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FijiFlavors · Düsseldorf
Amber-colored beer, top-fermented with a pronounced bitterness, brewed in Düsseldorf’s brewery-taverns from a mid-19th-century recipe. The city’s tourism promotion presents it as the typical drink of the Altstadt.
Traditional drink from Düsseldorf, Renânia do Norte-Vestfália
Also known as: Altbier, Alt, Düsseldorfer Alt
Illustrative images. The pictures in this guide are illustrations based on the real place, not photographs, and may differ from it.
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Düsseldorfer Altbier — Düsseldorf, Germany
Altbier is Düsseldorf’s beer. It ranges from amber to copper in color, is top-fermented, and has a hoppier bitterness than pale beers. The name Alt, meaning "old," refers to the traditional fermentation method—yeast that works at the top of the tank—not to the beer’s age.
According to the city’s tourism information, Altbier has been brewed in Düsseldorf from a recipe almost unchanged since the mid-19th century. The city has six brewery-taverns, and five of them have their main house in the Altstadt, the old town. Each has its own Altbier, and locals enjoy arguing about which is best. Düsseldorf’s tourism presents Altbier as a traditional craft beer, hand-made long before the microbrewery trend.
The place to taste it is the brewery itself, where Alt is poured fresh from the cask. Waiters, also called Köbes as in Cologne, bring low 0.2-liter glasses and keep serving until you place the coaster on top of your glass. The waiter’s curt manner is part of the tradition and, according to tourism information, is cordial in its own way.
The Altstadt, with more than 260 bars, taverns and restaurants in half a square kilometer, is nicknamed the "longest bar in the world." On summer nights many people drink standing on the sidewalk in front of the breweries. The rivalry with Cologne’s Kölsch, 40 kilometers away, is a long-standing matter between the two cities.
Düsseldorf , Renânia do Norte-Vestfália
Altbier is made in Düsseldorf’s brewery-taverns, which the city’s tourism presents as its typical drink.
Malt (including darker malts that give the amber color), hops, water and top-fermenting yeast.
In a low 0.2-liter glass, drawn from the cask at the brewery-taverns of the Altstadt. The waiter brings another until you place the coaster on the glass. Served with Rhenish dishes. Enjoy in moderation.
All year; in summer many people drink standing in the street in front of the breweries.
Your questions
Alt means "old" and refers to the traditional top-fermentation method, not the beer’s age.
At the brewery-taverns in the Altstadt, the old town, where Alt is brewed and drawn from the cask. Five of the city’s six breweries have their main house there.
It is the nickname for Düsseldorf’s Altstadt, which brings together more than 260 bars, taverns and restaurants in a small area. It is not a single counter, but the whole neighborhood.
Flavors of Germany
Aachen spice cookie, sweetened with syrup and with small pieces of brown candi sugar that crackle when you bite them. It can be hard or soft, plain, with almonds or coated in chocolate. It has a protected geographical indication from the European Union.
Fresh pasta dough filled with ground meat, spinach, soaked bread, onion and herbs, served in broth, browned with onions, or sliced and fried with egg. A Swabian dish with protected geographical indication since 2009, traditional at Easter week.
Layered chocolate sponge cake soaked in Kirschwasser, the cherry brandy of the Black Forest, with cherries and whipped cream, topped with chocolate shavings. Black Forest tourism presents it as the region’s most famous sweet specialty.
Dark beer with a smoky flavor, made with malt dried in the smoke of beech firewood. Bamberg tourism presents it as part of the city’s identity, and the traditional preparation is listed in the Slow Food Ark of Taste.
Paste of camembert or brie cheese mashed with butter, paprika and, depending on the recipe, onion, cumin or beer; eaten with bread or a pretzel. A beer‑garden dish from Bavaria, with protected geographical indication since 2015.
Sausage sliced into rounds, topped with tomato sauce and curry powder, served with french fries or bread. The creation of the sauce is attributed to Herta Heuwer, who sold it in Berlin in 1949.
Kale slowly cooked with bacon, served with the smoked sausage Pinkel, smoked pork and potatoes. Bremen’s official portal presents it as the city’s best-known specialty, a winter dish of the Kohlfahrt.
Light, pale beer with top fermentation, served in a thin cylindrical 0.2‑liter glass by the breweries’ waiter, the Köbes. It is a protected geographical indication and may only be made in Cologne and in a few breweries in the region.
Sweet Christmas bread with raisins, candied orange and lemon peel, almonds and plenty of butter, coated with powdered sugar. Mentioned in Dresden since 1474, it has had protected geographical indication status since 2010.
Cold sauce of seven chopped fresh herbs with sour cream, served with hard‑boiled eggs and potatoes. The mixture of the seven herbs, grown largely in the Oberrad neighborhood, has protected geographical indication.
Sweet made from fermented, laminated dough with butter, sugar and cinnamon, rolled and pressed until it takes its characteristic flattened shape. Hamburg’s official portal presents it as a specialty of the city.
Dry, acidic apple wine, fully fermented, served in the Bembel ceramic jug and in the diamond-patterned glass called the Gerippte. It is a protected geographical indication of Hesse, and the apple wine culture of the state is listed in the German inventory of intangible heritage.
Little tart of shortcrust pastry filled with marzipan, almonds and a touch of jam or a cherry, with two strips of pastry crossed on top. It replaced the roasted lark, a Leipzig dish until the hunting ban in 1876.
White veal sausage with bacon and parsley, warmed in hot water and served with sweet mustard and a pretzel, traditionally before midday. It is one of Munich’s best-known specialties.
Honey cake with spices, walnuts and almonds, often baked on a thin wafer and covered with chocolate or icing. It has a protected geographical indication since 1996 and may only be made within Nuremberg.
Pork sausages 7 to 9 centimeters long, seasoned with marjoram and grilled, served by the dozen with sauerkraut or inside a roll. They have protected geographical indication since 2003 and may only be made in Nuremberg.
Ball of strips of shortcrust pastry, fried and dusted with confectioners’ sugar, resembling a snowball. Rothenburg ob der Tauber tourism presents it as the city’s regional specialty.
Cake baked in thin layers on a spit that turns in front of a fire; when sliced it shows rings like those of a tree trunk. Made in Salzwedel since the early 19th century, it has been a protected geographical indication since 2010.
Long, thin pork sausage, 15 to 20 centimeters long, seasoned with marjoram, cumin and garlic, grilled over charcoal and eaten in a small roll with mustard. The earliest known mention dates from 1404, and the name has protected geographical indication status since 2004.
