Tapped out in Saxony

A DAY BEFORE THE START of my beer trail in Saxony, Germany’s easternmost state, I sat with the map of Via Romantika (not to be confused with the southern Romantic Road) to understand the distances and history involved in my imminent tour. On a 120-kilometre drive, I would stop at five breweries in varied regions—from the capital city, Dresden, to the eastern medieval town of Görlitz. These had been carefully picked for their historical background, supreme quality, and popularity among the locals.

With the rise of craft breweries across the world and Germany still implementing the 500-year-old , or German beer purity law (which states that beer must be made of only four ingredients: barley, hops, yeast, and water), how much business do these local brands do? For a cursory check, I decided to visit Dresden’s own Watzke am Goldenen Reiter () on Hauptstraße. I was welcomed to take