German craft beer

I made a wet hop beer with hops growing up a cable on the side of my house just like in the pic. However, I used pellets at 60 minutes to have a better handle on the IBU's.

The beer is good, but it's nothing special. I don't know if it's worth doing again, but it was worth doing once.

 

Nearing the end of the Camba Bavaria journey until I order the next shipment. We're down to the 2 American style "Craft beers" in the box. 1st, I saved them for last because I wanted to compare them side-by-side, and 2nd, I wanted to enjoy them alone and have time to reflect without thinking of any of the other German styles waiting for me in the box.

I couldn't decide whether this post should be in the Bayernbiere Bought and Drunk thread, or the German Craft Brew thread, so I'll post them in both, as then they'll be there as handy references for future searches on the above topics.

First, the bottle.

I introduce the Pale Ale.
First, what I notice is the pic… evoking Marilyn Monroe, the iconic American pin up? It definitely has a 50s vibe. Also, the background is earthy, smudged, unclean almost, very in contrast to all Camba's other labels, which are full of clean lines, strong colors and overall pretty boring, no images All the German style beers have only the stated name of the beer and, well, that's it. Here we have a more evocative image, provoking a link to the craft beer labels in the USA, I'm guessing. Anyway, it's interesting how the American styles are so different in labeling than the German styles. 2nd these beers are available only in 0.3L bottles, instead of the 0.5L bottles for almost all the German styles. More beer for less flavor? Is that the message they're sending? Or more ingredients require smaller bottles, hence higher costs require less product sold at one time, equalling more profit per bottle?
These little things really add up, IMO The overall image here is how they want the beer perceived by the public, and it's interesting to know the thinking behind these marketing concepts.
Ok… the beer. It's 5.2%, orang-ish yellow, or yellowish orange, not sure, but it's dead in the middle of those two colors, with tints of red hiding in the shadows of the glass.
The nose is all grapefruit, orange, lemon, typically C-hops, quite strong and lovely aroma.
The flavor is close to the typical American Pale Ale. Up front lots and lots of bitterness, slightly biting in a manly, aggressive manner. Yummmm. In the middle a tad sourness and astringency with lemon flavors mixed with a little, yes, just a hint of British Pale malt. In the back, again, lots of flavor. I get more bitterness in the back, Pale malt flavors, giving me the feeling I'm drinking a English Bitter while searching for the aftertaste, which is quite strongly in the direction of astringency again.
However, I can taste the German-ness in this beer. First, what makes this beer German is the Pils and Roasted malt flavors that underly the flavor profile. I can taste these are German malts and quite good quality, too. Second, it's mouthfeel is German, thick, romantic, warming,… in a word… süffig. It's a feeling I get from German beers, and that's present in all Camba's beers. How I love that feeling in my mouth.
Overall, slapping a U.S. craft beer label on the bottle doesn't make it a "craft beer," so luckily the beer lives up to the expectations provided by the label. It's an extra aggressively hopped Pale Ale that could be masquerade as a U.S. brewed APA. Is it special, unusual or outstanding for this style? No, and except for the wonderful bitterness here, it's not too different from other APAs, and that's a great, wonderful thing. See, I haven't had, not even laid eyes on an American style Pale Ale since leaving the USA, so this is an exotic taste of a lovely hopped up beer for one hopeless man stranded in Germany. Yet, it's not too far out there for a German tasting this beer for the first time, for it still has familiarity such as undertones of German malts and the mouthfeel that envelopes like a warm blanket. Put all that together, and you get a WOW beer.

 

Now to the climax, for me at least, of all the Camba Bavaria beers. The IPA. It's been for me like a crescendo of great beers, one after another from them, and I hope by the most flavorful of the bunch… that I won't be disappointed.

Again, I'll be posting this simultaneously on this thread and the German Craft Beer thread, so like there, too, please.

