Bayernbiere Bought and Drunk

I'm not sure where that "difference" disconnect is with imports into the U.S., there are plenty other imports (Paulaner and HP for two), as well as U.S. breweries, that have perfectly legible brewed-on or best-by dates.

 

Has anybody seen Fastenbier in the US yet this year?

 

I agree 100%. The only Schlenkerla bottled beer that I will buy is the Fasternbier since it is a seasonal (and I hope that it was not from last year). I will also only buy Ayinger seasonal beer (Oktoberfestbier) for the same reason.

And there is absolutely nothing preventing breweries like Schlenkerla, Ayinger, etc. from providing this helpful piece of information on the bottles that are sent to the US other than the desires of the importer that those dates not be presented. IMO there are two less than respectable parties here: the importers for not wanting this information on the bottle and the breweries for agreeing to this.

Cheers!

 

I went to Merchant du Vin's Facebook page and asked them about dating for Ayinger. They said that they use notches on their labels and that their distributors know the 'codes' and keep tabs on how fresh the stock is. I expressed my displeasure at their purposeful withholding of a freshness date to consumers and they promptly deleted my post from their page. Looks like I won't be buying any bottled Ayinger products anytime soon.

 

Yeah, I got in contact with someone from the importer via email, and they gave the same answer. It was apparent there wasn't much chance for change on the horizon, so I just said I hoped they changed their minds. Too bad, as I really just can't bring myself to buy Ayinger stuff, save for the Ofest.

 

B. United has bottles release date of 2/10. Kegs are delayed till end of month.

 

LOL! Yeah, sure -- just like they know all about the beer they're selling. One distro I talked with didn't even know there was a difference between bottled Guinness Stout Draught and Guinness Extra Stout. I did my best to explain it to him without A.) laughing out loud and B.) Keeping sarcasm in check.

Wow. I think you ought to contact Ayinger directly. Maybe they need a new importer... probably have needed a new importer for some time.

 

The year is printed in Roman numerals on the neck, so you should be good to go there!

 

I read back through last year's thread and noticed that my local place didn't have it for a few weeks after release. I'll keep poking my head in and report back.

 

Finally time to taste this year's Fastenbier. The color of the beer is of course off, it's a dark red color (or what one could perhaps call brown? In Lübeck the brewers used to call their beer using kiln dried malt rotbier instead of braunbier) rather than black. Flavorwise I think it has a really nice balance between the smoke, malt and hop bitterness. Others might be more apt to describe the complexities of this beer but I just think it's one really tasty beer.

 

I agree; what I posted previously: "The beer is a deep reddish brown color..."

I agree here too. What I posted previously: "Lightly sweet malt up front mixed with some chicory flavors; a nice combination of bready caramel malt and smoke. I notice some spicy notes in the mid-palate. It has a smooth finish of brown sugary malt, spicy hops, and creamy smoke."



http://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/new-beer-sunday-week-526.271134/#post-3442852

Cheers!

 

And it's such a pretty beer. Wonderful complexity of colour, lovely foamy lacy head.

I'm going through my stock much too fast.

 

That's a nice review of the beer. I'm just fascinated by the rauchbier style due to its connections with early 1800s Bavarian lager beer on the one hand, and its connections to the historically top fermented Swedish beer on the other hand. By the time that Bavarian lager beer spread across Europe and the rest of the world (post 1840s) Sedlmayr had introduced (English inspired) indirect kilning of malt to Bavarian brewing and so Bavarian braunbier (lager and schenk) no longer had to be smoky. In Sweden the indigenous style remained top fermented, smoky and low hopped until its demise in the late 1800s. The braunbier of northern Germany had spread to Bavaria by the 1600s and by the mid 1800s the cold stored braunbier of Bavaria was taking northern Germany and the rest of Europe by storm.

One thing which I'm wondering about is whether Sedlmayr brought with him the knowledge of roasting malt to make black malt from his travels to England. With patent black malt being available in 1817, and Sedlmayr being said to have brought English kilning techniques to Bavaria in 1818 it would make sense if he was also responsible for bringing coloring malt, or what would be known as farbmalz, to Bavaria. One thing which is worth nothing about Schlenkerla is their insistence that they use 100% beechwood smoked malt, yet most commercial smoked malts are pale, and to get the color of their beers would require the use of some pretty dark colored malt, such as black malt. I think Schlenkerla uses a smoke flavored pale malt which has alot of enzymatic power, along with a darker kilned malt for color. I would argue that this is a remnant from Sedlmayr and early 1800s English porter brewing, of focusing on the enzymatic power and extract of the base malt and then adding color through black malt.

