Braukunst Live 2014 (this weekend) Attendee list

And here's a view from the Schmausenkeller toward Reundorf in summer. Everyone sitting here will be drinking the same beer (Lebenskunst Live).

 

Our most requested beer at Braukunst Live was our Eisbock. I saw plenty of evidence at the messe that Germany's beer reformation will be be uniquely German (reemergence of traditional German styles as well as some new innovation). I'm really looking forward to seeing exactly what that's going to look like.

 

..and it's going to be fun along the way.

 

This is the report of my drinking at BraukunstLive.

PART 1: NON-German beers

I'll try to group it by country this time instead of chronologically. It was packed. They really need to open the space up in the hall they're using. There wash;t much room to move around or even walk through the booths, especially near Scheider Weisse and Camba Bavaria and some others. In fact, we arrived at the place at 3:30 pm, and the doors had opened at 2 pm, and we waited more than 30 minutes on line just to enter and buy tickets. When I got to front of the line, I took a pic of the line behind me:


It's held in the MVG transport museum, so I took a pic of one of the trucks with the symbol of München on it:

First, the beers from Norway and Denmark. These were all great, and from pretty well known brewers, and by well known, I mean in the USA, not in Germany. I spoke with some of these guys and when I mentioned they were well known, they all said, "NOT here!" And that's too bad because they're really world class beers and leaders in the craft beer world, IMO.

Ø Nøgne (Norway) - I'd heard of them, from Grimstad- Norway, but never had their beers. WOW is the only adjective I had when drinking their beers.

1st was DARK HORIZON 4. edition 36ºP, 100 IBU, 16% ABV. They described it as a Coffee Imperial Stout, and boy was it ever. WOW! There was licorice, coffee, and high alcohol with a tad of a burn to it. But they say it better from their website:

2nd was the Imperial IPA, not it's official name (my guess is possibly this one - Two Captians), but I was unable to write it down and juggle a glass full of beer, paper, pen and a backpack of full beer bottles. I can't find it on their site, but it was another WOW beer: a huge IPA, full of all kinds of fruity flavors, but it was also very alcoholicy, which in my book means it needs more lager time.

Next the Danish beers, Mikkeller and To Øl.
First, Mikkeller. I had their Beer Geek Breakfast and it was every bit as good as I'd had it before. My god, it's basically lick sucking a straw of an espresso with some imperial stout mixed it. I had it in America from a bottle, and in 2010 at Festival der Bierkulturen in Köln, also from a bottle, but this was from a keg, a plastic keg, but it tasted immensely fresher. It was so overwhelming in flavor of coffee, light chocolate, licorice, roasted malts, my god, I'm glad I only got 0.1L of it... It was better than great, it was better than WOW, it was transcendent.

The other beer was the Nelson IIPA, and yes, it was good with a heady aroma you could power engines with, so much Nelson Sauvin. The flavor had a nice bitterness bite too it as well as all the hops of the Nelson. YUM and WOW. I wish I'd been able to try the Mission Chinese, a Pils with Szechuan Peppercorns, and the Chili Pils, but we had more brewers than time or sobriety.


To Øl. Really good stuff, again. I had the Goliat, which was another Imperial Coffee Stout,
 (from their website)
And I was impressed. Obviously, nowhere near the amount of coffee flavor of Beer Geek Breakfast but still WOW.

Their 2nd beer was Liquid Confidence, which came across as an imperial stout with a spicy twang to it. The guy pouring the beer warned us we shouldn't be expecting chili flavor, and he was right. I liked it a lot, and it felt wonderful going over the tongue.

The other non-German was Jopenkerk Bierbrouwerij from Holland. These were also WOW beers.
First of the 2 was Jopen Koyt, what they call a Gruit beer. I don't have a picture of their stand, so I borrowed one of the beer from their website:

I didn't take enough notes, but I did write this: "WOW! Very Chocolatey!"

So.. just read what they have to say about it, and I'd love to brew this beer>

The 2nd beer was a Oak-aged RIS, or the Houten Haarlem #3, as they called it. Again, WOW. It was really chocolatey, but that very heavy and quite dry. They don't mention this beer on their website, so it might be a one-off, but it was great.

