"The Bavarian's inordinate love for beer ..." – Murray's Handbook for Travellers in Southern Germany 1857

How can you travel to Bavaria and NOT talk about beer? Bavaria's beer has a worldwide reputation as some of the finest lagers and wheat-beers you can find. The country's long brewing tradition and the Bavarian's love for drinking in the open public, especially the beer-gardens of southern and eastern Bavaria are legendary. 

One of earliest professional travel guides on Bavaria is from the renowned series "Murray's handbook for travellers" which were published by Scotsman John Murray II (1778–1843) in London starting in 1836. First published in 1857 the volume "A handbook for travellers in southern Germany" gives a decidedly critical view on Württemberg, Bavaria, Bohemia and Tyrole, the most popular travel routes and possible means of transport and accommodation. The unknown author's descriptions of the cities mentioned in the book at times are impossibly short ("Böpfingen. A miserable small town surmounted by an old castle", pg. 39) and at other times disproportionally extensive, like his portrayal of the torture chambers beneath the church of St. Jakob in Regensburg (pgs. 109–111). A fun-to-read part is the author's account of Bavaria's special relationship to beer:

Murray, John (ed.): A handbook for travellers in Southern Germany: being a guide to Württemberg, Bavaria, Austria, Tyrol, Salzburg, Styria & the Austrian and Bavarian Alps, and the Danube from Ulm to the Black Sea. London 1857, pgs. 42–43.