Noble Stuff

When I first arrived in Munich many years ago as a young college student I did not drink beer – at all. Sure, I had tried it, from the cheap stuff that my friends would once in a while get me to try, to the Moosehead we drank with that cool, older friend we so wanted to be like. Of course, Moosehead was Canadian which, at the time, was the closest thing to craft beer any of us had ever seen, but it certainly wasn’t good beer.

Anyway, in Munich not drinking beer is like not breathing air. I persisted for a while, sipping on 0.2 liters of lukewarm Coke while my new-found friends were nipping on their 0.5 Liter beers. For those keeping track at home, that’s a tiny Coke, and a large beer, and given that the Coke was also more expensive it was slowly draining my budget.

Over time, I tried a Radler (the Bavarian counterpart to a shandy) and Weissbier before eventually learning to enjoy that most classic of Munich brews, the Helles. Helles is a golden lager, lightly hopped, with a pleasant malt taste. In this day of massive IPAs it may seem a little mild, but it’s a great session beer, and the staple brew of every Munich biergarten.

Mild though they may be, no two Helles are alike, and one is the king of them all – the somewhat boastfully named Edelstoff (or “noble stuff”). Augustiner Bräu, the proud brewer of Edelstoff, is Germany’s oldest independent brewery and the smallest and most authentic of Munich’s great breweries. Now, most of the bars in Munich are (or were) tied houses, meaning they served only the beer of their host brewery, most frequently Paulaner or Löwenbräu. I was fortunate enough to live around the corner from an Augustiner pub, so I could enjoy Edelstoff on a regular basis. If you happen to be traveling to Munich, you can swing by the Augustiner Kellar, where Edelstoff is available from wooden casks year-round.

Unfortunately, that’s no longer as easy here in the US, although there are a number of US breweries taking a decent shot at brewing good Helles. None of them, though, are Edelstoff, so it was a very pleasant surprise the other day when a visitor from Germany brought over two precious bottles. Alas, only the 12 ounce bottle, but a pleasure nonetheless.

Prost!

A renewed interest

So, I may not do as much traveling as I had done before, but I still drink a bit, and I like to think about traveling and drink, so I figure it’s time to pick up this old blog again.

Fortunately, having just come back from our annual excursion to upstate Maine, I have a little bit to say about travel and drink, mostly beer! My first observation is that I’m becoming quite the fan of Allagash Brewing Company in Portland, Maine. While we didn’t make it to the brewery, I had the chance to try a number of the company’s big beers and they were all uniformly good. I even liked the draft-only Midnight Brett, which is quite uncharacteristic for me since it’s a bit of a fruity beer.

Interestingly, I also had the chance to try the company’s first ever lager beer, the Allagash Helles Brau Lager, which they haven’t even seen fit to put on their website! While it was tasty, having lived in Munich (where Helles rules) I can’t say it was a terribly authentic Helles-style beer. It actually reminded me of the delicious unfiltered lager beers of Vogelbräu in (relatively nearby) Karlsruhe, Germany.

Anyway, I’ll be seeking out more Allagash brews in the near future.

Yard’s revisited

I was looking through some photos the other day and I saw the following picture of the Yard’s brewhouse, discussed in this earlier post.. Thought some of you might be interested.

Whaaa?

For those of you who don’t know, I’m a city dweller, with a small, unreliable FIAT parked in the garage down the street. Over the weekend I went down to check the status of that particular vehicle (it didn’t start, of course) and I ran into the neighbor who owns the garage. We started chatting and he offered me … a Miller Lite.
Now, I’m a fan of all sorts of beers, but as a general rule Miller is not one of them. In spite of that, I drank a couple with him while we chatted about neighborhood gossip, our planned renovations, raising kids in the city, and the usual things on chats about over a beer with the neighbor.
Truth be told, Miller Lite’s still not my beer of choice, but it was a pleasant way to spend the afternoon.

