The Spring 2025 issue of Food & Dining Magazine is now available in all the familiar places: Louisville area eateries and food shops, newsstands and online (or read it at issuu).
Our recent Balkan Mystery Tour (February 12 – 21) got off to a miserable start when a perfect winter’s storm of snowy Chicago weather and the inefficiency of United Airlines intervened, causing numerous delays and canceled flights, and compelling us to improvise new plans.
With precious little help from United’s ubiquitous QR codes and absent staffers, we persevered, ultimately choosing to forego the first night in Skopje, North Macedonia for an unexpected evening in Freising, Germany.
The following day’s reconstituted connecting flights went off without a hitch, and this is why I adore Lufthansa.
Freising lies a short taxi ride away from the Munich Airport, and so it was decided to splurge on a plush room for the sake of a night’s regrouping — which is to say that as the sun set, we were blissfully seated at the Bräustüberl Weihenstephan.
I chose a 1516 Kellerbier and Diana opted for a Tradition Bayrisch Dunkel. Platters of the inevitable Bavarian cuisine began landing atop the table. At some point in the ensuing flurry of flashing flatware, I caught a glimpse of a differently configured glass gliding past.
Wait just a minute. I asked our server: Was that a Vitus I saw?
It was, and soon two goblets of Weihenstephaner’s pale wheat bock (Helles Weizenbock) materialized before us. Alas, there wasn’t any Korbinian Doppelbock, and that’s probably all for the best; the one-two punch of Vitus and Korbinian after the exhaustion and stress of the disastrous air connections we’d experienced might have caused me to miss the next day’s makeup flights, too.
Vitus (VEE-toose) is a heavenly beer.
All the wheat ale esters and phenols you’d expect are turned up to 7.7% ABV, and superimposed on a malty Maibock frame, even lagered for a bit to improve the mellowness quotient.
It was the best beer I drank on the trip, although this assessment is hardly fair, seeing as outside of Bavaria few brewers so much as attempt such a blockbuster. The best beer I had while in the Balkans? They’re all golden lagers, easing more or less into Pilsner territory, admittedly well-made and tasty, but by no means edgy.
- Skopsko Pivo (N. Macedonia)
- Korça Beer Blonde (Albania)
- Nikšićko Pivo (Montenegro)
- Peja Pilsner (Kosovo)
In Munich, the 2025 Starkbierzeit (strong...Read more
