German craft beer

Tony, you made mention of “but he realized he couldn't dry hop because their tap lines go directly from the lager tanks, which means the hops may be sitting in the beer for weeks, and for him there's no way to remove them except to empty the entire tank.”

I personally do not keg but plenty of homebrewers who keg will dry hop within the keg and keep the dry hops there for the duration of serving the beer (which could be quite some time). It is perfectly acceptable for dry hops to remain in the lager/serving tank for a period of weeks. Whether Sasha would be comfortable doing so is another matter.

Cheers!

 

Interesting article in the Munich Sueddeutsche Zeitung about the Tap-House. Seems the writer was most offended not by the IPAs, but by Schlenkerla.

http://www.sueddeutsche.de/muenchen/bar-tap-house-bier-bier-bier-1.1929158

 

Excellent write up and has me Jonesin' for a business trip back to Wiesbaden soon. I really miss having a local brewery with ever-changing beers like my hometown La Cumbre back in ABQ. Will you be at Faust later in the month for the brewery tour & sampling?

 

Did I read this right (using Google Translate) that this bar in Munich has Three Floyds on tap?

 

Never been there, but I can't find it on their beer menu. Which is quite an impressive one. I wouldn't know where to start, let alone, to end in this bar.
As good as this is, I wish there were a place like this only for good German beers. The best of Bayern, Franken and all the rest of the country. Imagine 50 Bavarian and Franconian (plus Alts and Kölschs) beers on tap and another 200 bottled ones from there and the rest of Germany in all major cities of the country. I know this is way too much and contradicts the "drink local"-paradigm that I also support, but most Germans are just unaware of what is available in their country.
This article is quite poor though. I would have expected a bit more from Süddeutsche. Schlenkerla is being dismissed...not everyone may like this, but it would have been worth a mention as an outstanding beer from Bamberg that is not only a local specialty of Oberfranken, but sells very well abroad.

 

Early in my time here I was trying to get some friends to join me on my first trip to Bamberg.

Me: "I'm going to Bamberg to drink smoked beer. Do you know of it?"
Austrian Friend: "Yes, it's disgusting."
[end of conversation]

Different strokes...

 

I was referring to this in the article:

Der Kellner bringt dann im schlechten Fall ein pisswassriges Atwater Grand Circus IPA aus Detroit (4,2 Prozent, 0,3 Liter, 4,60 Euro) aus der Flasche, im besten Fall ein frisch gezapftes Floyds Arctic Panzer Wolf (9,5 Prozent, 0,3 Liter, 4,70 Euro). Davon gilt es indes nicht sechs zu trinken an einem Abend, der Panzerwolf macht sich sonst mit einiger Wahrscheinlichkeit am anderen Morgen bemerkbar.

 

Do you like no smoked beers at all?

I like beers that have low-medium amounts of smoke (and a smoke flavor that is less reminiscent of smoked meat). If the beer is too smoky, has too much of a smoked meat flavor, or has high levels of smoky phenolics then it is less appealing to my palate.

Cheers!

P.S. I know that for most folks smoke beer is polarizing; either you like it or you dislike it. I guess I am a weirdo in that I like some smoke beers but do not care for others.

 

To quote Michael Jackson (speaking about Schlenkerla Maerzen): "It is not a reflection of the style, but rather of timorous palates, that some people never learn to appreciate Rauchbier."

 

Did you make it to Bamberg while living/working in Germany? Don't think you ever mentioned it, so I thought I'd ask.

 

Let's try and keep it this way. (Yes, I know I do a terrible job of this )

 

If you are worried about this I can tell you this has definitely not been my experience. Schlenkerla is a little touristy, but even at that I've twice sat at a table with locals and had a friendly conversation about Bamberg and environs. Mahr's is out-of-the-tourist-way, as would be Keesman I guess but I've never been there. Mahr's felt like a local hang. I don't remember a lot of tourists at Klosterbräu but then again I don't remember a lot of Germans there, either. Never spent enough time in Fässla or Spezial's main pub to know better, although they are both along the tourist path into town.

 

I just meant to say that if you're worried about it being overly touristy, that's not the case. No harm done here!

"Average German", no. But you know how it is here, local places serve the local stuff because it's fresh and it's pils and who cares beyond that.

 

If the normal Schlenkerla rauchbiers aren't your thing, I'd probably try the flagship from Spezial (or the Schlenkerla Krausen) before giving up on the style completely. I *like* the Schlenkerla rauchbiers, but they aren't my absolute favorites, especially in a town filled with great beers everywhere you go. However I could camp out at Spezial or drink Krausen all day.

 

My wife found a recipe for homemade chicken schwarma that called for smoked paprika. I've seen a lot of recent recipes calling for the spice and have wanted to try it in something, so we picked some up for the recipe. When I capped the bottle and took a sniff all I could think of was Rauchbier.

I understand that sense of "smoked meat" because it's what I first thought of back in the mid-80s when I first tried Kaiserdom Rauchbier, but when I visited Bamberg and tried the beer at the source I found it more smooth and mellow in character -- and highly drinkable over a few afternoons.

I think we knee-jerk to sausage or bacon when we smell or taste something "smoked" because it's the only comparison we have, but I can't make the comparison anymore, smoked malt is completely different to my senses than smoked meat. Try a Schlenkerla Urbock with a handful of Blue Diamond smoked almonds -- you'll forget all about burned sausage.

 

This one now "gets" it: http://blogs.stern.de/biergewinnt/warum-ich-als-franke-wiedergeboren-werden-moechte/