Evan Rail – Page 13 – Beer Culture

Starkbierzeit in Munich

On February 25, 2008

We’re just back from Munich, where Starkbierzeit kicked off last weekend, running through March 8 of this year. A few notes about the festival whose name means “strong beer time.”

1. With 7.5% alcohol by volume, the beers really are quite strong.

2. The use of the Maß, a 1-liter serving vessel, makes it very easy to underestimate your intake. (When it comes to Starkbier, “I’ve just had two beers” can be parsed as “I’ve just had four half-liters” and in amount of alcohol is equivalent to saying “I just drank six premium lagers.”)

3. If you want to check out people wearing traditional Bavarian costumes — young codgers as well as old — the best spot is outside in the Paulaner beer garden at Nockherberg.

One Solution to the Hop Shortage: Hemp Beer

By Evan Rail

On February 21, 2008

In Beer Tastings, News and Rumors

The global hop shortage has grabbed a lot of attention in the past few months, with no likelihood of the situation getting better anytime soon. At least one craft brewer with enough stock has offered to share his stash. Others are suggesting alternative beers made with spices, peppers or thistles. But the most natural solution might just be hemp beer, known as Hanfbier in German.

While hemp blossoms are unlikely to replace legendary hops like Hallertau, Spalt and Goldings in desirability, there are several similarities between the plants. Both are members of the cannabaceae family, as is marijuana. Many times I’ve noted grassy, pot-like scents while tasting beers with great aroma hops, and once in a hop yard in Žatec, aka Saaz, I was almost overcome by what I thought was the smell of hydroponic sativa. A couple of years ago I caught the same skunky scent while driving past a hemp farm in Southern Moravia. If hemp smells like marijuana and marijuana smells like hops, as long as there are no hops to be had, why not make hemp beer?

Several brewers in Europe — including at least two in the Czech Republic — already do.

Two from Norway

By Evan Rail

On February 21, 2008

In Beer Tastings

One of beer’s most intriguing features is its sense of place, the idea that you can taste something from a certain region, even a highly specific location, and that each particular combination of sweet, sour, bitter, salty and umami — as well as untold millions of individual flavors — only exists for a particular brew from a particular place. At least in Czech terms, this is considered to be true for Pilsner, though elsewhere “Pilsner,” “Pilsener” and “Pils” mean vastly different things. In Norway, it could be something like Rogalands Pils, from Egersund, in the south of the country, or Mack Arctic Beer, a lager from Tromsø, way up inside the Arctic Circle.

These two showed up here via Kjetil Haugland and Geir Taule, two Norwegian beer fans who brought some of the local goods with them on their recent trip to Prague. When someone asks “Have you ever seen this beer before?” while offering up a can from the world’s northernmost brewery, you pretty much jump at the chance to make a trade.

So if the true Pilsner is a reflection of a specific place in the Czech Republic, what do Pils beers from Norway taste like?

News from Strakonice and Elsewhere

By Evan Rail

On February 19, 2008

In News and Rumors

News roundup: my colleague Max Bahnson has a post on a few beers from Žatec, including the new Xantho (above). The label calls it a dark, but to me it seems more like a polotmavý (half-dark), aka jantar (amber), also known as granát (garnet), as well as “something like Vienna lager in the Czech lands.” Max will catch you up on pivo from the town otherwise known as Saaz, though he didn’t get to my current favorite from the brewery, Lučan Premium Tmavé, a chocolatey dark lager that my local corner shop usually stocks for just 8.50 Kč per half-liter, the equivalent of €.34 or about $.50.

Such low prices are on their way out, according to a recent article from Prague Monitor and Hospodářské noviny, who report that smaller Czech breweries are raising their prices (subscription required), following the lead of major brewers last November. Pilsner Urquell remains the most expensive, and if you want to know just how much your publican currently shells out for that half-liter of Urquell, the answer is 18.90 Kč (€.75 / $1.10). Smaller brewers, for all their quality, still charge far less, though last year’s 100% increase in the price of malt, the article says, results in a direct cost hike of about 30% for the breweries. At least some of that will be passed on to consumers in the near term.

Thirst is a powerful force, however, and the article notes that higher prices are unlikely to affect production. In fact, last year Czech brewers hit a record high of 20 million hectoliters (about 12.2 million barrels, if I’ve got the numbers right — feel free to check my math). The article concluded with more good news from the Bernard family brewery: Bernard’s production for January 2008 is up 28%, despite raising prices by 10% last year.

But wait, it gets better.

Kout in Domažlice

By Evan Rail

On February 15, 2008

In Beer Tastings, Beer Travel

Of the many new brewpubs and breweries in the Czech lands, one of the most distinguished has to be Pivovar Kout na Šumavě, which returned to life by lurching off the operating table much like Frankenstein just as I was finishing Good Beer Guide Prague and the Czech Republic. Fortunately, I got the information in time to include a listing; unfortunately, there wasn’t enough time to try even a single beer before we went to print.

Until now.

Located to the south of Plzeňský kraj in the beautiful Šumava forest, Kout is one of the few real breweries — not brewpubs — to reappear in the Czech Republic. Even stranger, Kout started out with remarkable success in a region that is completely pwned by Pilsner Urquell and Gambrinus, the biggest brands in the country. Just after starting up, Kout secured distribution in several towns around the region, including Pilsen. Soon, more than a few cognoscenti started saying that they thought Kout made the best Pilsner-style beer in the Czech Republic, if not the world.

