Beer Culture with Des de Moor

Landbierparadies shop front

This article was commissioned by Beers of the World magazine as part of a series I was writing for them on specialist beer retailers. It was the first time I’d made a trip mainly to research a beer shop, as I was keen to feature a German outlet, but a few days after getting back, I got the news the magazine was folding. I was particularly disappointed as the shop’s owners had been very kind and generous, and their’s was an interesting story from a fascinating corner of the world of beer. I subsequently tried to get the piece published elsewhere, including online, but with no success, and my frustration contributed to my decision to launch this site. So here it is at last, only a year late. 

Germany can be frustrating for the connoisseur. Its regional and local loyalties see few speciality beers venturing beyond a restricted locality. Pubs stocking a wide range of beers are rare, specialist shops rarer still. Nowhere is this more of a challenge than in the legendary beer region of Franconia, the former autonomous duchy that now occupies the northern third of Bavaria. The region has the highest concentration of breweries in Germany, many of them centuries old and still working in unique and distinctive traditional styles, but most are tiny outfits often only supplying their own pub or beer garden. And while trekking round the rolling and wooded countryside in search of obscure brews certainly has its rewards, few of us can afford the time.

Landbierparadies interior

So raise your glasses to Landbierparadies. The name translates as “Country Beer Heaven” which could be a description of Franconia itself, but it’s also the name of a beer shop in the city of Nürnberg (Nuremberg), one of the historic centres of the German-speaking world. This is Bavaria’s second biggest city after Munich and it’s full of people eager to explore the nearby countryside and its beers, as attested by the shelves of beer touring guides in the local bookshops. 

Local man Joachim Glawe, who’d studied Franconian brewing for a marketing degree and authored two books on the subject, saw an opportunity in selling rare rural brews for people who’d enjoyed them on a day out and now wanted to drink at home. In 1987 he opened Landbierparadies, exclusively devoted to Franconian beers from small producers, many of whom were astonished that people living more than a few kilometres away might want to buy their products. Few would or could deliver, so he had to organise his own collection round – a practice that persists today. 

Landbierparadies auf dem Weg

In 1994 he diversified into pubs, of which there are now five, all traditionally-styled Wirtshäuse with hearty food, big gardens and simple wooden interiors, yet still attracting a wide public including younger drinkers. Interestingly, it’s the pubs that are the money spinners, the shop more a labour of love.“We have a philosophy, it’s not just about making money,” says Joachim. “Beer is a difficult market – people are drinking less of it and in Germany 90% of it now comes from big brewing groups who can brew it cheaply. But people also want a genuine product without chemicals from a local brewer that they know, and that gives small brewers a chance for life.” 

In 2006 the shop relocated from cramped quarters to its current spacious and easily accessible site, a former cinema to the south of the station and just outside the heritage-rich Altstadt. Proudly bearing the slogan “Life’s too short to drink bad beer”, it’s a bright, airy space that also houses a fascinating display of breweriana and old equipment – casks, bottling lines, even a copper – salvaged by Joachim. 

Sabine (left) and Joachim Glawe of Landbierparadies

Some 150 beers are stocked from 50 different breweries, including draught beers for events supplied in a unique collection of small returnable wooden casks. Then there’s distilled Bierbrand, local wine, artisanal fruit juice, glassware and traditional ceramic Krüge, charcuterie, merchandise, books and guides, and free advice from expert staff. Nearly all the customers are local – the shop is off the city’s tourist track though welcomes the occasional visiting beer enthusiast. 

Landbierparadies Krug. Prost!

We’re joined by Joachim’s student daughter Sabine, whose mother, his first wife, is British. Sabine lives in Newcastle but is over for the summer to work in the pubs, and is also a fount of beer knowledge. What about British beer, I wonder? Back on Tyneside she drinks alcopops, she confesses. “But here it’s different. If you’re here, you can’t not drink beer.” 

Fact file

Address: Galgenhofstraße 60, 90459 Nürnberg
Phone: +49 (0)911 4394 4240
Web: www.landbierparadies.com
Hours: Mon-Sat 0900-1900 (1700 Sat)
Drink in? Only in associated pubs
Mail order: Planned, check website 

Manager’s favourites:

Joachim: “Franconian beers, or whatever the local speciality is if I’m away from home.”
Sabine: Neder Schwarze Anna 

Beer picks

• Blauer Löwe Dunkel 5.5%, Höchstadt an der Aisch. Sweetish sappy and biscuity dark chestnut-coloured brew, with caramel lifted by light fruit, gently burry hops and a touch of liquorice.
• Grasser Huppendorfer Vollbier 5%, Huppendorf. Complex near-perfect malty golden unfiltered lager from village brewer, with a yeasty splash, dry-edged peachy palate and biscuity hop-tinged palate.
• Hebendanz Edel Pils 5.1%, Forcheim. Pils isn’t particularly a local style but this historic brewpub still excels at it: a perfumed flowery aroma, a creamy but crisp fresh palate and a bite of peppery hops to end.
• Held-Bräu Hell 4.9%, Oberailsfeld. Typically soft and malty golden “light” beer with creamy, honeyed, wet stone aroma and lime and strawberry hints on a fresh, straightforward palate.
• Neder Schwarze Anna 5.2%, Forcheim. Outstanding big dark beer from a key brewing village – perfumed cola-ish aroma, rich grainy chocolatey palate and gently smoky notes in a subtly drying finish.