EBG Rating: 8.9/10

Choice/Quality of Drinks:
❤️❤️❤️❤️
The one and only “good Heckel vollbier”, brewed once a month. Full bodied with an immediate hoppy presence which subsides to display a beer that shows considerable depth and body; potentially dangerous stuff.

Style/Décor:
❤️❤️❤️❤️
A plain, almost stark frontage halfway along a narrow lane near the fountain, with signage that looks like the many other closed breweries and operations from decades past. Only the clean lettering really indicates at a glance that this may still be an ongoing concern. Enter a small hallway with door advertising their peculiar opening hours, then the door into the promised land. This really is a tiny Gaststube with space for around 30 people comfortably, and maybe 40 at a push. There’s a further room across the hall. Notice the crown glass on the doorway, such a typical feature of these lost in time central European pubs. Dark wood and a certain gloom until the light is switched on at a point of the owner’s choosing.

Atmosphere/Character:
❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
One of the most concentrated, and at times intense exposures to local life you can find. This isn’t only unusual for Germany but for the region too. A purely social focused operation which fills up quickly with locals. Your task is to find a seat and some method of communicating. If you have even basic German, brush up and try your best! The two brothers who have taken over the operation are polite, willing but naturally reserved characters. They show respect reciprocally, so we would strongly advice to mind your p’s and q’s and you’ll be absolutely fine.

Amenities/Events:
❤️❤️
Off-sales, cutlery/placemats for any food brought in, limited outdoor space to drink by the fountain.

Value For Money
❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
Put simply, a remarkable lager sold for possibly the lowest price in Germany.

Description:
Martin and Rainer Heckel took over their late father’s operation. “Old Man Heckel” and his one and only Vollbier had attained cult status in the region both for the quality, price point and relative scarcity of the beer, but equally remarkably, their little small town pub.

It is a checklist of extremes and one offs.

Firstly, one of the smallest guestrooms in the country, then, opening hours that look like they were arranged by throwing some darts at prospective times pinned to a wall. Then, you’ll find they don’t serve food here – extremely unusual for Franconia, although do allow you to bring food in to eat, providing cutlery and placemats on request.

Then there’s the pricing – could this be the cheapest half litre beer in Germany? Zoigl in Oberpfalz used to be around the same price as Heckel but has since risen, making this place arguably the strongest contender. Then there’s the beer. That is to say one beer, nothing else. While Pomona Island struggle to think of the next comedy reference for naming this week’s IPA, Heckel have been happy churning out the one vollbier and doing it well.

We then must consider Waischenfeld itself, nestled in the heart of Franconian Switzerland – unreachable via public transport save for some of the more circuitous routes and even then trundling through once or twice a day at not too convenient times. It’s hard to get in or out without the aid of a car. We hiked from Aufsess during the day, across lush spring countryside and rolling hills, and left the following morning on the one bus to Gossweinstein (barely making the one and only onward connection). Logistically, this is a tough land to explore.

All of this has created a degree of mystique around the pub, certainly one we felt when originally hearing about it.

Walking towards Waischenfeld after a day’s hike across the region from Heiligenstadt was a genuinely suspenseful moment.

Would it be as good as we hoped? Would there even be room? Would our terrible German help navigate the etiquette and conversation? Would it even be open? Brauerei Heckel’s remote location and combination of the above created a sense that this was our ‘white whale’.

We can now share our experience.

Heckel fulfils nearly all expectations, being as quirky and intense an experience as anticipated, while also being richly enjoyable.

The pub isn’t one for shrinking violets, you are sat cheek by jowl to locals – nothing hostile, but certainly intimidating for an outsider. Unless you time your visit right, expect the pub to be packed out with only a few seats available.

The pub room is a 1970s relic with those telltale crown glass patterned windows again, dark wood panelling and a sense of unlit gloom, almost as if it refuses to even doff its cap to the pretty riverside town outside it. When the light is switched on in the evenings it feels almost like a ceremony, as though they were rationing the electricity.

The pub front is an echo of the buttoned up nature of Franconians, it is hardly a Munich Wirtshaus beckoning you inside. It looks more like you’ll knock on the door to be told they haven’t brewed a beer since 1992 due to some horrible family calamity.

So, it is a relief to find not only energy, life but vibrancy as you enter the pub. Card games are noisily played, laughter and banter flies across the room, and glass after glass of Heckel beer is consumed. At such a low price, why not? The beer provides an initial crisp hoppy bite, whacking you in the mouth, before that then blends with a robust, full bodied sweetness. What results is not what you’d call harmony nor balance, but, in their place: magic, devilment. They know what they’re doing. At 5.5% this is dangerous stuff and before too long you can get lost counting how far in you’ve gone.

The best moments are cultural exchanges, and so if you’re chatting to locals or visitors, a strange experience is one everyone can bond over, and this is truly a strange experience.

What makes it all the more interesting is that Martin and Rainer are reserved characters, rather than the life and soul of the party. They are respectful and give to the community and to outsiders, there’s a sense they expect that to be reciprocated by good manners and respect. It’s important to acknowledge their work as part of visiting the place and to give them the kudos they deserve.

On almost every aspect this qualifies as a love or hate pub, but there’s so much to enjoy for those who really want to dig in to it. When we assessed it we considered, as always, whether we’d be happy coming here for the rest of our lives. It was easy: absolutely yes.