The connections to the brewing histories and heritages of other countries just fascinates me.

 

Patrik,

A distinguishing feature of the Fastenbier is that it is not brewed with 100% smoked malt:

“Different from the Original Schlenkerla Smokebeer, the Schlenkerla Lentbeer is made from a mixture of 'light' (e.g. non-smoked) malt and Schlenkerla Smoked Malt.”

http://www.bunitedint.com/information/brands/description/83/

As to how Schlenkerla achieves its dark(er) color I am uncertain. You have an interesting theory of “along with a darker kilned malt for color.”

Since Schlenkerla smokes their own malt they have ultimate control here. It is not like they are buying malt from an outside malting company (e.g., Weyermann).

Cheers!

 

That is true, Fastenbier and some of their other beers are not using 100% smoked malt, but they do claim this for their Märzen beer, which is even darker than the Fastenbier. So I'm focusing mainly on their Märzen. Alot has changed in German brewing over the years as it pertains to grists. Here is what Ludwig Narziss says about German brewing in 1965:

"The West German export beers are some
what darker. For these beers, as well as for
the Bavarian pale-coloured lager beers, malt
with a good modification and a colour
of approximately 4° E.B.C. is required.
Occasionally a certain percentage of "Wiener"
malt with a colour 5-0-6-00 E.B.C. is used in
the grist, although this malt is normally used
for "Marzenbieren" (medium coloured beers).
The dark Munich malts have a very wet
and intensive germination and are kilned
off at 100-105° C; as a result they obtain a
good aroma. Owing to the lengthy kilning
they are poor in enzymes and have to be
mashed very carefully. They are used on
their own, or together with approximately
1% coloured malt for the brewing of dark
beer. For Marzenbiere they are blended to
50% with pale malt."

Using Munich malt on its own with 1% colored malt, or 50% with 50% pale malt seems like something a craft brewery would experiment with nowadays, yet this is where German brewing came from originally. When I look at Swedish brewing journals the breweries have really simple inventories, they have pilsner malt for pilsner brews, and they have lager beer malt (something akin to Vienna malt) for lager beer brews. Then they add small amounts of "coloring malt" or caramel malt for color. The basis of the Munich lager, Vienna lager and Pilsener lager was a particular type of malt which might have been aided by a coloring malt in the case of the Munich and Vienna lager. Nowadays pilsner malt is the basis of all lager beer styles, and it's merely a question of how much munich malt is added, or how much munich and caramel malt, or how much munich and caramel and black malt is added to the brew. This is why I'm curious about the grist used by Schlenkerla Märzen. 100% smoked malt could mean 80% smoked pilsner malt, 17% smoked munich malt and 3% smoked black/coloring malt.

 

FWIW, there is no mention that Schlenkerla produces differing malts (i.e., Pilsner vs. Munich vs. …) on the Schlenkerla web page:

“3rd Step: Kilning

In order to stop germination and to stabilize the involved biochemical processes, the green malt must be dried (kilned). That is where the secret of the Original Schlenkerla Smokebeer lies. A beechwood log fire underneath the kiln heats the air, and the smoke gives the malt its typical smoky flavor.”

http://www.schlenkerla.de/rauchbier/prozess/prozesse.html

I wonder if Ron (@patto1ro) has some knowledge here?

Cheers!

 

Yes, and I have found this to be highly suspect for quite some time. Why is the commercially available smoked malt always pale? And where do Schlenkerla get the color from if not from diastatically poor, heavily roasted malt (similar to all other commercially available dark colored beers)?

 

All good questions. Hopefully Ron will have some insight here.

Cheers!

 

I'm afraid not. Sebatian Sauer might.

 

I recently finished reading the somewhat dated (published 2001) "Smoked Beers" book by Ray Daniels and Geoff Larson. It's a great book if you're interested in the production of several varieties of smoked beers. It's quite clear that the authors spent significant time in Bamberg chatting with the brewers at Heller-Trum and Weyermann regarding their specific methods of production. Sadly I don't believe they cover the different degrees of malt that Heller-Trum uses. Fascinating book all the same. I was not aware that Spezial smoked their own malt as well (at least when the book was written).

I don't suppose anyone has contact with either of the authors?