A must try in Frankfurt is the Frankfurters’ favourite drink Ebbelwoi or Apple wine. Ebbelwoi is a light tart fermented fruit wine. It is more tart and less alcoholic than it’s American cousin, the apple cider. To try it we went to Dauth-Schneider Apfelwein Wirtschaft, an apple wine tavern which has been doing business for about 164 years. Isn’t that amazing?

We had it with a Frankfurter Vorspeisenteller or traditional appetisers sampler platter :

• Handkäse with Musik Pungent hand-formed cheese with chopped onions. Why is it “with Musik?” The answer: “Die Musik kommt später” (The music comes later) because of the flatulence aka “music” that people produce after eating it! LOL!
• Sachsenhäuser Schneegestöber A mixed soft cheese shaped like a ball below.
• Gekocht Eier mit Frankfurter Grüner Soße Hardboiled eggs topped with green sauce made up of seven different types of herbs.

This comes with brown bread, butter and paprika to sprinkle on top. To be honest, it’s an acquired taste but still worth a try. I don’t recommend having the “music”-producing Handkäse right before driving back to Berlin, or else you will suffer the consequence in an enclose car. Hahaha!

Good to know about Apple Wine

• You’re experience of Ebbelwoi can depend on the time of year. “In late summer it starts sweet, getting progressively more alcoholic and bitter as the months progress.”
• The best and oldest apple wine taverns are in the cobblestone streets of the Alt-Sachsenhausen (Old Sachsenhausen) district.

• Some Apple Wein Taverns I’ve read about online are Struwwelpeter, Apfelwein Wagner on Schweizerstrasse and Zur Germania on Textorstrasse.
• There is an Ebbelwoi Express, a tram service which goes through the city centre and out to Sachsenhausen, with pretzels and applewine included in the price.

THE MAGIC TRIANGLE

Three things are important parts of apple wine culture:

• the typical patterned glasses, the “Gerippte”,
• a stoneware pitcher/jug, the “Bembel”, and
• a small wooden lid to keep dirt and flies away from the precious apple wine, the “Deckelchen”.

All this together is called the magic triangle. If you ever tried to drink a “Bembel” all by yourself, then you’ll know why.

On that note, check out this very interesting feature of the men’s toilet haha!

You can see other photographs I took of Sachsenhausen and the tavern interiors here.

For more information, please see my sources:

• Old Sachsenhausen – Frankfurt.de
• Frankfurt’s Apple Wine Festival – FrankfurtTurismus.de
• Frankfurt’s Top 10 Attractions – About.com
• Applewine in Frankfurt’s Sachsenhausen – Germany is Wunderbar

Dauth-Schneider Apfelwein Wirtschaft

New Wall 5-7 / Klappergasse 39 , D-60594 Frankfurt am Main, Germany MAP
49 (0) 69-61 35 33
[email protected]
Open daily 11.30 am – 24 midnight
Outside seating available, bachelor(ette) parties not allowed
Facebook • TripAdvisor