German craft beer

Does this count as "German craft beer?" (It's German, and I am a "craft" brewer, right?) Anyhow, had a (very) early start today, and managed to knock out a 1 BBL batch of Franconian-style Kellerbier before lunch. Went for something between Mahr's U and a St. Georgenbrau. Wort turned out tasting very nice. Should be good in 2-3 weeks, if all goes according to plan. Made some final notes on the process while taking a gravity reading and enjoying some homebrewed Koelsch. (Yep, scooped up quite a bit of Whirlfloc for the reading...oops!) Prost!

 

I don't really have a way to link to it, but the Brothers reviewed some beers from Crew Republic in this month's BA Magazine. They got solid to really good marks for their DIPA, "Session" IPA, and German Pale Ale.

 

Here's an article about the new Chocolate Stout being brewed at Spital in Regensburg. Anton Miller used to be the Brewmaster at Weltenburg. We met him there in 2010.

http://www.mittelbayerische.de/regi...hokoladenbier-fuer-feinschmecker.html#1138219

 

@boddhitree Georg from BrauStil was on TV last Friday for a little interview in Hessen's daily weather show. See here: http://www.hr-online.de/website/fernsehen/sendungen/index.jsp
Navigate to 24.10. Freitag => alle Wetter!-ganze Sendung. Georg appears around 8:00.

 

Thanks for the heads up. I found the page you mentioned,...

http://www.hr-online.de/website/fer...document_36065312&xtmc=braustil&type=d&xtcr=1

... but I don't see a "ganze Sendung" possibility to click on.

But, when I went to Braustil's FB page, they provided the link.

http://www.hr-online.de/website/fernsehen/sendungen/index.jsp?rubrik=2254

 

New "Fraenkisches Ale" from Nikl in Pretzfeld

 

Isn't that a relatively new brewery? I saw a video about them once.



And I understood every word!

BTW, how was it?

 

I was hoping to visit Nikl while in Bamberg, but couldn't squeeze it in this time....

 

I've been rather lame in getting around to reviewing the last 2 beers of Pax Bräu. Finally got time and a clear head, so here they are.
1st one is latest... from October, 2014 in the Bierkalender series. He's not done this kind of beer before, a "Bieré de Abbaye Double" as it says on the bottle. Notice the ingredients... besides "Gerstenmalz," which could mean anything, but I'm guessing is Pils, Münchner and Carafe II, which he said was his standard malt bill, there's Wheat, Honey and Coriander. It's interesting he didn't mention the specific hops, mainly because I believe they're your normal, non-exciting German Noble hops, either Hallertauer Mittelfrüh or Perle.


Here's the label, once on the bottle, once off.



I'm sure the label was done by the same graphics artist who does all the rest for Pax Bräu, and the humor here is quite interesting. You got a church, a monk who looks like a zombie bear growling at you, holding a glass Krug and a Bible of beer, with a pic of a hop and grains on the cover. Irreverent and fun at the same time.

At 7.5%, it's definitely a Double. Here's what it looks like:


Appearance: Under a dirty tan head that dissipates quickly, a crystal clear color of amber, brown and orange tints shine wonderfully, a really pretty color indicative of the use of Münchner or Melanoinden and Carafa malts.

Aroma: Wow... quite Belgian. I get a powerful mix of honey, a spiciness that's leaning towards coriander, caramel, a strong wheat malt note and a slightly boozy, alcohol punch. That's a lot going on there, but it's really enticing me to take a sip, making my mouth water just breathing it in and looking at it.

Flavor:

Front: Spiciness with lots of coriander, a slight boozy alcohol tang, some bitterness which is all Noble hop, some underlying sugary sweetness mixed with caramel.

Middle: The same flavors as in the front, but here come a slightly dryness from the Wheat malt, more tanginess that borders on citrus but stays more in the orange range. There's less coriander here but it's still quite noticeable, just not as much as in the front. You can feel the honey in it's sweetness as well as a rounder, deeper mouthfeel here. You get more malt flavor, caramel of a Märzen and something else which I'm picking up as roasted malt in the background.

