Introduction to German Beer

I was having a Trumer Pils on draft at a local bar (the Beer Temple in Chicago).

In conversation with the bartender, he stated that this keg was brewed in the United States, which is how they get it so fresh.

I know Wikipedia is fallible, but this seems to be the case.

"Trumer Pils is a pilsner beer from Austria,[2] originally sold almost exclusively in the federal state of Salzburg. A brewery in Berkeley, California, was built in 2004 to provide beer for the U.S. market."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trumer_Pils

If this is common knowledge, ignore me, but I felt a bit cheated enjoying this "German" beer!

(It tasted great, regardless)

 

Yeah, that's always been the problem with draught versions of these sorts of "international" beers. While the bottle/can label (as well as the actual keg label - below) has to, by US law, state where the beer is brewed, a tap handle has no such Federal requirements. (IIRC, when AB-InBev moved the brewing of Bass Ale for the US market to AB breweries in the United States, they even put out a memo sent to their distributors and mentioned that on-premise draught retailers can (should? would? Don't recall) maintain the same pricing as the UK imported Bass).

As your quote from Wikipedia notes, Trumer (which was never particularly widely available previously) is brewed in California brewery owned by The Gambrinus Co., the parent company of Spoetzl, brewer of the Shiner brands out of Texas, which began as one of the 2 main US importers of Corona.

I'll let someone else discuss the geography (quote marks or not) ...

 

The Hofbrau Maibock is possibly the darkest Maibock you can get in the States. Most Maibocks here (imported or not) are a lighter color... and that’s what people usually expect unless they’ve only had Hofbrau’s.

 

You been on vacation? I've been singing praises of Trumer for a long time.

Yes, it's brewed in California by an Austrian brewery, but they prove that an outstanding Pils can be brewed in the U.S. Trumer is pretty spot-on to style.

You shouldn't feel cheated, you should feel amazed that you made such an outstanding discovery.

Not sure how close you live to the Beer Temple, but Trumer on draft at a bar near me would be dangerous.

 

Well, you might hit a wall there -- I don't know if there are any other import Maibock sent to the U.S. anymore these days.

 

Chris (@zid) already addressed this topic: Maibocks can vary in color.

Another example of a Maibock that is darker in color is the beer from Sly Fox:



The BJCP style guidelines include Maibock under the category of Helles Bock and they list a fairly wide range for color. SRM 6 - 11.

Cheers!

 

Just looking through my highest rated Maibocks -- has anyone seen Mahrs Brau Bock lately? I rated it high, but it was a while back.

 

The status of every Mahrs beer as an import here is in limbo currently. Their importer went out of business. But even when that wasn’t the case, I didn’t see their Bock for many years.

 

Part of the Shelton Debacle?

 

Keep in mind that HB is sort of a stand-alone in the style, but there are others that can be just as good -- only different.

 

Yeah.

My brain feels slow, but I think there's basically just Hofbrau and Einbecker besides the occasional oddity like Ayinger on tap as @JackHorzempa mentioned. I'm pleasantly surprised whenever I see one from a local/16oz can styled US brewer, but I think the seasonal nature of the beer encourages their enthusiasm.

 

34 Maibocks reviewed, 7 of them imports. The majority of the 7 not available anymore.

How about Altenmunster (Allgauer)? Still around? They used to have those liter, flip-top bottles.

 

A variety of sizes of 'em, too.

 

'83? I think I reviewed both the Doppel and Maibock in 2008.

 

@steveh, you're gushing about Trumer prompted me to pick up a 6 pack. I've always overlooked this beer, never really knew its story just sort of dismissed it along with most imports as likely old and over priced.

Well today, I had already enjoyed two of my regular favorite localish pils (reality czech from moonlight and alluvium from seismic) and then was at the corner store and noticed trumer and decided to grab a pack. Wow! Really nice stuff. So clean and quite lean and still wonderfully flavorful. Thanks for the prodding, this is definitely going in the rotation.

Any idea what the best by is? These are dated 10-3-21

 

Great description -- not in-your-face, not so thin that you forget you're drinking beer.

Not sure how far out they set their best-by. I've picked up 12-packs that were close to the BB on the case and the beer was still good.

How did the green bottles treat you? Or did you get cans?

 

Don't feel cheated, I've enjoyed both the Austrian and Californian Trumer beers and I can't find any significant differences. In any case, Austrian brew culture is generally close enough to Germany to warrant calling Austrian beer an extension of German brewing tradition.

If anything regarding Trumer, the only prominent difference between the two breweries is that the Austrian brewery has more varieties, including a (Austrian-style) Märzen, a Zwickl, and a Radler. As far as I know, they don't brew anything in California except just the Pilsner.

Speaking of that, I had Urban Chestnut's Dorfbier last night at the Pharmacy in Nashville, and found it to be another great (American-brewed) Dunkel. Just wish I could find reliably in can or bottle, rather than simply on a rotating draft.