• A Andechser am Dom
• B Augustiner-Braeustuben
• C Augustiner Grossgaststaette
• D Augustinerkeller
• E Ayingers Speis und Trank
• F Bayerischer Donisl
• G Hackerhaus
• H Hofbraeuhaus

• I Hofbraeukeller
• J Loewenbraeukeller
• K Nuernberger Bratwurstgloeckl
• L Paulaner Braeuhaus
• M Spatenhof
• N Unions-Braeu Haidhausen
• O Weisses Braeuhaus
• P Isar bräu

• Q Weihenstephan Braeustueberl
• R Zur Gred
• S Zum Haecklbraeu
• T Augustiner am Platzl
• U Der Pschorr
• V Zum Spoeckmeier
• W Paulaner im Tal
• X Zum Franziskaner

• Andechser Hell
• Andechser Doppelbock Dunkel
• Andechser Weißbier
• Andechser Weißbier Dunkel

• Augustiner Helles
• Augustiner Dunkles
• Augustiner Edelstoff

• Augustiner Helles (after 16:00 from oak barrels)
• Augustiner Dunkles
• Augustiner Edelstoff

This pub has always reminded me of a Prague beerhall. Maybe it's because on my first visit, the waiter who served me was Czech. More likely, it's because it really looks like a Czech beerhall.

There are two entrances to this sizeable establishment, restaurant on the right, beerhall on the left. Though, of course, the beerhall serves full cooked meals, too. On the pub side, you've got an extremely long corridor leading to a bar counter that sits right at the back of the building. In the corridor itself, there is simple seating, in the rooms to the right, proper tables and chairs.

Everything is kept nice and simple: tiled floors, panelled walls, whitewashed vaulted ceilings. For variety, there are a few black and white prints of Munich sparingly placed. And this wouldn't be the south, if there weren't quite a few heads of dead animals staring mournfully down at you. Just the thing to cheer you up. Personally, contemplating my own mortality mixes very poorly with beer-drinking.

This being one of the Augustiner's showcases, it's got the full range of Augustiner beer, They're not served too badly, either, the draught beer being tapped at a correct lager temperature (what I mean is NOT TOO BLOODY COLD).

Overall, a pleasant, traditional beerhall. It has the huge advantage of being located on the main shopping street, on the way from town to the station.

• Augustiner Edelstoff

• Augustiner Helles (from a wooden barrel)
• Augustiner Dunkles
• Augustiner Edelstoff

• Ayinger Helles
• Ayinger Dunkles
• Ayinger Pils
• Ayinger Kellerbier (unfiltered)
• Ayinger Dunkles Hefeweizen
• Ayinger Helles Hefeweizen
• Ayinger Winterbock

This pub has at least two great things going for it. It provides useful variety in a central Munich pub crawl, supplying an extensive range of Ayinger beers. And for anyone wanting to avoid the Hofbräuhaus (drinking in Hitler's local does have a distinctly creepy feel to it) for whatever reason, it gives you the chance to observe the place without having to set foot inside.

Now, the combination of folksy and trendy might not be everyone's cup of tea, but it was pleasant enough to my cynical eye. There's a fair bit of seating at the long bar, while the rest of the place is filled with long pine tables and benches. If you need to have a really long, close look at the Hofbräuhaus, there are also some tables on the square outside.

I was very favourably impressed by both the friendliness of the staff and the excellent quality of the beer.

• Hacker Bräu Edelhell
• Paulaner Salvator
• Hacker-Pschorr Braumeister Pils

• Hacker-Pschorr Münchener Hell
• Hacker-Pschorr Braumeister-Pils
• Hacker-Pschorr Münchener Dunkel
• Pschorr-Bräu Weisse Hell
• Pschorr-Bräu Weisse Dunkel

• Hofbräuhaus Original (Helles)
• Hofbräuhaus Dunkles

Don't try and pretend that you've never heard of the Hofbräuhaus. Anyone who has even heard the word Munich once in their lives has heard of this pub. Though quite possibly for all the wrong reasons. At least they've removed the Hitler plaque.

Obviously, it's massive with rooms of varying degrees of hugeness. We see the wood, tiles and lasses in dirndls laden with litre glasses that is standard in Munich beerhalls. There's nothing wrong with that. It's the busloads of Japanese tourists gazing bemusedly at the half pigs lying on their plates that make the experience bizarre and slightly disturbing. A lot less interesting than it sounds, but a lot less dreadful than you might expect, as long as you avoid the umpah music. This said, if you find youself on Platzl, I still recommend drinking in Ayingers Speis und Trank.

Be warned that, unless you drink the bottled Weizen, the smallest measure is a litre.