My final non-German brewery was Nomád Brewery, from the Czech Republic. I tried them last year at BKL and loved their stuff, so I had to try it again. This is what I wrote from BKL 2013:

Again, I had the Karel, the “Czech IPA,” but I sadly took no pic of their stand, so these will have to do:
(from their website)
...and it was just as good as last years. The guy at the stand said it was 75 IBUs and hopped mainly with Saaz and Sladek hops. It was quite bitter, bitterer than what I'd remembered it being, and no so citrusy, so it was different from last years.

I also had their Easy Rider, which is more of traditional IPA, though they call it:

I found it much more citrusy, more like a traditional IPA, but tarted and drier than I expected. Overall, great beers.


So... this is the end of the non-German beers. There were sooooo many beers I wish I could've tried from America, like Firestone Walker and Fifty-Fifty, or BrewFist from Italy or other Birrificios from Italy, but their wasn't enough time nor sobriety for them all.

---End of part 1---

 

BrauKunstLive 2014--- Part 2

The German Beers.

Sorry this has taken so long. It’s been almost a month, so I have to rely a lot on my notes for this.

First up was Pax Bräu. My goal was to unload some very heavy bottles full of my homebrew. My backpack was straining my back and shoulders, so that first I needed to unburden my body before I could drink with a free mind and palate. I brought 3 beers for Andreas Seufert, the Pax owner/brewer. Using only plop-top (flip-top) bottles for my homebrew, unfortunately one had opened itself in transit from the hotel to beerfest, spilling all over the backback, but due to having wrapped them in towels beforehand, not much had escaped the bag. I noticed this only as I was fishing the bottles out for Andreas, and to my chagrin, was more in the towel than in the bottle. He asked me if I wanted him to throw it away, and sadly said yes. He said he’d try what was still about 1/3 of the beer still in the bottle, and though I mentioned it would probably taste very strongly of shaken yeast, he tried it anyway. It was my Lebkuchen Braun Ale, and though he agreed it was tainted strongly by a yeasty flavor, he liked it. I also mentioned that this beer was too heavily spiced with cardamom, which he also agreed, but said that was a part he really liked.

Anyway, I gave him the other beers and ordered one of his. I’d already had all what he had on offer, so I ordered the beer I hadn’t had in the longest time, which was the Vollbier. I’m sorry to say I was a little disappointed, for I noticed less rauchmalz than I remembered from before, but that was ok, my friend another one, the Black Gold Oatmeal Stout, and that was up to par with the bottle I had at home. Maybe the Vollbier was less fresh, but it wasn’t wow like I remembered. Oh well… his stand was packed with people but he took the time to talk with me for a few minutes, and in fact remembered me. He asked me without prompting how my attempt at making a clone of his Cissy IPA turned out, and I had to admit it was not nearly as good as his was, but I plan to rebrew it and had figured out my mistakes, so I said next year I’ll bring my version for him to test. He said deal, and was so impressed with my generosity of homebrews, that he gave me a free 1 liter bottle of his From Asia with Love (I’ll review it in another post) beer. I was also overwhelmed and told him this bottle was for my girlfriend who was at home working on her thesis, for she’d already helped me polish off 2 of those beers at home that month.

Next German beer was Schneider Weisse, who were again one of the official sponsors of this event and as such, gave coupons for a free beer as part of entrance package. The booth was packed, and it took over 15 minutes just to saddle up to bar to get our order in, but that’s what happens when you give away free really really good beer.

I had the TAP X, Meine Porter Weisse, which they called a ebony colored Weizenbock. It had a terrific nose with lots of chocolate and licorice aromas, yet the taste was a tad sour, wheaty and dry, more like a dry porter. It was ok, but really only a 3+ out of 5. I had expected more, especially after getting such interesting aromas.

We also had the TAP 4, Mein Grünes, which they called a bronze Hefeweissbier. It had a yeasty, wheat aroma, then lemon-ish, citrus flavors, and finally a dry, wheat finish. I really liked it. The hops, which clearly were in the forefront of this beer, worked wonderfully with the wheat and weizen yeast, and luckily didn’t have my dreaded bubblegum and banana flavors. A 4+ from 5!


I also walked by Faust Brauerei and looked for Matt.

