Beer and Sausages in Nuremberg

The people of the city of Nuremberg claim to have invented the German sausage, though forget the large bulky sausages that are often associated with Germany. Nuremberg sausages are small chipolata type delicacies served in plates of six to twelve per person with a side dish of sauerkraut or potato salad. They are also not hard to find with most bars quite happily serving them with the beer, but the trick is to find the right combination of good beer and good sausages, and the following three establishments are worthy places to start.

This is a delightful bar attached to the brewery, which can be seen by walking down the little alley next to the bar. The alley opens up into a courtyard. One side of the yard is the brewery with large windows so visitors can look through and see the brewing process in action. Tours of the brewery and the catacombs that run underneath it can be booked through the brewery shop that is the other side of the alley.

The brewery is unusual in that, as well as a range of beers, it also brews spirits that each have a beer flavour. Bottles of the beer and the spirits, as well as the various branded glasses and other brewery memorabilia can be bought at the shop.

The bar itself is not particularly large but offers a choice of seating either on stools at the bar or around tables. There is a food menu, which of course includes Nuremberg sausages. The beer and spirit menu though is the most impressive. And they serve sampler trays for both, which take the form of wooden paint pallets. Either a sampler tray of the five beer-based spirits can be ordered or one containing the four regular beers plus a beer brandy.

The four regular beers are:

• Helles Lager (4.8%). This is a blonde beer, but not a pilsner. It is slightly sweet, and slightly darker than the name suggests.
• Nurnberger Schwarzbier (4.8%). This very dark beer has chocolate and liquorice flavours.
• Nurnberger Rotbier (5.2%). This is a red beer, with a musky flavour and a hint of a bitter aftertaste.
• Sommerweisse (5.2%). As its name suggests, this is a very cloudy and strong tasting wheat beer.

The bar also does seasonal beers. For example, in winter there is the Dunkler Bock (6.6%), a stronger version of the Rotbier, and in summer there is the Maibock (6.6%), which is lighter in colour and taste than the Dunkler.

This large beer cellar also brews its own beer but is more geared up to the tourist trade. The entrance leads into a porch and from there down stairs to an enormous basement oddly decorated with British pub signs hanging from the ceiling. Beer and Nuremberg sausages are bought at the table, restaurant style, but the service, especially at busy times, can be painfully slow. It is worth it for the sausages though even if the beers are plainer than at Altstadthof.

The Barfüßer Blonde is a basic light pilsner and the Barfüßer Schwarze is a slightly tastier darker beer.

Unlike the two bars mentioned above, this venue is about sausages first and beer second. The sausages are cooked in an area in the middle of the restaurant on an open grill. The seating is formed in a square around the cooking area, so customers can watch their sausages being cooked. There is a choice of sausage type, as well as other German food including pig’s tongue and knuckle.

Though the beer is not brewed on the premises, it is from a Nuremberg brewery – Tucher. Available are the dark Tucher Old Franconia and the wheat beer Tucher Hefeweizen, and the the very nice bottled Tucher Bajuvator Doppelbock at 7.5% abv. The pilsner comes from Tucher’s Lederer brand.

As said, Nuremberg sausages are not hard to find in the pubs and restaurants of this Bavarian city but with these three you know you will have a decent glass of beer with which to wash them down.