Notch Brewing (2021)

Huge canning day from Notch.

 

Notch has a Dunkel on tap! Both locations.

 

Shit, is that a new beer too?

 

Must be. Wasn’t there when I went last weekend.

They’ve had a beer called “Munich Dunkel” in the past, both on tap and in 5L mini kegs. Not sure if it’s the same beer or not.

Chris must have known there was going to be a meeting of the lager heads on Saturday so he put something special on.

I plan on heading there early afternoon today to pick up cans, I’ll probably give it a whirl before heading back home.

 

Scratch that, don’t think it’s the same beer as before. It’s a Voll Projekt beer at 5.8%.

I don’t recall the previous Dunkel being that high.

Edit: Nope, at Notch it says 5.2%. Also it’s delicious.

 

Brew Roots pulling some mind-bending news from Chris, including a Ben Howe collab. and an expanded Starkbierfest come March 2022

+ 12th Anniversary will utilize a different base for PLP (i.e. not The Standard)

 

Curious about the Diacetyl discussion given it’s acceptance in subtle amounts in Czech lagers.

Never picked it up in Notch beers though.

 

Short conversation that’s about 50 minutes in: Essentially, Chris utilizes a 3-person team (of sensory detection) to curtail the impact. Granted, Czech lagers should have traces, as Chris points out and welcomes it, but the goal at Notch is to minimize the impact….given the American consumers’ perspective (not accustomed)

 

Firstly, I need to point out that I have a very sensitive palate for diacetyl and a ‘bias’ that I prefer to not taste diacetyl in my beers including the Bohemian Pilsner (Czech Pale Lager) style.

During my two-week vacation to the Czech Republic in 2019 I drank a large assortment of Bohemian Pilsners and the only beers that had perceptible diacetyl was Pilsner Urquell at Tankovna pubs. I discussed this in my article:

“My least favorite topic: diacetyl

During the fermentation process all yeast strains (both ale and lager) create a chemical compound called diacetyl. In most cases this diacetyl will be further processed by the yeast into other compounds later in the fermentation process. For most beer styles a perceptible level of diacetyl in the beer is considered a technical brewing flaw. An exception is for Bohemian Pilsner. The BJCP (Beer Judge Certification Program) Style Guidelines states: “Light to moderate diacetyl…are acceptable, but need not be present.” Well the words “light” vs. “moderate” can be quite subjective. There is also the aspect that perceptible diacetyl, which tastes like butter to my palate, may be OK for some folks and undesirable for others (e.g., me). During my recent (2019) two week visit to the Czech Republic (Prague, Pilsen) I drank many draft half-liters of Bohemian Pilsners but the only beer I sometimes had issues with was Pilsner Urquell and principally when at Tankovna Pubs which served Pilsner Urquell directly from tanks within the pub. When I visited the Pilsner Urquell brewery to take a tour I asked the tour guide about this topic. She recognized this situation but since she was not a brewer she had no answer to why there was variability here.

I much preferred the Bohemian Pilsners that had no perceptible levels of diacetyl.”

https://www.morebeer.com/articles/Pilsen_Beer

The cellar brewed Pilsner Urquell beer I drank during the tour of the brewery had no perceptible diacetyl flavor. Here is Jacob pouring my beer from the pitch lined oak barrel:



Na Zdravi

 

Was going to mention this ABV based on the Brighton board. You were here? Did you get a šnyt of it shortly after open?

 

Happy weekend. Cheers!

12pm open at Brighton is a godsend.

Had been awhile for me and took advantage of the new opening time.

Vienna, then Zwickel, first off of the stichfaß, Voll Dunkel, then Voll Černé spezial.

 

Ha yes!

We were the only two people at the brewery drinking. I got the šnyt of Dunkel then a Mlíko of černé pivo.

I was sitting there thinking, “What are the odds the only other dude in here is a fellow beer geek reading my post in the Notch thread?”

 

Since I have a group today I’m totally getting a Kranz.

 

And I’m glad you did. Thanks for the beers yesterday! And now my group of friends all think I’m some kind of beer forum celebrity.

 

Well you kind of are!

Same thing happened with me. They thought I was a part owner of Notch haha. I was like, nah, I just drink a lot.

Glad you had a great time. You had a solid group. You roll deep.

 

Amazing quote. Cheers!