Back: Again, same flavors such as coriander, but here is where the malts shine through. Lots of caramel, honey, and a bit of umami of roasted flavors are predominant. Even though the beer is over a month old, it's still a tad boozy and the alcohol notes are evident. I'd bet this beer would age well. I wish I had 3 or 4 to cellar and keep for a few years and god I can only imagine how great this beer would be. You still also get a tangy, orangey flavor permeating the whole taste here, too.

Aftertaste: Spiciness, a little caramel and alcohol notes linger long after you've swallowed this beer.

Mouthfeel: Here's where it differs greatly from many Belgian Doubles. Instead of being thick, heavy and having the weightiness of the typical Belgian Double, this beer has a mouthfeel that's more between a Pils, a thick, chewy Märzen and tart Weizen. I think the honey and Münchner malts give a slight round, earthy feel, while the coriander, Pils malts and Wheat give it the tang and dryness. It's an interesting combo, both hearty and refreshing.

Overall: I'm hard pressed to not say WOW to this beer. It's subtler though there are so many competing flavors of sweetness, orangey tanginess, honey, spicy coriander, wheat and caramel, yet they all in the end blend wonderfully to be a great beer. They slight booziness of the alcohol notes are the only drawback, but I imagine a year from now, this beer would be outstanding. At 7.5%, maybe a 2 month lager time would do this beer wonders. So maybe at a month old it's still too young to judge? The booziness is the only demerit of what really is a WOW beer.

 

The 2nd of the Pax Bräu beers that I've failed to tell y'all about is the Johnny Hanson Punk Rauch, "Oak aged Rauchbier."
It's the September edition from the Bierkalender, and I'd planned on reviewing it a month ago while the "smoke em while you got em" was being discussed, as well as the various discussions of Rauchbier, but I never got around to it. Thank god my girlfriend can't stand the smokiness of this beer, which leaves it all for me! I drank one bottle a month ago and saved it to age another month to see what would happen.


First, a bit of background on this beer. This is from the Bierkalender.


Translated by me from German:

"In June, 2013 the talented and extremely nice drummer of the Canadian cult band No Means No, Mr. John Wright, visited me. This doesn't, however, make good music; he has also been brewing beer as a hobby for over 20 years. John is a big Rauchbier fan and took a look around my brewery to find out how Rauchbier is brewed in Franken. With the extra knowledge (which he gleaned here), he proceeded directly back to Quebec to Brauerei LeTrouDuDiable to produce his own self-knitted (sic) JHPR in bigger quantities. We had decided to to make this recipe for Le Trou as well as by me. According to his recipe, the beer should have, among other things, Pils, Münchner and Rauch malts. For hops, Crystal and Mt. Hood. All that will be soaked in Burbon Whiskey oak chips. I'm again really excited to see will come out of this..."
​

So, now that you know the ingredients and how it was made, I just need to tell you what it tastes like.

Here's the pics of the beer, first with light behind it, then in front.

It's a 6% beer.
Appearance: Brown mostly, darkish with hints of amber, orange and red under a dirty tan head that fell after a good 60 seconds. It's clear and though dark, translucent.

Aroma: Smoke, smoke and more smoked oak as well as hints hints of caramel and Pils malt.

Flavor:

Front: The first thing I notice is a slight tanginess... Pils malts... then roasted, BBQed meat flavor, and a slight bitterness under that and mixed with a sweet sugary and caramel flavor, and a bit of citrus over top.

Middle: Oh wow, smoked flavors, a little bacon, but more BBQed Roast Beef, and lots of it. I feel like my mouth has been been invited to a Texas BBQ with umami and smoked meats everywhere. The Pils and Münchner malts are equally evident in the sweet caramel and tartness rounding out the Spare Ribs and Brisket flavors. God this is good. My tongue is floating in heaven and doesn't want to these flavor explosions to end. You get a real feeling that a Märzen is hiding behind this beer, but one that was soaked for a week in Roast Beef, Honey-Spare Ribs and Brisket.

