Schlenkerla Fastenbier (in cans!!)

Ahh, Eiche, good to know, thanks. And I do love doppelbocks. To me, oak instead of beechwood was a huge difference.

Don't think I had the Helles. What I had was dark. Plus, I thought their Helles was not a smoked beer?

 

I think I read a Poobah recently on BA note that techniclally Schlenkerla's Helles is not a smoked beer. Indeed their website says:

Schlenkerla Helles is boiled in the same copper kettles and bottom fermented by the same yeast as the historic Schlenkerla Smokebeer. Its subtle smokiness without using smoke malt makes “Helles Schlenkerla Lager” a unique representative of the classic lager beer style “Bavarian Helles”.

So where does the "subtle smokiness" come from? Just from being boiled in the same kettle as their smoked beers?

https://www.schlenkerla.de/rauchbier/sorten/sortene.html#kraeusen

 

8 days old for a German import in NY? How is that even possible?

 

B. United ships beer back from Europe in temperature controlled tanks and cans stateside in Oxford, CT.

 

B. United IG post for those interested: https://www.instagram.com/p/B_fmF_Cphi8/?igshid=j303ertgruo6

 

All of the Schlenkerla beers use beechwood-smoked malt, with the exception of the Eiche Doppelbock (which is kilned with oak) and the Helles (unsmoked). The Weizen uses beechwood-smoked malt and unsmoked wheat malt.

There is no smoked malt used in the Helles. It picks up a slight smokiness through repitched yeast and coming into contact with the same equipment that has been used for their smoked beers.

It's the first time the Märzen has ever been canned. Previous cannings from B. United were the Helles, the Helles Märzen (Kräusen), and the Fastenbier.

 

They repitch the yeast used to ferment the Märzen. There will be enough carry over of smoke to give it that low level of smokeyness. A friend did that for some homebrew, and it worked.

 

If it's like any other brewery I've been in I bet that there's also a lot of residual malt dust all over the mill and chute. So, technically, some smoked malt is getting into the mash.

 

And just to drive home one thing: The beer isn't necessarily 8 days old, but rather, it was canned 8 days ago. I have no idea what the average pre-canning time frame is for the B. United shipping tanks. I said "isn't necessarily" because it isn't black and white though. B. United also performs some finishing production needs in the US for certain beers, and the beer that goes into the tanks might be quite young (as opposed to something ready for release).

Side note: I don't know if B. United ever used their tank system to bottle Schlenkerla stateside, Although I've had some stunning canned Schlenkerla, based on my drinking experiences, I trust bottled Schlenkerla more than the canned product. If all bottling always occurred in Germany, then I'd attribute any issues to the canning practices of B. United despite the idea that a large point of the tank system is to help protect the beer in transit against oxygen and heat. You win some, you lose some.

 

Your second paragraph confuses me. You say you've had some stunning canned schlenkerla but also imply that there have been issues with other cans? What sort of issues have you had?

 

From B. United's site, travel times from filling to arrival:
UK: 1.5 weeks
Mainland Europe: 2 weeks
Japan: 4 weeks

I believe all of the beer that arrives here via their tanks gets either canned or kegged.

 

Yes, this was quite the news for 2019. Always enjoyed the Rauchbier, but that Helles Lagerbier? Man, I drank the SHIT out of that beer in the fall...you know, when people were drinking in public, together, and marveling collectively at how good beer is. But when you sees the Helles from A.S. - you buys it. - Gollum

 

I'm pre-Christian German or European and the smoky Bamberg beers harken me back to roots I can only imagine, but it is an interesting exercise to consider.

 

Yeah, it's really tempting.

Sorry to be confusing. Here's a previous discussion (particularly, the 3 posts in a row by me and @herrburgess ).

 

Based on the volume of UK imports, it seems this is purely hypothetical.

 

They just aded 2010 "vintage" bottles of Eiche.