The setup....

I am not a big drinker, a few beers here and there, some wine, occasional hangover but can take it or leave it. Nevertheless a couple of years back I stopped drinking alcohol during the month of January to give the body a break, a sort of new years resolution.

After january ended I found myself in Zermatt at the beginning of a long ski weekend and so ordered a beer, just a normal stange. It came nice and cold in a cold glass in the clean mountain air (well I was inside a restaurant but nevertheless).... and after this enforced break from alcohol it tasted totally delicious. A combination of the break, the cold beer, cold glass. Actually that was my second favourite beer of all time. My favourite was a similarly chilled glass & chilled beer with nice nuts, served with reverence at the RAC club in London many many moons ago.


The payoff I am looking for.....

This year once again I am off the sauce for january. At the end of this break, I wish to replicate that nice feeling. Where should I go in Zurich to get a nicely poured glass of lager then, where it is poured with the attention i need? The las thing I want is some overgassed warm lager in a dirty glass from some dirty Admiral Nelson type place.

Now I know this is one area where the good folks at the English forum might have an opinion. Your suggestions welcome.

Well, no replies from you lot but a friend recommended the imagine bar at Zurich HB for a chilled glass of chilled beer.

There's the rub: it'll be a let down.

Bizzillions of suggestions, but see above.

The Federal in the Zurich HB sells every beer brewed in Switzerland - not sure if they chill the glass though

Get the train to Munich, its the only place you are going to find that type of beer
Either that or buy yourself a bottle of Augustiner Edesltoff, chill it yourself, find a quiet spot and enjoy!

i was going to write more or less exactly this, even down to the brand.

go to "Drinks of the world" in the Zrh HB, on the far left wall as you walk it about knee height are two beers from Augustiner, the Helles and the Edelstoff. Get two of those. If youre really feeling daring, up at about eye level is Tegernseer Helles as well.

Get a nice thin glass, and enjoy. CH has some decent beer but you really cant beat this, anywhere in the world, under any circumstances.

I'd go to Andorra in the Nederdorf and have that sweet little honey who works there pour me a nice Belgian beer.

Surely there's no art to pouring a stange of good old wife-beater lager.

I suppose a few of us could have the same night off, and arrange a couple of buckets of beer and ice by the lake to talk about man shiznit...but that would mean chilling our ice cubes.

Amen.. Augustiner, Tegernseer or Andechser Helles Vom Holzfaß. Best beer I have found in the world so far..Magic.

Brauerei Baar (Yep, you guesed it... In Baar) Brew a Bayerish Helles called Hopfemandli Lager Hell. Not a bad drop and @ Chf 5.60 a pint in the Brewery bar.

Bavarian beer...heavily overrated...completely tasteless compared to a Jever or any lovely Belgian brew Thanks for the tip Traubert good to know there is a place in ZH where Duvel is served!

Jever, really? Belgian should only be drank warm, and in wine type glasses, like girls. Drinking it cold deserves an a%s kicking.

That depends on the beer actually, particularly Duvel may be drank cold. Given the choice I would choose their 'girl' glasses any time over the piss served in masculin Masse by Augustiner

Well, I like the Trappist brews, with the nutty taste. Duvel, ok, you got me. Maybe even Bush, but after that, with such high alcohol content, it ruins the flavor if you over cool the other ones.

I like the girly glasses.

Was that posted after drinking a few cans of Feldschlösschen ??

I think your Belgium beer is great , but to describe Augustiner as piss.. well, It is the brain, the little gray cells on which one must rely

& Yes , I am very much a man & I love drinking my beer on a warm summers evening, by the litre.

Bar Andorra is a nice bar but I do not think that they chill their glasses.

I do like Jever but not as my first beer after abstinence.

Certainly I will not be travelling to Germany to have a small glass of beer, and these "trappist brews" are beyond me. I agree that if I go and sit by the lake with a can of feldschlossen its likely to be cold to, but then, so am i with it.

What I am looking for is a nice small cold lager in a nice cold nice looking glass, in a nice looking room in Zurich. So far, the only suggestion that fits is the Imagine.... which, while nice enough, also may be said to lack imagination (although the breakfasts are good!).

I know you want to stay in Zurich but I still have to say it:

Take the train to Wädenswil, go to "Wädi Bräu", have a nice home brewn Beer along with the gorgeous malt based food they serve...

Good place to find Eastern European beers in Bern: "Russian Shop" , Thunstrasse 107, 3006 Bern, phone number: 031 352 30 30. Open also on Sundays until 17:00.

The beers available there: "Baltika" (numbers 0, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, Cooler Lime), "Nevskoje", "Zhigulevskoje", "Kilikia", "Erebuni", "Švyturys" (Baltijos, Baltas, Extra), Żywiec, Tyskie, Lech, Tatra, Warka, Regent, Staropramen, Lobkowicz, Velkopopovický Kozel, Gambrinus.

Do they still have the all you can drink beer for lunch there?

Try Steinfels http://www.steinfels-zuerich.ch/ near escher wyss platz. They brew their own beer and it is as close to a good German beer that you will get that is brewed right in Zürich.

Another option: I recently met the brewer of "Sudwerk" http://sudwerk.ch/
They have not been around long but they have some fantastic beer. Handcrafted out of nothing but the best ingredients. You can get it at the "viadukt" in the markthalle (worth going anyway for many reasons) in Kreis 5

Get a bottle and chill your glass at home and enjoy on the next sunny spring day on your balcony (if you are lucky enough to have one)