Braukunst 2015

After participating in one more Beer Festival in Germany I am glad to say that the beer scenario is changing all over the world, but changing for better.

Comparing with the same Festival from last year, I noticed some differences that made me glad.

First: there was huge amount of German craft beer, new and old ones. Definitely a difference from last year.

Second: some of these new German breweries are brewing styles that are not common in Germany neither the people are used to it.

Third: it is incredible how many young people were the new entrepreneurs, opening breweries around.

So let me tell you a bit of what I found interesting and was happy to see there.

Lammsbräu in Neumarkt: they brewed their first organic beer in 1977, and now they are proud to say that they have a whole line dedicated to organic production; all the ingredients come from specific producers that produce exclusive for them. They have a high quality organic Hefeweizen that I had to drink 3 of it just to make sure (just kidding, it was that good!) and an Imperial Chocolate Porter that makes you feel warm and feels like melting chocolate in your mouth. In addition, I want to thank them for all the attention and gifts I got. A special thanks to Julian for all the explanation given with all my questions!

Buddelship in Hamburg: they are relatively new brewery in Hamburg, and I had the opportunity to try some interesting beer from them, a Coffee IPA, which is brewed with coffee grains, what I have to admit, for a person like me, who likes coffee and likes IPA, that was an excellent idea! The aroma of espresso was intense and the flavor was rich. The coffee taste is not so prominent although its aroma keeps playing with your senses, challenging your palate the whole time. When I asked Simon, the brew master at Buddelship, about how he got this eccentricity in such unique beer, he told me that he add ground coffee together with the hops in the last part of boiling. Well I guess he got it right!

When I say young people opening breweries, the St. Erhard in Bamberg is the best example. Their region, Franconia, is where there are the biggest amount of microbreweries in the world, and some of them dating from 1400’s, but still they have the inspiration to open new ones and innovate in flavors and design. Christian Klemenz, the founder, innovate with 2 different styles that are a bit difficult to find in Germany and mainly in that area: Saison and IPA. Although their main brew is a Keller beer. They got the German Design Award, with special mention in 2014 with their printed on label bottle.

Nevertheless, talking about what called my attention in this brewery: the Saison. Different from the creators of the style, the Belgian ones, its characteristic are not so prominent, it is very fruity and fresh, but not very carbonated, what makes it perfect for the German taste. Although my favorite one from this brewery was the Farmer IPA with passion fruit e mango notes it was fresh and easy to drink since it did not show that final bitterness characteristic of mostly IPAs.

Doppelleu from Switzerland had a unique selection of beers. The one I tried the name is already fancy: Oak Wood Red Ale. Definitely a piece of art in the beer world. Alcohol volume of 6,5%, however it is not reflected to beer taste, which goes soft and easy, with its caramel and vanilla aroma and a bit of oak in the end. The taste is like a caramel candy. A beer to be careful!

Well, I guess that is all for the Braukunst, I wish I had had more time to try more beers and talk to more people! I hope I can visit some of these new breweries soon and try different and new types!

MUNICH and BRAUKUNST LIVE!

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 16^th 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.