Heading Back to Munich/Bamberg at last

Normal Ruhetags are bad enough, now surprise Ruhetags?! Say it ain't so, Deutschland!

Seriously though I love the Bamberg threads. We need to work out a rotation where at least one BA is going each month so the rest of us can read up.

 

Good call. Greifenklau's Lager is a pretty divisive beer. A lot of people don't care for it. I, personally, really like it. But I recognize its essentially rustic character and the fact that it really doesn't (and shouldn't) fit in any style. A perfect example of a Stetbier (man, I need to confirm if I'm using the right term). Still, I wouldn't pass up the Greif-R Rauchbier; very mild in its smokiness, so may be right up your alley.

 

I do not know how the situation is today, but a very short time ago especially Weizenbiere were produced by other breweries for Greifenklau and others. Spezial Weissbier is not brewed at Spezial, but with Spezial Rauchmalz! Also, Klosterbrau bottled beers that you find in the Getränkehalle are said to be brewed elsewhere.

 

Here's the label that Merchant du Vin used* -- and it was a green bottle, didn't recall that.

*Smoked Bavarian Dark Beer, Scott! Heh.

 

That's the one I was thinking of. Thanks.

 

Will be interested to see if there are any primary sources to substantiate these claims. Not saying it isn't true, but, again, with the rampant rumors about such things I am hesitant to believe anything like this until I see it confirmed by those involved in writing.

 

It is nothing special to have some beer brewed elsewhere. Weizenbier is not a Franconian tradition and many brewers did not want two diffenrent yeast strains in their breweries. Now that it has become accepted and popular, more breweries are brewing the Weizenbiere themselves.

 

I think Bamberg is actually one of a very small number of places in Germany where you are not guaranteed to see a pils on tap.

 

Reading this thread made me terribly thirsty for a good Rauchbier... then I left work, started my car and the thermometer said 103°! (Fahrenheit, all my European friends -- that's 39° C) Of course, that was my car sitting on the blacktop parking lot all day, it dropped to an brisk 95° on the ride home... with 50% humidity. A good old fashioned Midwest summer. I opted for a cold Pils, the Rauch will need to wait a few months!

 

The later consensus was that the Greifenklau Weizen is brewed at Göller in Zeil am Main (but I've never gotten a definitive answer) I never went back and updated the website. Schlenkerla, Spezial. and Fässla wheat beers are all at least fermented elsewhere as well. The new Keesmann wheat is brewed by Keesmann, as are the various Mahrs wheat beers. And Ambräusiaum brews their wheat as well.

The locals can often have good insight -- and sometimes they are totally wrong I remember when the Schlenkerla Fastenbier first came out, a man who worked as a brewer at another brewery swore that it was just a blend of the Lagerbier and the Ur-Bock. Around that time they started brewing the Ur-Bock year round (for the US market) and my guess is that got distorted in the retelling and led to the blending story.

 

Wheat beers were basically a rarity when I lived there. Now, with more and more tourists hitting the Wirtshauser and Biergaerten, they are much more widespread. I remember distinctly when the Schlenkerla Weizen came out and the locals' disapproval (if not disgust) at the new offering. Matter of fact, I asked Matthias Trum about that, and he said that his father made the decision to offer that beer based purely on tourists' tastes (specifically, they wanted to get the Weisswurstfruehstueck crowd).

As for me personally, I limit my consumption in Bamberg to the occasional Mahr's Weizen with a Weisswurstfruehstueck (usually a Sunday brunch with friends at home, but you can find it on offer at places throughout town). As for my wife and in-laws, they drink the Spezial and Schlenkerla Weizen when we visit those places...can't really hack the real Rauchbier. My personal recommendation, then, is to drink the Kellerbier, Dunkles, Rauch, and other Stetbiere (like Klosterbrau Schwaerzla, Braunbier; Greifenklau Lager; Mahr's Gig or Jubilaeumsbier; and other regional specialties) and not go out of your way (or waste your daily tolerance/intake) on Weizen.

 

I'm a huge fan of this http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/929/14373

 

Good call. Also, this year is Klosterbrau's 480th birthday, so they may be having some cool events. If you can find something taking place in their Zehnthaus (the big, open hall whose larger, wooden double-doors face Judenstrasse) definitely go in and partake. My buddy and I were walking out of our dorm on Judenstrasse one night and heard the sounds of a Fest; looked in there and there was some sort of Bockbieranstich. Such a cool spot.

 

The Spezial Weissbier is brewed by Schneider (not the famous one, but Josef Schneider). I spoke to the brewer and saw crates of the beer at Schneider. It turns out the brewers studied together and know each other well.

 

Absolutely. Wheat beer is really a Bavarian thing, by which I mean Bavaria proper, not the whole of the modern state of Bavaria. I never drink it in Bamberg, I’d go to Munich for that.

You will of course get loads of the locals drinking wheat beer, but they do that in Cologne, Düsseldorf and Hamburg too.

To be honest I am a little surprised that Schlenkerla even offers a Weißwurstfrühstück, but business is business.

 

They were roommates, if I'm well informed. Rauchmalz and empty bottles go one way, filled bottles the other. Btw, this beer is only available bottled (refermented in the bottle / mit Flaschengärung). Ratings which say they had the beer on tap are wrong.