Tuesday 14th May 2013
Bob Thompson
The name of this brew pub is, I believe, a play on words in which Ambrosia (the nectar of the Roman gods) is combined with bräu, the (in combination) German word for a brew and converted into an imitation Latin word that means something like "a place to drink the nectar, beer". Please also note the first name of the owner, see below; so it is a title that seems to work on more than one level.
The brew pub is the brainchild of Ambros Michael Mar and his wife Heike Görmann and it opened its doors for the first time on 4th August 2004.
The pub is located in a beautiful building that is said to date from 1267. Now that is a very long ago, and I express some scepticism on that date, although it is extremely old. One thing more certain is that it was once the Palais Scrottenberg, the home of the Count Scrottenberg.
He moved away to a new, purpose-built palace nearby in 1710, which is now a hotel. The building has been owned by the Mahr family since 1819.
On entering you find yourself in a long, but quite narrow, room with some tables on either side. As you continue along the room the glistening brewery is on the left, followed by the bar on the right.
The room continues beyond into a sort of atrium with much greenery, that was probably once a courtyard. On the left there some more select rooms.
There are three regular beers, Hell (Light), Dunkel (Dark) and Bersteinweizen (Amber Wheat). Sometimes there are specials. How does this pub compare with the other Bamberg institutions? Well. I'm not sure it should be; a fairer comparison would be with the other new-wave brew pubs that have been established in this country, and in that respect it stands up fairly well.
I tried the Hell and the Dunkel and both beers were acceptable without being exceptional.
Obviously, because of the method of storing the beer in tanks means it has added CO2, but I've had much worse in the country, you can at least taste the beer.
Naturally, there is a full food menu and whilst I was there I observed a large party of drinkers come in, who knew the staff and who were obviously repeat visitors.
Important Information:
Gasthausbrauerei Ambräusianum, Dominikanerstrasse 10, Bamberg 96049. Tel: 0951 509 0252
Open: January to March: Tuesday to Friday 17.00-23.00; Saturday 11.00-23.00; Sunday 11.00-21.00.
Monday: Closed.
April to December: Tuesday to Saturday 11.00-23.00; Sunday 11.00-21.00. Monday: Closed.
The brew pub is located in the middle of the old town. It's about 15 minutes walk from the ZOB (Zentral Omnibus Bahnhof) and 25 minutes from Bamberg railway station.
Bamberg station is served by trains to and from a number of German cities and it takes about 40 minutes to Nürnberg which there are many more connections, some to other countries.
Update October 2017. Hours are as above. However the seasonal dates have changed.
Winter hours are now November to March and Summer hours are April to October.