He wasn’t at the stand at that moment, so I decided to have their Johan Adalbert Hochzeitsbier (Wedding beer). This is probably the only one I hadn’t had yet from them, so I was looking forward to it. They call it a Dry hopped Kellerbier, using Tettnang as a bittering hop and Hallertau/Cascade to dry hop. My notes say: tart, malty, some caramel but otherwise not much going on. So a 3 of 5. While waiting, I talked to who I found out was the Herr Faust. Funny thing, he wasn’t very talkative, but I bet if you don’t have an outgoing personality, these beerfests can be overwhelming. He was polite but not terribly friendly, which I understood and then just stood around waiting for …

Then Matt showed up, we talked, I handed him a couple of bottles of my homebrew, and we got to talking. Very nice guy, and he introduced me to his wife, and offered me an Holzgereifter (Barrel aged) Eisbock. I’ve seen these barrels in the brewery when I took the brewery tour 2 years ago, and we sampled it then too. I was impressed then, but it was really cold then, so the flavors weren’t as pronounced as they were at BKL. Simply WOW. The blurb from BKL says it’s a World Beer Cup and Euro Beer Star winner, and I can see why. They were aged in Jack Daniels Whisky casks and then frozen, or vice versa, and WOW. A 5 of 5. I think I was too overwhelmed to write anything down, but I at room temperature, this beer is fantastic. Drinking it, I thought that no American brewer could make this, for just reaching the standards of Bock would be hard to attain, and then to store it in a cold mountain side for 6 months before/after freezing it and removing the excess water, at 12%, truly like most of Faust beers, world class.

Another brewery I really wanted to try was Schönramer Landbrauerei. We’ve talked here before about them and their American brewer. I wanted to try the Hell again (reviewed it here) and talk to him. Unfortunately, either because it was getting towards evening or he was tired, he didn’t seemed that enthusiastic when I spoke to him and asked him some beer related questions or about the brewery. Anyway, the Hell was ok, but I had just had the Helles at Braustil, which is the new micro in FFM, and I really thought it didn’t measure up. The Helles of Braustil was head and shoulders above it, maybe because the Braustil version is unfiltered and unpasteurized and really fresh that week, but the Schönramer Hell was disappointing in comparison.

 

BrauKunstLive 2014--- Part 2

The German Beers, continued.


The next was Maxbrauerei Biermanufaktur. I’d ordered from them and had their beers through Biershop-Bayern. I’d previously been impressed with their Bohemian Pilsner, which reviewed here and really liked it. I also had a Hazelnut Porter from them, but it was delivered soured. I told the guy manning the their booth both facts and said I had been really looking forward to trying it and asked if there was maybe a bottle of it lying around behind him. He said no, sorry, and he asked if I wanted a glass of one of their beers on the house. Nice of him, and I tried to pay for my beer, but he prevailed and I got a glass for free. I was a little tipsy by this point, so he won. I had the Indian Dark Ale, which they describe as simply a dark IPA dry hopped with Cascade at 66 IBUs. It was pretty good, lots of citrus hop aroma, and lots of citrus hop flavors, but not so much caramel and thus not much Münchnermalz, and it had a slightly sour aftertaste. Again, good but not in the range of Pax’s IPA. It seemed more of a straight up darker IPA and not much more. A very solid 3.75 of 5. For Germany, and wonderful treat but here at BKL, not the best but certainly not the near the worst.


I wish I’d had time to try their Bömisch Dunkel and RIS, but by then, my sobriety was waning and my hunger waxing, so I moved on.


Brauerei Gebrüder Maisel, and their offshoot, Maisel and Friends was actually before them, but I spent a long time there and talked up a storm with one of their American Braumeister’s, Chris Sullivan.

Originally, I was talking to some of the younger German staff, but they noticed my accent and brought Chris over to deal with me. We had a pretty long, interesting conversation, talking about the German beer scene, how his job was in Germany and how he got the gig. He also talked ingredients and brewing for the beers of Maisel and Friends and think we tried all of them, and all were very good. I tried getting him to give me his cap. He said he designed it himself and looked more like a gimme cap that farmers wear in the USA, but with a very stylized version of the logo. He said he didn't have any more on him, unfortunately.


1st, Marc’s Chocolate Bock, a 7.5% Bock but with lots of chocolate flavors and a hint of bitter coffee. I enjoyed it a lot, for it perfectly merged German and American styles of roasted malts, caramel notes from Münchnermalz and whatever else was thrown in. A 4 of 5.


