March 2026. Cologne. Germany.
I thought long and hard about blog titles for Cologne. “Day 1, Hour 3” ? “A Sion of the Times” ? “No, STOP bringing the Kolsch !” ? It’s so much easier when the only possible answer is “Gone for a Burton“.
I ought to score these Cologne pubs; I score Chinese takeaways and churches (score for Mrs RM only available for Patronised readers). The ones marked in green were my expected highlights.
If the Gaffel tap was a 3/5, mainly for the cheery Kobes and the cheap bangers, this next one might be a 5, which would get me a suspension from whatever body campaigns for Brauhauses as 5/5 are verboten.
The lads climbed the Dom tower, Mrs RM dumped her One Small Bag with me and set off round the cathedral interior. I popped the seven minutes to Sion.
Quite a maze round the Dom, and you can’t blame it on all the scaffolding on a third visit.
Sion was a Ron favourite in his guide, and also one of the pubs I whizzed round in 2015 on my post-exam trip with James, abandoning him for 20 minutes while he finished his schnitzel in Fruh.
He was sixteen, so not technically child abandonment. Ron actually noted a healthy mix of ages on his trip, a kobe famously asking his own 10 year old if he was on the Kolsch, and this friendly atmosphere made Sion my own highlight of the trip.
Note the dedicated drinkers tables on entry (not always a feature). Actually, more drinkers than diners at 2:23, though that changed when the tour groups arrived 10 minutes later to admire the Carnival display.
Kolsch poured on request from the barrel rather than dispensed from the tray,
but the service was as cheery and attentive as a tourist could wish, and the comings and goings of Sion staff with their long service awards was a heady mix of laughter, companionship and fashion.
Mrs RM phoned, her tour of the Dom over in 10 minutes, and 5 minutes later her resolve to limit the beer intake was broken. “Look at the windows !” I urged.
“They’re only thirds, Dad”, says Matt, turning up shortly after, complaining about how slowly the Americans climb the tower.
55 minutes and 3 beers here, though in all honesty I’d have been happy to stay for the duration,
but we had a bridge to cross.
retiredmartin 
Brauhaus Sion, is one of my favourite Kolsch houses. Not quite in the same league as Paffgen or Lomi’s, but still there, up amongst the greats!
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I couldn’t get served in Paffgen this time (focus entirely on dining) so I walked out, which was a shame. Lommies (sp) was a different issue. But Sion really felt like a family business and I loved it.
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I’dve plumped for the BRAPA-esque blog title “Darkness: I was in this Cologne dark tunnel”, but that would probably say more about my taste in music than anything.
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