First, the bottle.​

​

Notice the similarity of the label to the Pale Ale. Again, we get the earthy, emotive aspect, the grungy, almost smeared use of color, monochrome again, but this time with a pic of a hop emerging from the chaos. Green is an good color for a beer in Germany that emphasizes the hops. Again, no brewery name on the label except on the neck. No words whatsoever, none. You feel the nature, yet no appeal to Heimat here, by which I mean no name written hugely on the bottom of theel of the town Camba Bavaria's located in written hugely on the bottom of the label: Truchtlaching. Above I said no words, but cleverly they pu AI PI AI on the label. It's the German phonetic pronunciation of the English letters I, P & A. Cute, eh? It gives it indeed a sense of Heimat, stating that though this is truly an American, i.e. foreign style, we're bringing you the German version designed for your tastes. At least that's what I get out it as a studied oft practicing artist and wannabe graphic artist.

So. Does it live up to my expectations of the label? The head is huge, a dirty white foam mountain on top of an orange-yellow colored, verging on amber body that's clear as a bell. Basically the same color as the Pale Ale.

Aroma is equally powerful. Tropical fruits, maracuyá, a little strawberry, citrus behind it…. damn this smells a lot like my Axis and Allies IPA. It does a little malt note hiding, too (but not nearly as much as mine!) So far, it's really up there in the IPA pantheon as if it were straight outta the West coast. Their website claims Holunderblüten, or elderberry flowers, but I'm not getting that. Maybe Germans would, seeing as they're more familiar with this bloom's aroma. The website said it used Cascade hops, which really comes through.

There's lots of bitterness up front in the flavor, but not overpowering, not enough to scare the timid or newbie Germans away. The middle is some honey, but even more fruity flavors, lots and lots of tropical fruits, again, marakuyá, litchi, strawberry, all exploding on center the tongue, and also bitterness, almost biting, but not quite, just in the right amount. The back is more bitterness, a lot more bitterness, verging but never crossing the line to extreme, making you feel like a roller coaster of fake danger, just enough to scare you, but not enough to stop you from leaving your comfort zone. You get lots of malt notes here, too. I get some München malt, but more Pale malt here. It's extremely malty, and that's wonderful. The mouthfeel is like the Pale Ale, thick, warm,gemütlich,… hearty. The malt flavors and the "hearty" feeling in the mouth are the tell-tale signs of wonderfully done German beer, not an American version.

Overall, I really really like this beer. If it weren't for the malts and mouthfeel, it'd be an ABI (for those new here:"Another Bloody IPA," Andreas Seufert of Pax Bräu.) But it goes beyond that into WOW-land for combining the best of German and American beer styles. It's a straight up IPA, not mind-blowing, but it's no slouch compared to its American brothers. It's also not an ostentatiously look-at-me chest thumper like some American versions. It's strong but humble, and allows its German roots to underscore this beer with its malty backbone that is reminiscent but not quite sweet enough to be a Märzen. Lovely. However, it's not nearly as great as Pax Bräu'sCissy IPA, for it lacks the smoke malt, the roastiness and other German flavors (Münchner & Pils malt) added bubbling up and exploding around the hop goodies, which makes it a truly transcendent beer.

My only regret is not being able to try Camba's German IPA, which they describe on their website. I love this quote:

or "The first taste is dominated by citrusy aroma of mandarine as well as fruity notes of banana, apricot, Physalis (?), which are bound with a powerful balanced hop bitterness and are brought forward by a special taste-sybiosis from hop flowers and the exotic."

But what makes this beer a German IPA is the use of Herkules hops, they say. I've used this new German hop before and just recently. It's got an Alpha acid of 17.9%. Enough said?

 

Nice review(s) as always, Boddhitree. Let's see more of that glass next time!

 

going mainstream....

 

Interesting. Haven't heard about the brewery before. Yet one more to try it. Not a newly found business, but yet another traditional Franconian/Bavarian brewery to try this (for Germany) new style. I like the way things are starting to move here.

