Mohrenbrau Das Gut!

So I'm beginning to adjust to my new residence. Thank the Lord for technology right? While I can't be physically in the same place as all the people important to me, being able to talk to my sisters as well as see my Dad and Rosie over Skype has proved to be a remedy for my homesickness. That and staying busy. It looks like I won't have a shortage of things to do at all and I plan on dedicating a large portion of my stay to studying so that I am at a higher level of skill than when I came. Common sense right? This brings me to my first obstacle....beer. Its about as good an "obstacle" as having to get out of the Cheesecake Factory without getting a cheesecake slice. I don't know why I'm surprised. I expected amazing beer and instead I got heavenly. Thus enters my new friend......Mohrenbrau. 

For some people, taking a tour of any manufacturing facility is the like the stuff they made you do in grade school that you went along with so you didn't have to go to school. For me, touring the Mohrenbrau brewery was like....an early birthday present. You can smell it in the walls that are smattered with 170 years of crafting that which is beer. Innovation in brewing combined with the sweet science of hand crafted beer comes together beautifully at the Mohrenbraurie. While we were there today we were treated to a traditional tour where they showed us the ingredients they used to brew the beer and then their brewing methods from start to finish. But enough of that rambling, lets get to the good stuff: the hospitality room. At the end we were treated to every kind of beer that Mohrenbrau has to offer. Ezpecial is the most common and is a lager, Kellerbier (my fav!) is a hybrid between a wheat beer and a pilsner, Pfiffs is a smoother version of the American pale ale, Pilsner is pretty self explanatory, Boch is a very stout beer and is about 8% alcohol aka "it'llgetyadrunk", Championese is a dark sweet beer (not a stout), Licht is a light beer. The other 2 kinds are mixed beers that are popular over here; they have lemonade and mineral water (i passed on these two lol). Most just enjoyed a few beers and were done but in all actuality we had about an hour to try whatever we wanted and however much. So Ralf (Finland), Daniel (Australia), Viktur(Sweden) and myself all took full advantage and ended up stumbling out of the brewery after about 1.5 hrs in the hospitality room. It was some of the most fun I've had in a while.

I was able to take several pictures and the imagery inside the building....the machines and architecture were simply stunning. Its not easy being away from home but days like today are so busy and fun that you don't think about how far away you are. I've become quick friends with all of the international students and I'm sure we will become a tight-knit group very soon. With all this said, I do plan on venturing out into the surrounding countries but I will have to get my nerve up to take Ryan Air which is like an airborn taxi service that is very cheap over here...flying over the Alps and over the English Channel is kind of intimidating in such a small plane so we'll have to see if I want to go to London and Paris. I don't want to be too methodical over here but the city of Dornbirn is so beautiful and has so much to offer that I'd just really like to get very acquainted with it before I spiderweb out all over the place.

Anywho, I just thought I'd update you all on how I was doing and treat you to some of the pictures I took. Cheers!

The hospitality room in the Mohren brewery is like being in heaven. The beer is truly amazing and we got to try everything they had to offer...and then some. 

(That's Ralf beside me).