(Continued from the previous text)

There were four of us exploring smoked beer, besides Mr. An, there were Lao Jia, Lao Hou, and me.

I met Lao Jia and Lao Hou in the early 1990s when we worked together at a well-known Sino-foreign joint venture group in Beijing. I worked with them for a total of fourteen years, and both of their wives were also colleagues of mine at the same unit. Later, I changed jobs, but our friendship has remained to this day, and we are all very familiar with each other. Mr. Jia retired in July of the year I went to Germany, at the same time as I did, after managing hotels, shopping malls, and office buildings. As good friends, we have traveled together domestically and internationally for six or seven years; Mr. Hou has also been a hotel manager for over twenty years, and this time we are again in the company of several peers.

Both of them have considerable knowledge and experience with wine and food, and together with Mr. An, they are my drinking companions on this trip. In addition to beer, we also brought seven bottles of whiskey with us on the road.

I won't talk about our whiskey stories here; let's get back to the main topic.

That evening, just as it was getting dark, Mr. An led us out of the hotel, walking through the streets and alleys. When we crossed a stone bridge, I saw many young people standing on the bridge, holding beer bottles, drinking and chatting. I thought we had arrived because where there are lively young people, there must be nightlife. Mr. An said, "Not yet; it’s even livelier ahead." We continued on!

After turning a couple of streets, twisting and turning, we saw a few bars ahead with about seventy or eighty people standing at the entrances, men and women in pairs, holding beer glasses, drinking and chatting. We finally reached our destination.

Mr. An pointed to a large oval sign on the wall at the entrance of a bar and said, "This is the one, established in 1405. Hurry up and take a picture with your phone; let’s go in and drink!"

In Bamberg, there are two breweries that produce smoked beer, and the most famous is this bar, which has been in operation since 1405: Brauereigasthof Spezial.

Since it was Mr. An's second visit, he guided us in with ease.

There is no bar counter, no wine cabinet, and no other drinks; they only sell smoked beer in two varieties: one with a strong smoky flavor and one light. The beer is served through a small window where you pay for it, and because the place is not large, most people drink their beer standing at the entrance or on the street outside.

It felt like we had stepped into a European movie from the 17th or 18th century, traveling through a time tunnel.

There was a line to buy beer, indicating that the business was booming!

What’s different here is that there is a two-euro deposit for the beer glasses, and the deposit tag is a small plastic card.

After all four of us bought our beers and sat at a nearby long old wooden table, I took a deep sip of this smoked beer, renowned among beer enthusiasts, and indeed, it tasted different from any beer I had had before; it was quite good.

Mr. An had met an American beer enthusiast here the day before, who was on his eighth visit specifically for the smoked beer.

It seems this place truly lives up to its reputation!

This bar has been in operation for 614 years since its establishment in 1405, and authentic German smoked beer at its birthplace sells for only 3.8 euros a glass. The ancient bar retains its historical appearance and is still thriving in the 21st century.

Only by sitting here, in this place devoid of any modern atmosphere, with decorations still from before the 18th century, drinking under the dim yellow light, can one truly appreciate the long history of the traditional brewing of smoked beer.

This experience of feeling history through wine culture is something I had with Mr. An and Mr. Jia back in China: three years ago, when we visited the ancient Gu Yue Long Shan central winery in Shaoxing, Zhejiang, and tasted 40-year-old raw yellow wine during a banquet, but it was not as profound as this time!

The history of Chinese liquor is long and profound, but who can say that it has remained unchanged through wars and times? European history cannot be compared to the ancient history of the Chinese nation, but it is common to see buildings in Europe that have been in use for hundreds of years. Drinking smoked beer, I was lost in thought...

I took the opportunity to smoke a cigarette and went to the entrance of the bar to watch the excitement.

Across the street, there was a bar that opened in 1545, and it was also crowded. Business was good!

At the height of the bar's atmosphere, three middle-aged German men and one woman joined our table. They were drinking beer and watching us chat, and they greeted us in English.

In our conversation, we learned that two of the German men were the same age as Mr. Jia and me, both turning sixty that year. One of them was particularly chatty; he had worked in Suzhou, China, and knew a few words of Chinese. The more we talked, the more we hit it off; he particularly liked and could even cook Chinese "Mao-style red-braised pork." I also used a translation app on my phone to chat with them in Chinese and German while drinking.

Their friends, seeing how lively we were, occasionally joined in. One German lady came over and said to me in Chinese, "I love you!" It really startled me; what was going on? Later, I found out she had been to China and had only learned this one phrase in Chinese.

They were all locals from Bamberg and loved this bar, being regulars here!

We had a great time chatting, continuously clinking glasses and drinking, taking photos together, and even signing each other's coasters as a memento. We were worried that the Germans couldn't send the group photos we took on our phones via WeChat, but in the end, with gestures and English, plus my translation app, we finally managed to get them to turn on their phone's Bluetooth.

It was truly lively!

The bar was very old, and the restroom signs were interesting and unexpected. When I pushed the door open, the inside was very spacious and modern (no photos allowed inside).

Time flew by; before I knew it, we had been drinking and chatting for an hour and a half. In between, the four of us each ordered another glass of the light smoked beer.

We prepared to wrap up and head back to the hotel to rest.

“I love hamburgers, I love beer!” (This is my farewell phrase in broken English.)

This night of smoked beer in Bamberg, Germany, brought us great joy! It will be hard to forget!