Through no particular fault of my own, I was sent on a three day trip to Germany to attend a meeting which in the event, I actually only was allowed to put 20 minutes' worth of input into. Still, it was a beer swilling opportunity. As I was on a tight schedule, I had to fly from Birmingham which turned out to be a stroke of luck as I was able to get three pubs done at the airport using the company credit card. The Dragonfly at terminal 1 is an absurdly overpriced Wetherspoons, which on my visit only had about 4 hand pumped ales on, and was not particularly good for service. Its only redeeming features were that it offered balcony views over the rest of the concourse, big deal. Across the concourse was the Abraham Darby which was actually worse, as there was less beer and it cost more. My half of bitter flummoxed the barmaid because she wanted to offer up lager.

Time to go airside, and time to sample the Bar Des Voyageurs, set up in a very similar way to the one at Luton and probably many other places too. I managed to get a half of stupidly priced Guinness. After a very uneventful flight on a small plane, I touched down at Frankfurt airport and was most disappointed to see that the images portrayed in Indian Jones films of German airports in the 1930s is long gone. Still, the first action was to purchase some beer on foreign soil, which I did at a bar called Connection right in the middle of the airport. Expensive. Fortunately, a much more stereotypical German pub was to be found along the walkway to the station. The Schwartzenwald Stubchen looked like a cod Bavarian drinking den, and I half expected Lederhosen clad Krauts to be milling around slapping their thighs and drinking from steins. Also a decent beer, some sort weissbier that I sadly had to drink very quickly in order to catch the train. A two hour train ride later, I was in Göttingen, where a mile long walk was required to get from the station to the hotel and the opportunity was taken to make a mental note of the pubs on the way.

Dinner was had in the Hotel Eden bar which was OK, before I ventured out. The Zur Funzel in the South West of the town centre was a small and uninspired bar with a handful of pissed middle-aged punters and a sad old man serving not particularly varied beer behind his bar. Fortunately the nearby Kleine Kommende was a lot better, being a bit more cosy and with a proper beer menu. I elected to have a very nice glass of Köstritzer Schwarzbier, which I asked for in my best German.

The following day, I had set myself the target of getting another half dozen done, and as I no longer had to go out for dinner with the Aerospace Science and Technology editorial board, this was a distinct possibility. The Steinhaus was quite a vile sports pub with an island bar. There were very few people in there when I went in, so I sat at the island bar admiring the three sorts of beer that they had though I haven't written them down. One was a Schwartzbier, and was actually quite good for such an establishment. Time for dinner and time to visit a proper bierkeller in the form of the Kreuzgang. An excellent dark celler bar, just what I was looking for in Germany, and they also did a great bit of fish.

I had to wait some time for service in the Cafe Gartenlaube, quite a trendy bar on two floors in a square. I was pretty bright inside and the slow service was no doubt due to the fact that the bar man and waitress were involved in sorting out a complicated cocktail order for a party upstairs. I managed to get hold of an exceedingly good glass of Weissbier which I made short work of. One of the inadequacies of German pubs was held up for all to see in Trou, a studenty cellar bar tucked away in an alley. The only lighting was in the form of candles and it was a wonderfully atmospheric place to drink if one had a party of friends. The Germans are not so good at displaying which beers are on tap - sometimes there is a menu, sometimes they have a label on a necklace hanging off the tap itself, but it's very hit and miss and quite easy to end up with bog standard lager. Fortunately the range at Trou was extensive and I ended up with something decent.

Thanners was a lively pub, with quite an English feel to it, and I ended up having two beers as there was a bottle in there that I wanted to take home that I espied while sipping away at a swift half. Nice seats at the bar were available, though the toilets were difficult to find. The crowd was very lively and studenty. I was to have an early start the following day, but there was time for one more at Peron 68, a small bar which almost was like a wine bar. In actual fact I think I had two because there was something on offer that I only discovered after badly ordering my first bier. I really wish they displayed the kinds of beer on offer; my notes are quite dire.

Waking up early the following morning and tucking into a fry up, I had a bit of a long train ride ahead of me. When I eventually reached Frankfurt, I had already worked up a bit of a thirst, and so had a swifty in Laxx, a really quite awful place selling fizzy lager at extortionate prices. The excursion's drinking had one more turn however after coming back on an again fairly uneventful flight, I felt it only right and proper to record the 16th pub in a 48 hour business trip with a spot of lunch at the Clock, Bickenhill, a woeful place doing no proper beer at all and a very dry bit of fish and chips. Though as Elsevier were paying I thought it rude not to take advantage of their generousity...