Trip's Beer Trips

Ending his trip with his wonderful wife. We had a good time and I was glad to be a small part of thier trip in such and great brewery Ayinger. Yesterday my wife and I ran down to Mittenwald on the Ausrian border to see the homecomming of the cows. Stopped for lunch at the Mittenwald Brewery. Nice day.

 

I would love to see some pictures of that, if by chance you took some.

 

I've been traveling and not online too much.

Rotbier is a style in and around Nürnberg that has recently got some attention. It can vary from very sweet due to all the caramalz to much more drinkable. I had the Rotbier at Schantzenbräu yesterday in Nürnberg, my favorite Rotbier.

I've been to Witzgall twice. The draft beer is on of my favorites. The owners are elderly, not sure how long it will continue.

Grünen Baum is the brand, Bayer is the brewery and family name. Hope to get there on this trip.

Many places take a break on September. Often not put out on social media. That can explain the changes.

 

Kirtabier is a beer brewed for a local church festival. Those go by several local names, kirwe, kirta, and so on. Carried some bottles back years ago, did a side by side with the Ayinger Oktoberfest. My brewery friend and I concluded it is the Oktoberfest brewed with a little more caramalz, which shows up in the color and flavor.

 

I was at the brewery last week and talked with the staff during the two hour tour, now they are the same beer. They only produce two Märzens currently. They have in the past bottled both the Fest-Märzen and the Kirta for the US market as Oktober Fest-Märzen. I will be back up there on the 12th and corner one of the bottling staff, because last week one of the Brewmasters was not sure which one was going to the US this time.

 

Those were very similar back then, only a little more color and caramalz flavor/sweetness. Reduced brands in the brewery steam lines operations.

 

Apart from the Kirta, what other Märzen do they make?

 

Here for Germany the Fest-Märzen. One of the two of them is the Oktober Fest-Märzen in the USA. I should find out on the 12th what the deal is.

 

So Ayinger sells both the Fest-Märzen and Kirta labels in Germany, even though they're the same beer?

@grantcty

 

They are different beers. The question is if one of them is the current Oktober Fest-Märzen sold in the USA.

 

Okay, but to quote you from above, "They only produce two Märzens currently."

So to @grantcty 's question, what are the two Märzens being produced? I thought you had said the US Fest-Märzen was the same as the Kirta, just relabeled for export. Meaning -- really only one Märzen, but two labels.

 

Here's a photo of a side-by-side of the two from an Untappd Check-in/review:



https://untappd.com/user/marcoolis/checkin/1517082935

 

Definitely using different malts... or Sinamar.

So, it looks like they take the Kirta and apply the Fest-Märzen label to it for export to the US, but they also brew a different beer they label as Fest-Märzen for the German market.

Then there's that missing hyphen.

Clear as mud.

 

@SLeffler27 posted this pic of his Ayinger Oktober Fest-Märzen yesterday in the German Beer Appreciation thread:



Definitely looks like the Kirta to me.

 

Of course, now I want them to export the Festmärzen (not the Oktober Fest-Märzen ).

Their label printer must love their business!

 

Not sure if this helps or is just a waist of electrons and storage capacity…

 

There was a decline across the board when I visited in 2018 vs 2016. The beers were just bland to a little off. The U was the best, but it had lost its former glory. No longer served from a barrel on gravity.

Stephan Michel steps down as head of Mahr's Bräu | Community | BeerAdvocate https://share.google/GD7aC6YYa8PQkkIDb

He was replaced by his half-brother.

 

@SLeffler27, @grantcty -- the picture of the back label flipped the lightbulb over my head: Merchant du Vin. I'd bet good money that they were the influence behind using the "amber-colored, rich, full-bodied" brew for the US market.