A land without a drink

Last week I was up in the north of Germany, a part of the country which is wildly underappreciated amongst the tourist crowd. That’s better for me, I suppose, but there are some great areas up there.
One of the strange things about the north of Germany is that there is no single drink for which the area is known. The weather isn’t good enough for wine, so that’s a non-starter. They drink a lot (and I mean a lot) of spirits of various sorts, but there’s no single spirit which is really associated with the area. I did have Elbaquavit, an aquavit from a small local provider north of Hamburg which was, well, a bit rough around the edges, but ultimately aquavit is more of a Danish drink than a German one. The best known German spirits tend to come from the south, including the wonderful products of Schladerer mentioned before.
The north also has a lot of great beers, but it’s not really known for them. I’m a big fan of Jever, from a town near the border with the Netherlands, and I also enjoy Flensburger Pils, on the border with Denmark. I’m also a big fan of Dithmarscher, although I prefer the Ditmarscher Urtyp and Dunkel to the Pilsener. Although Jever is part of the Becks brewing empire, and is increasingly available in the US, the others are from two of the few small, privately held breweries left in Germany these days. One of these days I’ll see if they’ll let me in for a tour …
Of course, with all of the ports up in the north, there are also a host of different imports, but then those aren’t really local, now are they? Calvados, Portuguese wine, Baltika Beer, I’ve had a multitude of interesting drinks from all over the world, but none really representative of the north. I suppose there’s nothing wrong with not having a signature drink.

Another look at Pilsen

So, from one set of tunnels to another, today I’ve decided to meander back to beer, and back to the Czech Republic, for another look at Pilsen.
In Pilsen, the Pilsner Urquell brewery’s not the only game in town, and for those interested in the brewing process the Pilsen brewery museum is a must. Housed in a small complex of houses in town, and now part of the Pilsner Urquell domain, the brewery museum was once a very small local brewery.
Visitors can walk through the small malting room, with its tile floors and low, arched ceilings. The well in the quarter provided the water needed for the brewing process. The malt dryer is covered with pungent malt, which I pushed around smoothed out and generally played with using the various old tools which are part of the museum’s display. Fun, yes, but instructive as well.
Similar to the Pilsner Urquell brewery, this small museum has steps leading down to a small fermenting room and, below it, the lagering tunnel. At all of 100 ft., the cellars are perhaps less impressive than those at the brewery, but it’s easy to get a good understanding of the mechanics of brewing. These tunnels were cooled by large chunks of ice which were left at the top of the stairs leading to the tunnel. As the ice melted the cold water ran down into the tunnels thereby keeping them cool. I guess they only brewed in winter. This brewery brewed around 5600 Hectoliters a year, about what Pilsner Urquell brews in one day.

If you can’t eat you might as well drink

Apropos of church, some of the most enduring beers were originally brewed by monks, including the famous Starkbier of Munich and its surroundings. It’s loud and chaotic, but the Starkbierfest is a beer festival with a pedigree. Beer has long been regarded a staple in the Bavarian diet, but it is the notion of beer as “liquid bread” which led the monks of St. Francis of Paula to brew a hearty beer to sustain them through the final weeks of lent and the fasting which leads up to Easter. That beer and the brewery which grew out of it, both named Paulaner Salvator, started a tradition of double-bock beers which survives to this day.
Every spring Munich’s breweries gear up the production of their strongest, richest beers – beers with names like Salvator, Optimator, and Maximator. These dark beers, “strong beers” according to the literal translation, are served in heavy half liter of liter ceramic mugs rather than the usual glasses. As many an unsuspecting visitor to Munich has discovered the double bocks they are almost twice as strong as a normal beer with over 7% alcohol by volume.
The festival is more than just beer, however. The Starkbierfest is called the “fifth season” in Bavaria, and the beer halls of the city are crawling with stout men in their lederhosen, heavy woolen socks and green Loden jackets. The Starkbierfest, like the Oktoberfest, is considered a family event, and the Bavarian women in their long skirts and dirndls are also present, often with the children and the extended family. Where there are Bavarians there is music, and the beer halls reverberate with the local folk music. The atmosphere at the Starkbierfest is friendly and celebratory, with far fewer tourists than the more famous Oktoberfest.
The traditional home of the Starkbierfest is Paulaner’s Salvatorkellar, known in Munich by its location, Nockherberg. The Salvatorkellar is at Hochstraße 77 on the Nockherberg and can be reached by streetcars 15, 25, and 27. If you are in town, don’t miss the opportunity to try one of the other fine double-bock beers in one of Munich’s many other beer halls, in particular that of Löwenbräu on Stiglmaierplatz.
The Starkbierfest is held the 4th and 3rd weeks before Easter. This year’s Starkbierfest started with the traditional Starkbieranstich on March 11, 2007.

