retiredmartin

June 2024. Basel.

Frank Zappa said that a real country has to have a beer (and an airline); I don’t think you can really claim to have visited that country without going in a “pub” (exclusions apply e.g. Vatican City, which might prove Frank’s point).

Basel was our only stop in Switzerland before heading east to add Liechtenstein. Two hours to tick the cathedral,

the tall, narrow, houses,

a succession of windy, cobbled lanes,

and confirm the existence of the Rhine. Not the most picturesque stretch, but still.

But a pub of any ilk seemed unlikely, if only because at 10am on Sunday it was almost unbearably quiet. Actually, both our departure gate at Stansted and the flight itself had been the quietest I can recall (compare with flights to Albania in June). The almost complete pedestrianisation of central Basel (no cars, no taxis, no delivery vehicles) gave the impression of a town of 180,000 souls in permanent slumber.

But, just behind that silent tram advertising the 2025 World Cup Finals of….dressage, next to the unexpected Maccie D’s, something stirs in Zum Braunen Mutz.

Far too early for a beer; all the more reason to pop in then.

OK, it’s not exactly a Cologne style Brauerei,

but it’s colourful, quaint, and has beers.

And bears. I reckon there might be some link to the name, but Google doesn’t offer a Swiss-english translation so I’ll never know.

Half litres about £6.80,

I had the Dunkel, which was fine. And foamy. The couple opposite stared miserably into their £4.50 coffees.

Oddly no-one on Untappd had a good word to say about Swiss beer.