Hofbräuhaus in Munich is a tourist attraction that happens to serve beer. Augustiner-Keller is a beer garden and hall that locals actually use. Both serve good Bavarian lager. One of them exists to serve visitors from Ohio who want the full Oktoberfest simulation; the other is a place where Munich residents go on warm evenings. This distinction applies in every city with a notable beer culture, and understanding it before you arrive is the difference between a genuine experience and a themed one.

Munich

Augustiner-Bräu is the oldest independent Munich brewery and the one that Müncheners cite most consistently when asked where they actually drink. The Augustiner-Keller on Arnulfstraße has a large chestnut-shaded beer garden that operates on the traditional model: bring your own food or buy from the kitchen, pay by the litre. The beer is served cold, slightly cloudy, and correct.

The Viktualienmarkt beer garden in central Munich is more central and more touristy but still a genuine space used by locals. A half-litre of a rotating Bavarian brewery's beer in the open air, bought from the counter and drunk at a table under a tree: this is the Munich experience, not the Hofbräuhaus.

Prague

Czech lager style (světlý ležák, meaning pale lager) is defined by Pilsner Urquell and Budvar, both of which are available on tap throughout Prague at prices significantly lower than anywhere in Western Europe. U Fleků is an historic brewpub in the New Town that brews its own dark lager (tmavý ležák) and has been doing so since the fifteenth century. It is touristy and worth visiting once. Lokál, a chain of bars deliberately recreating the classic Czech hospoda format with tank-fresh Pilsner Urquell, is the reliable local option across multiple Prague locations.

Brussels

Brussels is the correct base for Belgian beer culture, and lambic is what makes it distinct. Lambic is spontaneously fermented using wild yeast, aged in oak barrels, and often blended or combined with fruit to produce gueuze and kriek. Cantillon Brewery in the Anderlecht neighbourhood runs brewery tours and tastings. It is a working brewery, not a museum, and the experience of drinking directly from the tank in that space is specific to that place.

Delirium Café in central Brussels claims the Guinness record for most beers on offer and is genuinely overwhelming. The neighbouring Delirium Village area is tourist-focused but the beer selection is legitimate. For a more local experience, Moeder Lambic in the Place Fernand Cocq neighbourhood is quieter and the staff actually know what they are recommending.

Craft Beer: London and Berlin

London's craft beer scene is centred on Bermondsey Beer Mile (a stretch of railway arch breweries in south-east London) and a network of tap rooms across Hackney and Brixton. Saturday is the day for Bermondsey: breweries open their tap rooms from noon and the route between them is walkable. Berlin's craft beer scene has consolidated around a few neighbourhood tap rooms in Prenzlauer Berg and Kreuzberg, with Berlin Craft Beer Festival in September the annual highpoint.

When You Do Not Know the Menu

Ask what is local. In a Czech pub, that is always a Czech lager. In a Bavarian hall, it is the house brewery's helles or weizen. In Brussels, ask what is on tap from a local lambic producer. Staff at genuinely good beer venues are usually pleased to explain the menu to someone who asks in good faith.