Franz D. Hofer
Writes about beer culture, beer travel, beer history. Teaches about museums and public history, food and drink, and cultural history. Books, hiking, cycling.
https://tempestinatankard.com
https://franzdhofer.com
- Wiethaler's Goldstoff Festbier. Looks great, tastes even better. One of the beers in my annual roundup of beers that grabbed my attention this past year. 🍻🍻 tempestinatankard.com/2026/01/30/t...
- I drink a lot of Ayinger. But it's been ages since I bought a 4-pack of Celebrator. Where did all the plastic goats draped around the bottle's neck go? For those wondering, the bookshelf is merely where I charge my phone. Nature this, nature that. I guess the goat's demise is good for the enviro.
- My annual roundup of tasty beers I had the pleasure of drinking in the year previous. 2025 saw me return to Japan and the Czech Republic for the first time in ages, and I visited Slovenia for the first time. Also includes the other usual suspects. Prost! 🍻 tempestinatankard.com/2026/01/30/t...
- In which I write about the folks who helped fuel my beer adventures in 2025. Not pictured: @stanhieronymus.bsky.social @evanrail.bsky.social Joe and Will of Big Friendly, OKC Gregor Fransson Rich Carbonara Manuele Colonna Etc. Prost, everyone!! 🍻🍻 tempestinatankard.com/2026/01/15/2...
- U Slovanské Lípy, Prague Been a while now since I've posted anything. Why not break the drought with a few photos from what quickly became my favourite tavern on my last trip to Prague?
- Lazy Leaves Märzen, The Big Friendly, OKC I can't even begin to tell you how honoured I feel at being included as a collaborator in this beer set to release tomorrow at the Philbrook Museum's annual Lager Land Festival. tempestinatankard.com/2025/11/07/l...
- Wine gardens for beer lovers I've been lurking more than posting these days, but today I have a reason to post something: the Viennese Heuriger! If you're a fan of beer gardens, you'll love the Heuriger (wine garden). There's tasty wine, food, and Sturm!! tempestinatankard.com/2025/10/13/b...
- La Fleur en Papier Doré, Brussels. One of the more fascinating tavern interiors I've come across. More in the post 🍻 tempestinatankard.com/2025/09/17/l...
- If you're a lover of beer festivals and you happen to find yourself anywhere near Bamberg this weekend, head on over to the Sandkerwa, perhaps one of the "best" beer fests in Bavaria. Best or not, it's among my faves. Great selection of Franconian beer! 🍻 tempestinatankard.com/2025/08/18/b...
- "All Schnitzel cooks agree that the color of a Wiener Schnitzel should be light golden brown. Certain Breughel paintings and Stradivari violins have the perfect Schnitzel color." Fine food writing. Joseph Wechsberg, The Cooking of Vienna's Empire (1968) H/T @evanrail.bsky.social for the book tip
- The very sound of the word Munich is enough to conjure up fond memories of languid afternoons in beer gardens, of joyous and occasionally raucous beer festivals, of winter evenings in beerhalls drinking mugs of beer to drive the cold away. tempestinatankard.com/2025/08/06/i...
- Some "classic-ness" happening this afternoon right here in Oklahoma. Seems I haven't had Samuel Smith's Yorkshire Stingo since 2012. That's not for lack of tryin'. It's not something we see here where the wind blows down the plains. Had to go to Wizard of Oz country (Goebel in Wichita) to get sum.
- A "counter-factual": What would the history of beer (or the history of anything, for that matter) look like without myths and legends? I ask this as a historian, but also one who is decidedly *not* a positivist historian. (The myths and legends we tell ourselves can be revealing for historians.)
- Wasn't expecting to find a reference to Braudel in the intro @eoghanwalshbxl.bsky.social 's delightful History of Brussels Beer. Much as I love Braudel (I wrote a paper in grad school on narrative scale in history and read the whole damn Mediterranean), I'm glad you stuck to 50 objects. 🙂🍻