A new church for me

Ok, I’m not much of a church goer, but I may have found a little bit of religion. My wife has recently started to go to the local Episcopal church with the kids (which I’m ok with), but I don’t go except on holidays. Don’t get me wrong – I like the progressive viewpoint, the church is pretty, but church services don’t really do it for me.
There is one thing, however, which has helped nudge (and I do mean nudge) me in the direction of becoming a bit more of a churchgoer and that’s – well, beer. You see, the priest (I think that’s what they are called in the episcopal church) is a bit of a beer fan, and has started a beer club called the Franklin Society, after a well-known quote from Benjamin Franklin. Now, beer and churches have a long and mutually beneficial history, and this is arguably just a new chapter in a very old book. Nonetheless, it’s one I enjoy, and one which will hopefully lead to new and interesting posts in the future. Either way, it should broaden my beer horizons a bit, which is always a good thing.
Who knows, I may discover religion yet …

Not the Pitts

We’ve just returned from a city which, much like my home city of Philadelphia, suffers from an old, worn reputation it no longer deserves. I’m talking about Pittsburgh. Now, Pittsburgh still has its issues, but it’s no longer the smog-filled steeltown of old. One thing which is left from those days (combined with a significant German population) is a legacy of beers. Now, not all of those beers are great, but the beer tourist still has a few worthy things to see.
First of all is the Pittsburgh Brewing company, an old-school American brewery which has been in the same location on Liberty Ave in Pittsburgh for over 140 years. According to Factory Tours in PA, the brewery can be toured from April through November, although the brewery website doesn’t say so. Either way, I’ve never been, but one of these days I will. If you are in the neighborhood and can’t tour Pittsburgh Brewing, you can still make your way to beer experience of a different sort. Just a short way down the street from Pittsburgh brewing is the Church Brew Works, where you can worship at the altar of beer (quite literally) and enjoy a fine example of adaptive reuse. The brewery is housed in an old Catholic church, and where the altar once stood there is a large brewing house. It’s a worthy visit, if just for the unique environment, but the beer’s not bad either.
Finally, another old building has been renovated and, in this instance, brought back to its original purpose in the Penn Brewery. Fans of German music and food will enjoy a visit, particularly during the various German-style events, but we’ve been to the restaurant a few times and always had a good time. The old brewery buildings provide a great backdrop for good German-style beers. In summer, a nice patio area provides outdoor seating as well.

On the River Horse

So, closer to home (at least for us) we visited the River Horse Brewing Company in Lambertville, New Jersey. Now, I’ll be the first to admit that New Jersey remains for me a foreign country, and I always expect to have to change money when I go there. More importantly, I still fail to appreciate the charms of the Jersey jughandle, a strange way of turning left which involves turning right first. Thankfully, Lambertville is right over the bridge from New Hope, PA, so we were able to simply park the car and walk.
In any case, the first place we walked was to River Horse, which is in what clearly used to be the industrial section of this practically too cute Victorian village. The brewery itself is in what looks to be an old mill of some sort (anyone know the answer?). Entering the brewery the first sight is a cozy tasting area, with a bar on one side and a very old table (surrounded by handsome River Horse merchandise) on the other. Behind the bar is a door, and the tour pretty much consists of the guy behind the bar opening the door and saying “Here for the tour?”
The main operating portion of the brewery is on the first floor, with only a few lagering tanks on the second. The brewery isn’t large, but you’re free to wander and check out the facility.
As for the beer, I really enjoyed the Lager, and may have to go back and get a case (did I mention that we parked the car and walked to the brewery?). The brewery is open for tours seven days a week, 12-5. Lambertville offers a lot of kitschy shops, particularly antiques, but it’s not wholly given over to the tourist trade.