Pillars of Tradition — How a New Generation of Brewers Returned to Decoction Mashing

Live Oak is pretty good. Loved their Grodziskie.

 

Me too Ron!



https://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/new-beer-sunday-week-717.595089/#post-6265329

Cheers!

 

Austin Beer Garden Brewery (ABGB) was discussed in a prior post – they choose to not conduct decoction mashing for their excellent lagers.

Some folks may be interested in knowing that ABGB has won the GABF award for Brewpub of the Year for three straight years: 2016, 2017 and 2018. This is quite a feat!

They also won gold medals (several times) for their lagers:

2018 GABF Gold Medal - Munich-style Helles

2016 GABF Gold Medal - German-style Pilsener (Industry Pilsner)

Gold Medal Winner at GABF 2018 Gold Medal Winner at GABF 2017 Gold Medal Winner at GABF 2015 Bronze Medal at 2016 World Beer Cup (Rocket 100 Pre-Prohibition Pilsner)

Cheers!

 

Ron, how did those Franconian breweries you visited manage oxygen on the hot side of the brewery? Did any of those breweries take extraordinary steps to limit oxygen during the wort production? Did any brew via the LODO (Low Oxygen Brewing) process advocated but some homebrewers?

Cheers!

 

Loved their Pilsner. With that beer and Texas bbq I think I could be very happy in Austin

 

Pretty sure they weren't bothering with any of that shit. It's an obsession of some home brewers. And not shared by professional brewers.

 

@JackHorzempa the brewers in Franconia know about LODO brewing as they went to brewing school. They can't do much about it on their legacy systems. Some try to minimize the O2 pickup on the hot side, as one guy said "fill from the bottom". As a Homebrewer I can treat the water with sodium metabisulfite, they can't due to the RHG. The same brewer said that oxidation in some of the breweries is the house flavor that the locals accept.

The beer that benefits most from keeping the O2 out of the hot side is Munich Helles. Mostly Pils Malt and a low hopping rate. In Frankonia there are typically more hops used, and that helps cover up the oxidized LOX flavor. There are some breweries that really have that.

Edit - I find the Lagerbiers and Kellerbiers in that general area more interesting than the Helles.

I do wish to go back and explore more breweries in the countryside.

 

So wish I could be in Franconia now. Out in the sticks, with a half litre of Dunkles in front of me. And a plate of cold cuts.

Damn,you. You're making me sad.

 

How many visits to Franconia would that make for you Ron?

And *you're* sad?

 

I want to swing by Brauerei Eck again for the Dunkel in the Biergarten.

So much to see and do, once we can.

 

Dovetail Helles changed my (beer) life.

I grew up disliking beer, due to shitty American corn lagers.

I wound up embracing English styles via trying Edmund Fitzgerald Porter at age 30 (which now tastes quite American to my palate, as it's very hoppy). I never took the time to re-explore classic German styles since I wrongly assumed they tasted like Bud Light. Ignorance is a hell of a drug.

On a hot summer afternoon last year, my friend pushed a Dovetail Helles on me, and the clouds parted. I tasted a refined, flavorful but easily "sessionable" (an overused American term) beer that sent me on a journey to rediscover German/Austrian styles.

There's about 4 or 5 beers that have had seismic effects on my beer life...Dovetail Helles is one of them.

@OleWorm

 

So, do you remember which one? There are two, you know?

To be fair, one is a seasonal, the other year-round. I've never had the seasonal, but I'd like to try the 2 side-by-side.

 

Only a dozen or so visits. Not enough.

I should be back in Germany in a few days. Not in Franconia, sadly.

 

"Only."

Reminds me of some fanatical collectors I know, "How many *so and so's* do you have now?"
"More than I need, less than I want."

Ron, Germany's not a big country. Franconia is probably a quick train ride from anywhere.

 

So many breweries still to get to. I've probably only managed 10%.

It's not that far from here. It's just that the last 8 or 9 years I've mostly visited the US.

 

I would think that would make travel within Europe that much more desirable! In contrast and comparison to time and distance, anyway.

 

My US travel has all been about promoting books, collaboration brews and giving talks. Rather than just drinking and having fun, which is what I do in Germany.

Left Amsterdam for the first time in 18 months last weekend. Two nights in Wuppertal. Which was all about drinking and having fun. Not wildly interesting beer wise. A bit of industrial Alt and some OK brewpub beer. Did get to eat a Schweinehaxe and ride the Schwebahn, though.

My first time in Germany for at least three years, sadlly.

 

One of the breweries previously discussed in this thread was Human Robot in Philly. I finally had a zero obligation day and went over for lunch and a beer, opted for a pour of Polotmavy, their (decocted) Czech garnet lager (4.2% abv).

The decoction was evident to me in the mouthfeel, light bodied but super full rich and bready mouthfeel that proceeded to go down incredibly clean and smooth. I was very impressed by this beer and if time comes up again I will definitely be back for a pour sometime in the future. So in this case, I would say yes the process (decoction) did indeed make a very very good beer.

I grabbed a four pack of their oktoberfest (marzen) as well, which is double decocted. I will wait to try till this weekend, hope it too lives up to the pour of polotmavy I had.