Well, this
place needs many chapters in the subject beer, since they are one of the four
schools of beer types (they are the German, Belgium, English and American
schools, actually, a subject for another chapter). Anyway, in the Bavarian
region (southeast Germany) they claim to have the oldest brewery in the world.
Weihenstephan was licensed to make beer since 1040! 1 Wow that is a
really long time back, and when you stop to think about it, is the practice
that makes perfection!
Germany has
the Reinheitsgebot, better known as the “law of purity” where they can use the
basic ingredients to produce beer (water, barley and water).
To
understand better, let me explain what exactly the Reinheitsgebot is:
“Until the 16th century,
wheat beer was a very common way of brewing beer, but it led to a shortage of
ingredients and a price war between bakers and brewers happened. So in 1516,
Duke Wilhelm IV from Bavaria and Duke Ludwig X signed off a legislation that
made it illegal for the brewers to use wheat in the beer production. (Yeast
escaped mention since was yet to be discovered).”2,3
The
Reinheitsgebot was withdrawn only in 1988, but most of the Germans breweries
still follow the law since they are proud of their purity and quality in beer,
not to mention the marketing that it brings.
Even though
wheat was not allowed anymore to produce beer they create such a huge variety
of beers just changing the quantity, texture or combination of the primary
ingredients, that is almost impossible not enjoy yourself with any kind of beer
you have in Germany.
However, the
main reason I am writing about Germany now is that I had the opportunity of
going to Munich and attended to the Braukunst 2014. This is a beer and liquor event,
which have not happened for many years; and a place like Germany deserves this event
to celebrate their variety of beer production.
I have met
there many people, nice and creative people that without forgetting their
purity background are producing different and tasty beers.
Unfortunately
I could not try each one of them (the time did not permit the attempt!). However,
I, for sure, had excellent ones.
I want to
mention here 3 of the ones that really called my attention for different
reasons.
The first
one was from Lösch-Zwerg Brewery, their brewery have mainly 4 different and
witty beers, a pils, a radler (mix of märzen beer and lemon juice), a cola
weizen (wheat beer and coke) and a würzig (spicy or aromatic lager). I tried
their pils which had a light hoppy aroma, not as strong as many others pils in
Germany, but still very fresh and tasty. Nevertheless, what called my attention
was the marketing call; they transformed an old firefighting truck in "beer
delivery", without mention the fire extinguisher change, that as you can see in
the pictures, became a beer tap! My father as fire fighter really loved the
idea!
The second
one to mention was my favorite of the night. It is from the König Ludwig
Brewery and they had this rich banana esters aroma in their weizenbock beer.
Even though its ABV was close to 8% that beer was so soft and easy to drink as
any normal wheat beer. In addition, I have sincerely to thank the people in
there, because their best marketing was the quality of their product and the
sympathy that they received us. Mainly Olaf and Andreas, they were really
passionate about all!
They also had a Dunkel beer, which actually is the name in the tap; it had an excellent quality too with a very roast grain aroma and a little bit of nuts notes. However, still the wheat beer made me fell for it!!
The last but not least to talk about here is a unique way to make, I would say, a liquor beer, or actually a brandy. This people from the Bukanter (Jopenkerk Bierbrowerij, from Netherlands) developed a technique of frozen beer, and they explained all to me. They brew a beer and after is all ready they freeze it in recipients like the picture. With the ambient temperature, it starts to melt and as you learnt in physics, alcohol has a lower temperature to melt than the water, so it separates one from the other naturally and brings the initial batches pure alcohol. What I really can say about it is that was one of the best liquors I ever tried, rich malt taste and rich caramel aroma! Yummy!
I hope you
have enjoyed the 'trip' to Munich and the Braukunst Live! See you soon!
1 Jackson, Michael (2007). Beer
Companion. DK Publishing. p. 15. ISBN 978-0-7566-3155-0.
2 Jackson, Michael (2007). Beer
Companion. DK Publishing. p. 85. ISBN 978-0-7566-3155-0.
3 Webb, Tim and Beaumont, Stephen.
Octopus Publishing Group Ltd. p. 80. ISBN 978-1-84533-633-2.
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