading this, 'wort', which rhymes with 'hurt', is the term for un-fermented beer. It is sweet and sugary. The sugars from the malt have not been turned to alcohol, yet. That is the job of yeast during the fermentation process.
We questioned our tour guide about this 90 degrees issue, but since he was just the tour guide and not the brewer, he could offer no further explanation.
We looked out a window and we saw the lagering tanks towering along side the main building. Then we walked down a flight of stairs where we could see the conical underbelly of the lagering tanks. Jerry touched one of the tanks and said it was like touching his first breast! He said that and he wasn't even drinking, yet!
I went to snap a picture of a half and quarter keg sitting next to each other when Jerry stepped in my way. Fortunately, the resulting picture proved to be interesting.
Two large containers of beer!
After the tour, we were escorted up an elevator up to the top floor to the brewery's private bar where we were served several rounds of freshly brewed beer!
Bar in the shape of a brew kettle
We were also given a couple baskets of pretzels and Slim Jim type sausages. Delicious!
A few snacks!
It was explained that horse drawn carriages are still used for local deliveries. We were given the choice of taking a tour of the horse stables or drinking beer. Guess which one we chose!
When it was time to go, we were taken to the gift shop where we had an opportunity to pick up some souvenirs.
Next, Farewell Marburg!