Back: Oh my... oh wow, more of the Märzen soaked BBQ, but here it's smokier, tangier, a little more bacon flavor returning from the Rauch malt, and some mandarin orange and a burnt, roasted malt flavor. It just goes on and on, but it's not as good as what was going on in the middle of the tongue.

Aftertaste: Burnt flavor, umami from honey-soaked spare ribs and a tartness that lingers.

Mouthfeel: I love how it feels like a blanket sliding around my mouth, luscious, indulgent, thick and hearty, but not too much. It's got enough thinness and tartness (Pils malt) to offset the thick, featherbed-like feeling to make it hit the perfect goldilocks zone that the best Märzen also reaches.

Overall: Fantastic, WOW, double WOW, triple WOW... maybe the second best year I've had from Pax this year (The Smaragd Pilsner takes that honor, so far.) You really feel a Texas BBQ has camped out on your tongue with caramel, some tartness and little mandarin oranges dancing together around the meat. The traditional Rauchbier bacon is nice compliment, but really, though it doesn't play the main role, it's lurking around to mix and pounce when you go looking for it under the BBQ. All those flavors make you sit up and wonder how they co-exist so sublimely.

 

I thought you didn't like Rauchbier.

 

Got me on that one. Yeah, I'm not a Rauchbier fan, per se, but I like Rauch malt in beer, and when it's mixed with other flavors so it's not full on bacon, it's really good. Pax Bräu's Andreas Siefert uses Rauch malt in his Cissy IPA, his Vollbier, and a few other. His 3 basic malts he told me are Pils, Münchner and Rauch, in that order of percentage, of course.
IMO, I've learned from him that judicious use of Rauch malt is a fantastic way add a complexity and a counterpoint to sweet and bitter or fruity portions of most beer flavor profiles. That's why I love this beer.

I've noticed this on many beers in Germany. There's no mention AT ALL of the word bier on the label, on any of his labels, and it's the same for most German beer sold here, too. Whether it's a Pils, a Märzen, or something with non-RHG ingredients such as the Dubbel, I think the German consumer has used to not even needing to see the word Bier on the label, so it's become a non-issue. Any German brewer that tells you he can't brew anything other than a Pils, etc due to the RHG is blowing smoke up your ass, showing what a coward he is,and using this excuse to be horribly, frighteningly unimaginative. Maybe in the report to the Tax Authority this could come up, but for the consumer, Bier doesn't need to be on the label. A Bieré de Abbaye Double is French and as an appellation, not a simple Bier per se.

 

As an addendum to the nicht-bier issue: since when did one order a Bier in Germany? Go to bar, you ask for ein Pils, ein Export, ein Helles, ein Dunkles, ein Doppel Boxk, ein Weizen, etc.

 

Lots of places in Franconia will bring you what you want (well, they'll bring me what I want...typically a Kellerbier) when you simply order "ein Bier." (And if it turns out to be a Helles or some specialty of the house, that's fine with me, too.)

 

Which reminds me of this:

 

Yep! If you re-watch the Schlenkerla video that was recently posted, the TV host turns to the old-timey waitress and says, "Ein Bier, bitte." It's understood that you mean the house beer. When I was at Oktoberfest I also asked for "ein Bier" and she brought me back a Maß of Oktoberfestbier. I didn't notice until later that they also had Weizen (and possibly a third?) available if memory serves. Which it might not. And of course in Düsseldorf you only have to hold up your thumb.

EDIT: sort of the silver lining to the "no choice" thing in Germany. You can walk into a bar and ask for a beer and everyone knows what you mean. Sort of like the TV show Cheers!

 

I imagine brewery president Jaime Dietenhofer may be a strong vote in this decision. Not to mention Brand director Kady Fleckenstein.

Based on the plans, such as:

It sounds like a pretty easy-going idea -- rather than just thrusting American beer on the German populace for their own good.