Märican Biere Bought and Drunk...

I think that many U.S. "craft" brewers suffer from what Harold Bloom calls "the anxiety of influence." They genuinely fear such reactions where their beer might be compared to BMC.

EDIT: Therefore, if they hop it up it will clearly stand out from BMC...

 

Surely part of this is training, no? I mean, how many American brewers are afforded the opportunity to go to Germany (or the Czech Republic) and learn the intricacies of brewing lagers? We don't have that tradition here, so knowledge of it is, I imagine, probably pretty sparse and not so easily attainable. Meanwhile, we have lots of experience and success with IPAs. Makes sense brewers gravitate toward those varieties, in the same way I would guess that brewers in Germany gravitate toward lagers (and other traditional German styles on the ale yeast end of the spectrum, of course).

I also think it's not hard to imagine why a brewer, who has enjoyed many a hoppy ale, might decide to try the same treatment with a lager yeast. Whether that's a good idea, whether it works well, is a different issue

I'd also honestly suggest that if your brother felt the Ayinger was somewhat similar to Michelob, the "anxiety of influence" referenced above isn't entirely illegitimate. The better solution, of course, is to brew a really damn good lager. But, when your run-of-the-mill American beer drinker (like your brother) suggests a well-crafted brew like Ayinger tastes like Michelob, I'm not surprised at some breweries' reticence to take on the style.

 

“Nothing to appeal to the Spaten, Hofbräu, Augustiner Hell crowd.”

Matt, it is time for you to come ‘home’ and enjoy the beers that SEPA has to offer.

Victory has rebranded their Lager as “Helles”. You can read what @Starkbier said about it: “I’ve drank a lot of Lager/Helles over the years and IMO its fantastic right now with the Parkesburg brewery cranking. Give it a try and see what you think. The current version is all made with 2014 Tettnang Hallertau hops.”

Sly Fox makes a very nice beer called Helles Golden Lager but is best enjoyed very fresh. I personally only drink it at the Sly Fox Brewpub in Phoenixville but it is available in cans (with a 360 opening in the PA distributed cans).

Stoudts also produces a very good Helles called Stoudts Gold.

Straub made a new Helles that was part of the Winter variety pack; I enjoyed drinking that beer. I did a side-by-side tasting of that beer with Spaten in a New Beer Sunday post.

A ‘new’ Helles that is available in the area is a seasonal from Southern Tier called Where The Helles Summer?. I had one on draft a few weekends ago and I very much enjoyed drinking that beer.

I am lucky that local beer bars will have German brewed Helles beers on tap from time to time; my favorite to drink is Weihenstephaner Original.

By the way, is this the brother that lives in Media?

Cheers!

Edit: None of the beers mentioned above are highly hopped; no 'fear' of a BMC backlash here.

 

Hop Bandwagon (yes, I'm trademarking that too. )

Lordy. I weep for the uninitiated -- and I wish they wouldn't have so much influence on my choices. Did you ask your brother when was the last time he actually had a Michelob? I can probably guess.

 

I honestly think they don't care -- they (like the many BA members we're discussing) have been convinced that it's in-your-face hoppy and strong beers that sell.

I'm lucky enough to have some of the older micros in my area that were strongly influenced by German brewing back when, and they often get it right... just not as often as I'd like.

 

How can we be sure if we're getting the new batch of Victory Helles? @Starkbier? (Apologies if this has been answered in a separate thread.)

 

“I mean, how many American brewers are afforded the opportunity to go to Germany (or the Czech Republic) and learn the intricacies of brewing lagers?”

Needless to say but the minority of US brewers were trained in Europe but some that I can name off the top of my head:

· Victory Brewing: Ron Barchet and Bill Covaleski

· Urban Chestnut: Florian Kuplent

· New Glarus: Dan Carey

· Denver Beer Company: Charlie Berger

· Jack’s Abby: Jack Hendler: He earned joint diplomas in Brewing Technology from Siebel Institute of Chicago and Doemans Academy of Munich.

· Gordon Biersch: Dan Gordon: “…graduate from the prestigious five-year brewing program at the world-renowned Technical University of Munich in Weihenstephan, West Germany. As part of his training, Dan interned at the famed Spaten Brewery in Munich and Anheuser Busch.”

I am sure that later today I will think of others.

Cheers!

 

C'mon man -- gotta lead the charge!

I'm personally responsible for turning around nearly a whole office of Miller Lite drinkers.

"How can you drink that heavy, thick, Guinness stuff?"
"You know it's got the same calorie count as your drink and has 10 times more flavor, right?"
"C'mon, that can't be."
"Try one."
Cue the epiphanic chorus of angels...
"Hey, this is pretty good. What else you got?"
"First one is free..."

 

So any Helles in that packaging is the new version? Will be on the lookout.

 

Of course, the hold-outs were a disappointment.

 

Nothing has shown up in my area yet. Distro seems slow... then again, distro in my area always seems slow.

 

Had a Nooner (finally) tonight. To be quite honest, and without going into a long dissertation, I was quite underwhelmed. I wanted to like it, I wanted to compare it to something German, and couldn't.

Just as I wanted to like the SN Hop Hunter which was considerably worse. Both amazing disappointments.

That is all - continue your discussion....

 

I think a fair number of US brewers have done the Siebel/Doeman's thing. In Denver alone there are at least a half dozen, and probably a lot more. I'm not downplaying it, but I don't think it's that unusual. Based on some of them (including one Jack named...), I don't think it's much of a quality guarantee either.
Weihenstephan grads are a different animal, though. Last I recall there were only 9-10 Americans that have ever completed that program.

 

Bill Covaleski attended the Doemans Academy in Munich. I suspect that other American brewers have done the same.

I know that @MattRiggs is attending brewing school in Germany right now; I am unsure where.

Cheers!

 

Doemens....

 

Doh!!!

Cheers!

 

As of this week, I’m half way through Doemens’ “Brau und Malzmeister (Handwerk)” program. It’s a one year program, which is about as long as my sanity will allow me to sit at a school desk.

I can’t comment on the Siebel/Doemens English language program because it is totally separate from what I’m doing.

My brother, however, did the five-month UC Davis Master Brewer’s Program. From comparing notes with him, the biggest difference between our schooling is the amount of time that Doemens spends on malt. Because the German Handwork-master title is two sided; Brewmaster and Maltmaster, an insane amount of time is spent on malt characteristics and production.

The Germans are obsessed with the wort production side of the process. I would guess that American brewing schools cover dry hopping techniques deeper that what I’ve been exposed to at Doemens. The schools are products of their respective environments.

!!!Generalization/My Own Personal Opinion Warning!!! The Germans are 10 years behind the Americans in the use of modern hop varieties. The Americans still lack the ability to brew a perfect Helles. The cool thing is, that in the next 10 years, both countries are going to catch up to each other in their respective strengths…. It’ll be fun to watch, taste, and hopefully play a role in making that happen.