A two-hour drive from Frankfurt to Kloster Kreuzberg rewards you with a brewery and beer hall set in the Bavarian mountains. The Kloster, the German word for a monastery, is still actively inhabited by monks. Not just any monks though. The best kind of monks. Beer-brewing monks.

In search of beer and hearty Bavarian food, we arrived in the early evening, just after the sun went down. As the fog set in around the parking lot, we noticed that there were only a handful of cars. Concerned that the beer hall was closed, we headed to the building to cautiously pull open the front door, only to find that it was packed inside.

We sat down at a communal table and struck up a conversation with our neighbors, most of whom had hiked at least 15 kilometers to the Kloster. Canine hiking buddies roamed freely (and quietly) around the hall while their two-legged companions enjoyed a liter (or two, or three) of beer.

The monks brew the beer on premises, and offer three or four choices. Some of the beers are available all year, while others are produced seasonally. The seasonal beer available in early-December when we traveled to the Kloster was a Christmas beer, called the Weihnachtsbock in German. We also enjoyed the brewery’s Dunkel, which wasn’t too sweet like many of its contemporaries.

As a heads up between us friends, you order the food and beer at separate counters, placed in the center of the various halls. In addition to paying for the beer, you also pay a deposit for the glass/mug/vessel (called “pfand” in German) that you get back once you turn in your glass. You can also choose to bring the glass home with you as a souvenir. Feel free to bring your growlers to this brewery, as the staff is more than happy to fill them up for you. Also feel free to bring a designated driver. The beers flow pretty freely and it’s a long drive back to Frankfurt.