 

Apparently Camba Bavaria is opening a brew-pub in München called "Munich Tap-House". To be opened late next month. Appr. 200 beers, of which 40 are on tap. Now, that's extraordinary in Germany! Read it on Lieblingsbier.de (here), but a Google search didn't give any other results. That's good news for all those folks asking for Belgian and craft beer when in Munich.

 

It sounds like the German beer scene is getting better and better.

Now, all you need is for a German brewery to trademark the term “Craft Beer”!

Prost!

 

I'd rather have breweries refine what is native to Germany than dabble in this new Devilry.


Just so you know I'M still watching

 

Interesting story I found: a hobby-brewer who is a professor wants to brew a special Festbier for the 50th anniversary celebration of the university in Aalen. He knows the head brewer of the local Aalener Löwenbrauerei and they plan to make a 4000l-Simcoe-Märzen in their brewery. So a hobby-brewer's dream comes true by brewing his own beer in a real brewery with original equipment from early last century. Just an extremely shortened version by me, here are some links:

Pictures of the brewing process in Aalener Löwenbrauerei from hobbybrauer.de.

An article on that in the local newspaper/online portal.

 

“4000l-Simcoe-Märzen” So he made a Märzen hopped with Simcoe hops? That is very innovative!!

Prost!

 

@JackHorzempa was that sarcastic?!

Another thing, for the BAs in Germany or those who may watch online: in about 20 minutes (23:15) there will be a show on ZDF called "Auslandsjournal" with a report on the craft beer scene in the US.

 

No I was not being saracastic. I have homebrewed many batches of Marzen and I would never have thought of using an American aroma hop like Simcoe to make that type of beer. I would be intertested in knwoing how the beer turned out.

Prost!

 

Cool, was about to post the same. Good article, much better and more detailed than other papers attempting to write about the topic. The author is a beer-sommelière and founder of the new Berlin Beer Academy.

 

Just read news from Brauerei Rittmayer that this is now open (Rittmayer's beers will apparently be featured...among the 200 or so others). Anyone plan on going?

 

Yeah, opened yesterday if I remember correctly. Have not been and no plans to go back to Munich any time soon. Do you have an idea of the tap/bottle listing? Does it seem to be mostly German-focused, or does it American/Belgian/UK beers as well? I think Stahlsturm is the closest one of us to it. Perhaps he can go hang out with the Touries and give us a report.

 

Rather than cringe at the attempt to ape the Americans, I think I may stay on the S-Bahn and go straight to Forschungsbrauerei instead.

 

Been there yesterday.
Great location! The beer list is incredible (One of the largest selections in Germany?), the servers do know what they are doing and what they serve! It was a little too loud in there for my taste. The prices are quite good for Munich!

The beer list is divided into categories such as "Bockbiere" "Stout/Porter" "Barrel aged" (Camba Bavaria has a lot of different beers aged in different barrels) "Belgian Styles" etc.. Most of them are either from German, British, Belgian or American brewers, some Dutch brewers and some Italian brewers. There are one or two Mikkeller's, some 3 Floyds - just to name a few of the well known international breweries - but also traditional German breweries like Riegele and Schneider etc.!
And I haven't been able to spot many Touries, looked like locals through and through!

I've got to say, my first encounter with Urban Chestnut brewing was positive, really liked those brews (I've been looking for those since the "Hopfen und Malz verloren" documentation on ZDF)

Cheers

 

“I've got to say, my first encounter with Urban Chestnut brewing was positive, really liked those brews…” Me too! I really like Winged Nut and I really, really like Zwickel. The headbrewer of Urban Chestnut (Florian Kuplent) is a very talented brewer with an intriguing background: born and trained in Germany, brewed in Europe and the US (several years at AB) and now he is a brewer & part owner of Urban Chestnut. I have met Florian on multiple occasions and he is a great guy; very willing to talk to you and he shares his thoughts & passion for brewing.

Cheers to Urban Chestnut & Florian!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!