Apologies if this post looks somewhat familiar, as this isn’t the first time that it’s seen the light of day. I’m re-publishing the article, with the odd tweak here and there, because the last week in July is when one of the world’s best beer festivals takes place. I’m talking about Annafest;
a folk festival, that attracts around
500,000 visitors each year over the course of the 10-day event. Despite its popularity, Annafest is relatively little-known outside the region of northern Bavaria, known as Franconia, and yet, providing the weather holds, there are few better places know of in which to enjoy some excellent locally-brewed beer, in a wooded hillside setting over looking the town of Forchheim.
In the summer
of 2013, son Matthew and I enjoyed a week’s holiday in this picturesque town of some 20,000 souls. Forchheim is situated in the valley of the River Regnitz, roughly halfway between Bamberg
and Nuremberg, and apart from Annafest, is a town that is well worth visiting at other times of the year, as we did five years later. (Forchheim has four breweries, plus some characterful and atmospheric pubs).
Annafest is quite unlike any beer festival I have
ever been to before; but then German beer festivals aren’t the same as those in the UK. For a start they’ve been running a lot longer than home-grown
events; sometimes by as much as a couple of hundred years. In addition, whilst British beers
festivals are about sampling as many different beers as
possible, German
beer festivals are about having a good time, with some serious
drinking forming an essential component. This is how I would best describe Annafest.
The event takes place at the Kellerwald, a
wooded hillside on the edge of Forchheim, where there are a series of natural
rock cellars cut into the hillside. These cellars were originally constructed
for the storage and maturation of bottom-fermenting beer, in the days before
refrigeration was developed. Today there are two dozen such “Kellers”,
the majority of which are just open for Annafest, although a handful remain open all
year. During the summer evenings the Kellerwald is the perfect location
for a cool beer in the shady woods. The event is held over a 10-day
period around the 26th July, which is the feast of St Anna
(Anne), the mother of the Virgin Mary.
Although pilgrims had been journeying to a nearby chapel
consecrated to St. Anna since the early 16th Century,
Annafest in its present form began in 1840, when the Forchheim
shooting club moved its main shooting ground from the “shooting
meadow” on the river Regnitz to the Kellerwald.
As well as plenty of beer drinking there are other attractions such as
fairground rides, various stalls, plus six stages which feature a wide range of
different musical acts. The local Forchheim breweries Hebendanz,
Greif, Eichhorn and Neder all brew a strong Bock beer especially for
this festival, the so-called Annafestbier, and a number of other local
breweries also supply brews of their own as well.
With seating for around 30,000 people, the
Kellerwald provides sufficient accommodation for the crowds. A regular shuttle bus service is provided from the town
and surrounding areas to the Kellerwald and back again, so getting to the
festival is not a problem. For those of a more energetic disposition, it is not
that far to walk up from the town and many people choose to do this, working up
a king-sized thirst on the way!
We attended Annafest on three separate days (Tuesday,
Thursday, and Sunday), with breaks in between visits to allow
ourselves a bit of a rest. I don’t mean we overindulged, but with one litre (Maß) mugs the only measures the beer was served
in, (unless one wanted a wheat beer that is), it can be quite easy to
over-indulge, albeit unintentionally! What’s more, the beer on sale was the Annafestbier,
which weighs in with an abv of around 5.7%, or more! The day’s in-between did afford a
break though from the festivities and allowed us to explore other parts of the
area. This was as much a part of our holiday as visiting Annafest
itself.
On each occasion we visited three different Kellers,
which meant three litres or nearly six pints each over the course of the day.
We paced ourselves though and took our time, savouring the tasty, potent beer,
served with one notable exception, in tall, ceramic stoneware mugs. For
the record we visited the following Kellers: Tuesday – Stäffalakeller (Wolfshöher),
Schlöslakeller (Hebendanz) and Loẅenbräukeller (Loẅenbräu – Buttenheim);
Thursday
– Greiffkeller (Greiff), Eichhornkeller (Eichhorn)
and Weiß-Tauben-Keller
(Rittmayer-Hallendorf);
Sunday
– Hoffmannskeller (Monschof-Kulmbach), Nederkeller (Neder)
and Nürnberger-Tor-Keller
(Wolfshöher).
Of the beers drunk, Hebendanz and Neder (both
Forchheim brewers), stood out above the rest, although the beers from the
town’s other two breweries, Eichhorn and Greiff were also
very palatable. The beer from Kulmbach giant, Monschof, was
different from the other local beers in that instead of the darker, Kellerbier
common in Franconia;
it was a golden, Helles-style beer, served in a glass Maß,
rather than the stoneware ones used by virtually all the other breweries.
The beer I was least impressed with was Wolfshöher,
a regional concern with expansionist designs, based in the village of the same
name, near Neunkirchen.
The company has an unduly large presence at the Kellarwald, due to
its takeover, and closure of Forchheim’s fifth and largest brewery, Bräuhaus
Forchheim. The brewery buildings, standing empty and forlorn,
were only a stone’s throw from our rented holiday apartment, but at the time of our visit, there were signs that work was taking place on the site, to convert part of the brewery
into residential accommodation.
There was plenty of food available to help soak up all of
this beer. Most, if not all Kellers offered various cooked meals, ranging from
sausages and potato dumplings to the usual knuckles of pork and roast chickens.
There were also various food stalls grouped along the paths between the various
Kellers, offering a variety of snacks, both savoury and sweet. This,
interspersed with the live music at some of the Kellers, and the fairground
attractions at the bottom of the hill, combined to produce a fantastic
atmosphere.
We also made a visit to Bamberg as part of the same holiday,
and whilst enjoying a few beers in the garden of Café Abseits, got talking to a
party of English beer enthusiasts They were also very impressed with Annafest,
saying how much better it was than Oktoberfest, and how much cheaper too. Obviously, Oktoberfest is internationally renowned and
attracts people from all over the world, whilst Annafest is by
nature, much more a locals festival. It is none the worse for that, and we are
certainly glad we made the effort to get along to it. and I can thoroughly
recommend that you visit.
To sum up, Annafest is very much an event which involves the
whole town, plus quite a bit of the surrounding area. On those days when we
didn’t attend, we couldn’t help noticing the full trains depositing expectant
drinkers at the town’s station, and the crowded buses transporting them up to
the Kellerwald.
As I said earlier, the festival appeals to all ages, and it was
good to see young people enjoying themselves, quaffing the beer and all without
any signs of trouble.
