German craft beer

You will need to add the beers under the brewery they contract from, or add a new listing under beers -- it's sort of like Trader Joe's beers here in the U.S. Their beers are brewed by various breweries, but labeled as Trader Joe's.

 

Thought I'd add another beer from Braustil in FfM: the Export Dunkel. I talked to them and it basically is the Helles recipe with some Roasted malts tossed in. It's a fine experiment and although I didn't do a full out report, I was able to tap in my impressions into my iPhone.


Export Dunkel. 2014/08/11 16:09

Actually mostly a Helles with Roasted malt. And it's a delicious beer. It has the softness, tartness and noble hop flavors of s Helles, almost perfect in this regard, and a decent kick of roasted flavor with a light coffee note in the background. The mouthfeel is thick and süffig but also prickly and refreshing. The roasted and slight burnt toast flavors don't overpower the beer, instead complement the noble hops and pils malt sweetness and tartness.

While I was there, I bought the last 0.75L bottle of Frankfurt Pale Ale, which cost 7€ + 2€ Pfand (bottle deposit). I talked to Sasha and he plans to brew it again, but this time be a little more aggressive with dry hopping. This was actually his first ever experience in attempting to dry hop a beer, so I don't begrudge his first attempt not being 100% satisfactory.

I also took pics of the label that goes over each bottles flip top, which is the only way they differentiate their beers. They're now listing all the ingredients, which is a good move.



Notice the use of malts as Pilsner, Münchner, Pale Ale Caramel as well as Wheat malt? That in itself makes it a really tasty beer. The hops are pure German Noble in Tettnanger and Hallertauer Perle, which gave it the grounded slightly floral, grassy and hay like bitterness, and then used Cascade and Bravo to dry hop. The way the yeast is listed is interesting. Reinzuchthefe translates as "pure-breed yeast."

The other side of the plop top lable is also interesting.

Let me translate the above.

"Our beer is a valuable food product --- because it's fresh, natural and untreated --- meant for quick consumption.
Store bottle please upright, cool and dark.
Good until: 25.08.2014
BrauStil Bottle deposit -- please return empty and closed."

The best buy date is 3 months from when they first released the beer, I believe.

 

Forgot to add this picture:

Guess what beer this will produce? Hint - they've brewed it before.

 

I am drinking a homebrewed Grodziskie (Graetzer) right now (Yum!) that was made with 100% Weyermann Oak Smoked Wheat Malt, any chance they are going to brew a Grodziskie (Graetzer)?

Cheers!

 

Not a chance in hell. That's a style that's completely unknown in Germany. Besides, that would waaay too extreme for Braustil.
Next guess.

 

Bummer!

I suppose it will be another batch of Oak Wheat Dunkelweizen. I guess that could be a 'good' beer too.

Cheers!

 

Thank you Jack for playing along. You're absolutely right. Wish I could send you one as a prize for guessing. Sascha said he might add more hops, á la Amarillo or something American, but he wasn't sure. It tasted great last time.

 

"Sascha said he might add more hops, á la Amarillo or something American, but he wasn't sure." Wow! That sounds intriguing!

Please make another wonderful report when you get a chance to taste this beer.

Cheers!

P.S. Since Sascha sounds like he is willing to make 'different' sorts of beers maybe someday he would be willing to make a Graetzer beer? That beer would be a 'twofer' for him: unique and traditional all at the same time!

 

I hate to say this, but a traditional Polish beer is almost as bad as a Belgian beer, it's just not done. You have to remember the 2 countries (Germany & Poland) still have some slight post-war animosity, and if he said it was a traditional Polish beer, well... they'd say, it's NOT our (German) tradition, so who cares. The IPA route and the Ales are not sold as traditional beers, which would play into all the awful stereotypes Germans have of tepid, crappy, full of evil non-RHG substances (the general German opinion) beer of the British; rather, it's marketed as new, fresh, innovative. If Germans want traditional, they drink a Pils, most likely Warsteiner or Becks or even the Aldi swill.

I'll report on the Smoked Wheat Ale when it appears on tap, which could be a month or so from now.

But... look out for my next report on a NEW Pax Bräu.