Next came Jeff’s Bavarian Ale, a 7.1% ale that verged on Weissbier territory. In fact, the aroma consisted of Weissbier yeast, wheat, cloves, lemon and citrus and thus Cascade hops. The flavor had a little bubblegum, but not enough to turn me off, and the flavor was a lot like its aroma: cloves, lemon, citrus and wheat. Not bad, a mix of IPA and Weissbier, but the best of both. Again, a very good beer, a 4 or 5.


We also had the Stefan’s Indian Ale, which turned out to best IPA like beer of the night for us. It tasted like an IPA-lite, but in a good way. It came off like nice mild Pale Ale, but with a nice shot of Cascade, but not overkill. I got some Münchnermalz, making it nice and malty and in this way very German. Overall, subdued and sublime, 5 of 5 for a IPA that made you take notice but didn’t slap your face, and wasn’t one or even two dimensional. Before leaving, I bought a bottle of Stefan’s Indian Ale to take home and share with the g/f, and it tasted just as good at home. She loved it just as much as did.


Finally, after I gave Chris a bottle of Lebkuchen Braun Ale, he gave us a glass of a special one-off beer for the fest, the Maisel and Friends Pale Ale. The aroma was a lot like Amarillo hops, but the flavor was very bitter, more in the direction of a British IPA. He said they used Cascade and Simcoe hops and Herkules at flame out. We had a decent discussion about the latter hop, for I’ve used Herkules in my homebrews, and at 17.9% A.A., it’s almost too bitter for me, but I guess I used too much, and they were more judicious in their use of it, but still, I found this beer quite bitter, and the Herkules was the culprit I bet. Overall, a 4.3 of 5.

We also had a beer from Braufaktum, but it wasn't memorable enough for me to have written down which one it was. I just remember it was blah after all the great beers that had preceeded it.

We left around 7:30 pm and wanted to make our way over to Camba Bavaria's craft beer bar, Tap House. We went by subway and it was a 10+ minute walk, much farther than it looked on the map, but we found it eventually. The place was packed, and we at first could't find a table, but after walking around for 5 minutes, we managed to find 2 empty bar stools at a table with others. The food was good, first of all, for we were famished. The menu was small, mostly some bread with stuff of it, and chilli con carne, but it tasted great. The beer menu of the day, and this only one of many ways the place the place made me feel at home. The atmosphere was lots of open brick and wood, not stereotypically German, but more post-modern factory.
Below is a terrible picture, unfocused and too dark, but hey, I wan't completely sober, and I think you'll get a feel for the place nonetheless.

But it was the menu that made me swoon. There had to be 200 or more beers, lots of beers on tap that changed daily, and lots of bottles that came in seemly every day, for they announced new arrivals on boards.

We had two beers, almost the antithesis of each other, the first from a bottle, and the 2nd one in a 0.1L glass. I had a Sly Fox 113 IPA and then I had the Camba Bavaria Camba Doppelbock - Bourbon.

First, the 113 IPA was almost too bitter to drink, especially in the front of the tongue and in the aftertaste. It was REALLY BITTER, and this covered up whatever malt and other flavours may have been present in the beer. As an ending beer, it was most unpleasant. I wish I had't ordered it and it basically made me think of Scott and his ravings against the MOAH-crowd. If this is what it leads too, I'm with him. It almost reined in any fun I'd been having. 113 was the IBUs and it was not a beer to end a night on.

The other beer, the Camba Doppelbock - Bourbon was heavenly. The aroma... WOW... vanilla, chico, bourbon, man. The flavour lived up to it's introduction, again WOW! All the above aromas were present in to taste, but mostly it had a whisky-ish taste, too. At 10.5%, another beer maybe that wasn't the best to end a day of drinking, for it was too strong and powerful to finish either, but that was because I was beginning to be more than tipsy getting at least half way finished with it. At 10.5%, I'd call that a Trippelbock. However, it tasted wonderful and was worth every penny of almost 5€.

That was it. Cheers.

 

Awesome report, but...was the Bourbon Dopplebock €5,00 for a 0,1L glass??? Am I reading that right???

 

A t

Actually, it was 4.80€ for the 0.1L glass. Don't forget, it was 10.5%! That's much much more than Doppel, more of a Trippel or Quad, and that's a lot of malt. Then don't forget it was lagered in a bourbon whiskey barrel for… my guess at least 6 months. One more thing, I made a typo above in my description. Instead of "Chico" aroma, meant to type "choco," so yeah, hell yeah it worth every cent.

 

ignore this post... hit the wrong button.