• Hofbräu Original (Helles)
• Hofbräu Dunkles (not in the beer garden)

• Löwenbräu Original
• Löwenbräu Dunkel
• Löwenbräu Hefe Weissbier Hell
• Löwenbräu Hefe Weissbier Dunkel
• Löwenbräu Premium Pils

• Löwenbräu Original 5.2%
• Löwenbräu Dunkel 5.5%
• Löwenbräu Hefe Weissbier 5.2%
• Löwenbräu Triumphator 7.6%

• Augustiner Helles (from wooden barrels)
• König Ludwig Dunkel
• Tucher Hefeweißbier

• Thomasbräu Weizenbier
• Thomasbräu Helles (unfiltered)
• Paulaner Original Münchner Dunkel
• Paulaner Premium Pils

Thomasbräu built this towering brewery and pub complex in 1892, at a time when Munich was rapidly expanding. After the First World War things weren't so rosy and there was a huge consolidation of the Munich brewing industry. Amongst the many mergers of the period was that of Paulaner and Thomasbräu in 1928. Brewing continued at Kapuzinerplatz until the war, when bomb damage made both Paulaner's breweries non-operational. Brewing resumed in 1949 at a single site (the original Paulaner brewery). Thomasbräu no longer brewed, but continued to be run as a pub by Paulaner. Until 1989, that is, when Paulaner decided to reopen it as a brewpub.

I have to say, that of all the restorations I have seen, this is one of the very, very best. All of the beautiful original details have been retained - marble pillars, chessboard floor tiling, plain vaulted ceilings - but it has a airiness and brightness that makes it some ways quite modern. A bit of common sense, respect for the existing fabric and use of top quality materials have combined to produce something stunning. I can't praise it enough; you really have to see it for yourself.

It retains a multi-room layout, including a library, and has a beer garden at the rear. The gleamy copper things that do the actual brewing are on prominent display. Of the two beers brewed on the premises, I far preferred the Weizen, which was excellent. The Helles was alright. Perhaps I found it too thin for my taste just because I'm not such a great fan of the style.

• Paulaner Original Münchner Hell
• Paulaner Original Münchner Dunkel
• Paulaner Premium Pils
• Paulaner Hefeweizen

• Hacker-Pschorr Münchener Hell (by gravity)

• Spaten Münchner Hell 5.2%
• Franziskaner Hefeweizen
• Dunkles Franziskaner Hefeweizen

• Paulaner Original Münchner Hell (sometimes gravity?)
• Paulaner Original Münchner Dunkel
• Paulaner Hefeweissbier
• Paulaner Dunkles Weissbier
• Fürstenberg Premium Pilsener

• Unions-Bräu Helles (unfiltered)
• Helles Weißbier
• Dunkles Weißbier

The hard times of the 1920's, when many Munich breweries closed their doors forever, also saw Löwenbräu gobble up Unions-Bräu. Like Paulaner, they came on the idea of re-opening it as a homebrew pub and its first beer was served in 1991.

As you might expect from somewhere that was brewing 130,000 hl in 1900, it's a reasonable size establishment. The ground floor is pretty restauranty and rather too close to kitsch for comfort. The cellar is in complete contrast, simple to the extent of being positively Spartan. It's here, amid the long pine tables and benches, that the brewing kettles, fermenting vessels and all those other pretty things connected with brewing are situated.

At the rear is a small and fairly dismal beer garden, boxed in by flats, with a selection of very immature trees. It should look OK in about 20 years time. Not really worth the trouble, unless you're desperate to sit outside.

The beer is served from wooden barrels, but with top pressure applied. I found the Helles OK, but too yeasty and way too fizzy. Maybe in the meantime someone has learned how to set the CO2 cylinder correctly.

***** CLOSED *****

• Karmeliten Klosterbrauerei Urtyp Helles
• Karmeliten Klosterbrauerei Brau Girgl (dark) (after 17:00 from the wood)
• Karmeliten Klosterbrauerei Original Dornau Pils
• Schneider Weisse

Until the Second World War this was not only Schneider's premier Munich outlet, but also the brewery. War damage put paid to the brewing side of the operation on this site, but the pub has long ago been restored and its difficult to imagine now what a state it was in in 1945. It's on the southern side of the city centre, just a little past (if you're coming from the station) the gothic townhall.

It's a big, bustling cheery sort of place, without any pretensions. Bare wooden floors, long tables and benches (no sitting in a corner by yourself staring at your pint here) and not much in the way of decoration other than some lovely coloured leaded glass windows. Their motifs - foaming glasses of Aventinus and sheaves of wheat - are very much to the point.

To emphasize the homely side, most of the waitresses seemed to be grannies on my last visit. I half expected recommendations to make sure l ate all my food and to be careful to wrap up warm before leaving.

In a way, it's a shame that Schneider have started doing draught versions of their beers. There was something extraordinary about being in the brewery tap of a large company where none of the draught beers were their own. Be warned that the "Berliner Weisse" is just their own wheat beer with syrup added. Very Reinheitsgebot.

• Isarbräu Stationsweizen (unfiltered)
• Hofbräuhaus Traunstein Zwickelbier
• Hofbräuhaus Traunstein Fürstenpils
• Hofbräuhaus Traunstein Dunkles

• Weihenstephaner Original
• Weihenstephaner Edel-Pils
• Weihenstephaner Tradition
• Weihenstephaner Hefeweissbier Leicht
• Weihenstephaner Hefeweissbier Dunkel
• Weihenstephaner Kristall Weissbier
• Weihenstephaner Hefeweissbier Hell
• Weihenstephaner Korbinian

• Hofbräuhaus Freising Helles
• Hofbräuhaus Freising Weizen

• Arcobräu Helles
• Arcobräu Pils
• Arcobräu Weizen