The short 1-1.5 km walk from there to the town of Ebing will have you walking past a large pond that and a campground before you finally arrive in the center of town where Gastwirtschaft Schwanen-Bräu is.
There's a nice little pub inside and a courtyard just through the main entrance that makes you feel as if you are drinking in a barn. Brewery to one side and pub to the other. This place is classic Franconia.
As far as I know the brewery serves one beer and really that's all it needs to serve as it is a fine dunkel. A really mild and pleasant beer that one could drink all day long.
Next stop would be the village of Höfen to visit a brewery I've heard nothing but good about called Brauerei Gasthof Zum Goldenen Adler This place did not disappoint. In fact I'm going to go out on a limb and declare that this is my new favorite beer of Franconia. So well balanced with a fresh hoppy character. The folks running the place were very friendly and hospitable. Some nice food was enjoyed as well. Really all I wanted to know was is there an apartment for rent in the village so I could be as close to this place as possible next time. Sadly I don't think there is. But it's easy enough to get to nevertheless.
I didn't want to leave. I knocked back at least 4 or 5 of these before we finally decided that there was one more stop to investigate. I also enjoyed talking with a local that sat next to us who was also an admirer of this beer and very knowledgeable about the breweries of Franconia. He spoke very little English and I very little German but somehow we talked for over an hour about the many different breweries around. He was quite impressed how much I knew about the area and the villages and breweries. He would name a brewery and I would reply with the name of the village and so on. He found it a rare treat that someone from America would have such a deep familiarity of the local brewing culture. Anyhow the next village of Freudeneck was also not very far and Brauerei Fischer.
The pilsener at Fischer was a perfectly fine beer but not up to the level of the other two but then again not many are. The pub and beer garden at Fischer however were both buzzing with locals and jam packed. Clearly a very popular place.
There was a brief thunderstorm while we sat at Fischer despite mostly clear skies when we arrived. It ended quickly and we began our journey back to the station with one last stop at the brewery in Ebing for a last seidla. One of the interesting terrain features of this region was all the cellars dug into the side of the hillsides/walls. They were everywhere. Most were padlocked. I wonder how many were storing beer inside?
I felt just a touch of melancholy on the walk back as this was our last day of a really fantastic trip to Franconia. We would journey home the next day. But of course I'll be back many times I'm sure
