Bayernbiere Bought and Drunk

I can see how Bavarian beer culture may (again) be the wild card in this particular deal. I, too, have a kid, but taking him to these places is never a problem because most of them have a Biergarten -- typically with a playground -- or at the very least some good kids' menus to keep the little ones satisfied (more so in summer but even in winter/the rainy season). That being said, I certainly don't drink nearly as much as I used to, nor as frequently, so if I want to drink good, inexpensive, authentic German beer every night I need to brew it myself.

EDIT: and contrary to how it may sound, I don't hate living in America. But IMO the best thing about the "freedom of choice" here is not that you have 1000s of different IPAs on the shelves, but that in matters such as beer you can choose neither/nor: neither BMC nor "craft."

 

Sorry Tony, I think next time I'm going to Holland I'll need to go the A 6 through Heidelberg instead of the A 3

 

I hope I didn't come off as too desperate...

 

Replying to herrburgess re: Liebick above, I doubt I would drink much of what they have - while in Munich. If anything, I would be scoring some out-of-the-way stuff to bring back to the US.... In Munich it will be some Wiesn bier, plus Forschungsbrau, Andechs, Schneider, usw...

Prosit!!

 

Out-of-the-way? I have some in my fridge right now.

 

I think I walk both lines. Locally I tend to spend most of my drinking time at the local breweries and pubs. There are a boatload of them in Denver now, and I'd say that at least 1/2 of them are putting out good stuff. In particular, Prost and Hogshead are producing pretty fine takes on German and English beers, which is appreciated. At the same time, I do tend to have a fridge full of goodies and even a stash of rarities in my basement closet, too. Those tend to be for bottle shares and just random weekday beers, though. The beer I drink the most of is an oak-aged IPA (GD's Rumble) so I have a soft spot for that sort of thing. I find that bottle shares tend to be more of a good way to meet people than something I feel obligated to attend. I've tried a good chunk of the BA top 250 and I'd take Mahr's U, Herren Pils, and even a fresh HB Helles over almost all of them. That said, I still think Parabola and the like are full-on magic in a bottle, too.
Funny enough, I am seeing a shift in the geeks around though. I've met several people that have come full circle, too. I think a lot of us started with American light beers and immediately rebelled into big/dark/potent items and massive hop bombs. However I think people are starting to come back around and realize that light colors and milder flavors aren't necessarily bad or "weak." I'm seeing people take an interest in sessionable type beers and German lagers more than ever. I'd like to think that a trip to Munich (or elsewhere in Bavaria) would probably do every American beer geek a service.

 

No need at all to apologize for (strongly) disagreeing, Tony. I think I knew I would be in the very small minority on this one. May be a result of my tendency to obsess over certain scenarios -- and then to fully settle into them once I manage to find/create them.

That said, I was far from rich when I did these things...though I was admittedly pretty unburdened by major responsibilities. I suppose MY rant is really about how so many people -- most of whom are still young and unburdened by responsibility -- tend to spend inordinate amounts of time and money ordering, trading, collecting, and ticking crazy-expensive beers and only end up seeing the insides of bottle shops, online beer sites, and social media forums plastered with pictures of their "latest hauls," "tastings," or "what(ever) beer they are drinking now." It still astounds me that so few of these people tend to travel. But that's a topic for another time.

Back (somewhat) to Bayernbiere, my current obsession is with the community of Zoiglbrauer. I just love the practice of having a community brewhouse where a number of locals are free to brew -- and serve their beers from their homes -- to schedule. If I could somehow achieve something like that around here, I'd be a happy man indeed. Need to perfect my Rauchbier, Franconian/Czech Dunkel, and Koelsch (OK, hardly a Bayernbier...but it's a big hit with the ladies and the gents alike during the steamy SC summers) first... On a (somewhat) related note: did anyone see the BA magazine article (or any other articles) about Tree House Brewing in Western MA? To do something like that -- but brewing the abovementioned German beers -- would be very cool IMO.

 

“It still astounds me that so few of these people tend to travel. But that's a topic for another time.”

But yet that topic comes up incessantly! Not every individual has the vacation time, family situation, financial wherewithal, etc. to travel to drink whatever beer(s) they want by traveling overseas (or even a few 100 kms away).

Being able to obtain the beer you would like to drink from a beer retailer is indeed a great thing!

Prost!

 

I'm talking about the people you see posting their "latest hauls/what they're drinking now/tastings," featuring dozens of beers, many of which cost $40 each; boxes from multi-weekly trades where the shipping alone must run into the $100 range; or travels -- with time off from work -- to get to limited-release events at breweries 100s, and sometimes 1000s of miles away. All of this must cost a ton of money, especially given the frequency of the activities. Yet very very few of these people seem even the slightest bit interested in traveling to the world's great beer regions to drink what the locals drink, in the culture(s) created for and by those same locals. I just don't get it.

...also many of them seem to have expensive tattoos

 

“ ..featuring dozens of beers, many of which cost $40 each; boxes from multi-weekly trades where the shipping alone must run into the $100 range..”

I personally do not know those people but maybe they are married with 4 children. They may have ‘permission’ from their wife to buy some bottles of expensive beer (and maybe they don’t but do it on the ‘sly’) but they certainly don’t have permission to travel to Europe for 1-2 weeks to drink unique beer. Mom and the 4 kids with their limited (US) vacation time want to:

· Visit the Mother-in-law/Father-in-law so the grandchildren get to know their grandparents.

· Go the Disneyworld to have ‘fun’

· Go to the beach for a one week vacation

· Etc.

Prost!

 

Beer lovers vs. thrill seekers, remember ?

 

Well, we all need our Bogeyman to help us define our position, right?

And, yea...would love to be able to do a Zoigl Project here. Too bad SC laws are so restrictive.... Guess I'll just have to focus o perfecting my craft instead. That or start lobbying the state legislature. Or both. Where there's a will, there's a way, right?

 

As long as you'd do that within the confines of a private party I don't think you should have any problems. Once you accept payment from guests legislation applies. I don't think they'd care too much about an occasional Zoigl BBQ in someone's back yard or would they ?

 

We call those home-brew club parties.

 

Well, have one of those and brew a Zoigl for it.

 

I cracked open our Dolden Sud "Bavarian IPA" this weekend and it was a bit of a mess. The bottle is dated 23.3.14, so it's not exactly super-fresh, but this was beyond the point of being slightly past its prime. The hops were nice, but it was very buttery. Not sure if it's the type of yeast they're using (I know some English ale yeasts like ringwood are diacetyl-heavy) or if something went wrong. Either way, I'm in no rush to every get it again. The hop character was honestly pretty nice, but man...that butter note kills me.
I've had many an American IPA that was 6 months old, and this was another animal altogether.