 

Well, the region (town) were Grodziskie was brewed is the town of Grodzisk which was later ‘re-named” Grätz when it was occupied by Germany (Prussia?). The German name for this beer style is Grätzer. Sasha can name his beer Grätzer to be traditional to Germany.

If Germans are willing to drink Czech beers like Pilsner Urquell why would they object to drinking a traditional beer with the German name of Grätzer?

You can read more about the history of Grodziskie/Grätzer here: http://badassdigest.com/2013/02/04/forgotten-beer-styles-grodziskie/

Cheers!

P.S. You made mention of “it's marketed as new, fresh, innovative”. I tagged you in an other thread where I solicited your opinion on whether a ‘style’ such as a German style IPA represented innovation. Whatcha think?

 

Aldi sells Wernesgruener here. Good stuff!

 

Hahaha... that's not what they sell in Germany. They sell some swill in plastic bottles. I'll take a pic tomorrow. It's 8:30 pm here and they've been closed for 30 minutes already. Maybe I'll risk it and buy a bottle to report on, if I get enough likes. That's a threat, y'all.

 

Also, its not just Germans that might turn their noses up at Grodziskie. I have a close friend who spent summers in Poland around the Grodzisk region. While he was living there, he asked the locals a numbet of times whrre he could find so Grodziskie. They all told him, "You don't want to drink that. It's no good." And while he repeatedly assured them that he'd just like to try amd form his own opinion, they refused to tell him where he could get some, instead insisting that he shouldn't try it because he certainly wouldn't like it. Over the course of 4 summers, he never once got to try a GrodIskie...despite being just a few km fron the source.

 

Liked and replied to. Do it!

 

Pilsner Urquell was invented by a Bavarian, though, so they have some grace.

 

To the best of my knowledge it is impossible to purchase commercially brewed Grodziskie now. The article that I linked states: “…the last brewer of this fascinating beer closed in 1993.”

From my multiple conversations with Stan Hieronymus there is lots of Grodziskie beer in Poland today due to homebrewing. If a person travelled to Grodzisk today and wanted to drink Grodziskie I suppose he/she would have to knock on some homebrewers door?

Hopefully some commercial brewery in Poland will start producing Grodziskie beers again?

Maybe Sasha can inspire other European commercial breweries to make this traditional beer.

Cheers!

P.S. Stan Hieronymus was very kind to evaluate my homebrewed Grodziskie (my first attempt at the beer style) that I provided to him at the recent NHC. Below is his e-mail response with some other information: there seems to be a new brewery being built in Grodzisk to make Grodziskie beers soon?

“Anyway, I tried your beer. Very drinkable and very refreshing. Would be even more so with additional carbonation - think of it as a wheat beer and shoot for more like 3.5-4 volumes.

I didn't judge this category in Poland, but I did check in on that table a couple of times (and later had the winner at the best of show table). The top three beers were a little more pale and had a lot more head and lacing. That was generally true of several other homebrews I had over the weekend. I don't know if that would be related to the protein rest in the step mash. I always struggle with that myself. the Grodziskie I have now is pretty close to the Polish versions in lacing. That was a step mash - with water additions, I feel your pain - but is carbonated higher than yours.

The important part, of course, is the flavor. The water tastes right to me, and I like the smoke/yeast combination. I had my most detailed discussions about smoked wheat this trip. The guys building the brewery in Grodzisk are working on their own recipe, and will have Czech malt house (floor malting) do it. This is all basically to taste, and I don't think you can go wrong treating the Weyermann version well (as you have).

Bottom line: a lot of enjoyable flavor for a 3% beer.”

 

Tony (@boddhitree ) maybe a photograph of a Graetzer beer in a Pilsner glass would inspire Sasha to make this type of beer?

 

My friend was in Poland from 1990 until 1994. Grodziskie was still being brewed by one (I think) commercial place. Ask Stan if you choose not to believe me, Jack.

 

I dunno, Jack. What I like in you pic is the hop plant... which one and how has it been producing? It doesn't seem to have many hops on it.

 

I had young English guys tell me that about Real Ale sometime in the early 90s. Do you suppose it's a traditional style that the new generation just can't get their arms around?

Never had it myself, but I guess there's a small, local brewery that's going to attempt one. Of course, this is the same brewery that attempted a Helles and failed miserably (at least in their bottling).