After tasting it, I’m inclined to agree.

Bamberger Zwergla

By Evan Rail

On February 14, 2008

In Beer Tastings, Beer Travel

There’s a lot more to Bamberg than just Rauchbier — the town is said to produce brews in some 50 different styles, including the buzz-worthy U, aka Ungespundetes, an “uncorked” or “unbunged” style of Kellerbier best-known in the versions from Mahr’s and Spezial, as well as very good wheats from places like Kaiserdom. If you’re tempted to take something home with you, the very last chance before you leave town is a small shop in the train station with bottles of Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier as well as one of the local oddballs: Zwergla from Brauerei Fässla.

The Fässla pub was one of my favorites on my first trip to Bamberg, if only for the atmosphere, as I got caught up in conversations with the Stammgäste there. And while Zwergla’s “Lil’ Dwarf” moniker is fairly distinctive, I couldn’t remember ever trying it. Grabbing a bottle in the Bahnhof, I figured I’d check out what I missed and compare it to some beers from back home.

Bamberger Rauchbier

By Evan Rail

On February 12, 2008

In Beer Tastings, Beer Travel

Continuing with the report from Bamberg, and now on to Rauchbier, the local specialty made with smoked malt. Above is a post-first-sip shot of Spezial’s Rauchbier, shown in the taproom on Obere Königsstraße. In Bamberg itself, there are two main producers: the oh-so-famous Schlenkerla, aka home of Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier, and Brauerei Spezial. (While a few other producers in the larger region also make Rauchbier, I’ll focus on Bamberg for now.) Before I compare the two, I’d like to talk about something else for a second: wine.

Hang on — there’s no need to choke on your Double IPA, bro. This is still Beer Culture, and of course beer and wine have much in common, not the least of which is the fact that they both make life worth living. And just as extreme beers — with more alcohol, more hops, and of course higher prices — have taken off in the past few years, winemakers have gone through their own forms of extremism, producing wines with more alcohol, more oak, more fruit, more malolactic buttery flavors and mouthfeel, and of course ever-higher prices. And not everyone has been happy with the changes.

Bamberg

By Evan Rail

On February 8, 2008

In Beer Travel

Let’s say you’re about to get married and, hypothetically, you like beer. (Use your imagination for the former, if not the latter.) Let’s also suppose, hypothetically, that your beloved enjoys a good pint as well. The day arrives; you finally say “I do.” Where on earth do you go for your honeymoon?

That is precisely the question that faced us last week. After several years of traveling around Central Europe, taking photographs and writing about travel and food and drink, Nina and I were finally married last week in Libeňský zámek, the chateau in our corner of Prague. After the ceremony, we had lunch with family and witnesses at the neighborhood brewpub, Richter Brewery, then headed home, grabbed our bags and hit the train station for a honeymoon in the region’s most beautiful city for lovers of great beer.

That is to say: Bamberg.

Pivovar Platan

By Evan Rail

On February 6, 2008

In News and Rumors

There was news yesterday that South Bohemia’s Platan brewery has been bought by K Brewing Group, as my Prague Monitor colleagues reported, via the Czech News Agency.

It’s unknown what exactly this will mean for the plane tree from Protivín, though several other brands that K Brewing has invested in — Malý Rohozec, Svijany and Černá Hora, in particular — are strong small producers with good lines. I certainly do like Platan. It’s the local beer at my in-laws, who live in nearby Písek, and the drive to the brewery gate (above) is one of the prettiest in all of Bohemian beerdom. In warm weather, cyclists, strollers and families from the village head up the allée to the brewery taproom and restaurant. Who doesn’t love plane trees?

Of course, it’s not just that the grounds are photogenic: unlike some brands, Platan is not resting on its basic lagers, to coin a phrase, producing a very good standard 11° golden beer, as well as a couple of outside-the-box brews: the creamy and rich 14° Prácheňská Perla, as well as the kicks-like-a-mule Knížecí 21° (with a memory-distorting 10.6% ABV). No, Platan doesn’t yet produce a semi-dark or a wheat beer, as I suggested Budvar should. (And the golden 14°, at least, is in fairly familiar territory. Let’s call that a “next to the box” brew.) But Platan still does produce a more diverse line of beers than many Czech marques, and all at reliably high quality.

High enough to attract interest from a famous name.

Czech Beer and Protected Names

By Evan Rail

On February 4, 2008

In News and Rumors

Here’s an interesting bit from the Czech news wires: an article at actualne.cz notes that the term “Czech beer” is moving closer to protected name status. Much like the AOCs and DOCs of the wine world, the special status will mean that brewers in the EU can only use the term “české pivo” if the beer is, in fact, brewed in the Czech Republic, as well as if it meets certain requirements of ingredients and quality.

If the application is successful, “české pivo” will join 10 other Czech geographically protected names in the EU, including “žatecký chmel” (“Saaz hops”). The big one that’s missing outside the country itself (barring “Budweiser,” of course), is “Pilsner,” used all over the world for widely different beers of varying ingredients and varying quality, even though it originally meant a certain style of beer from a certain place: a clear golden lager from the west Bohemian town of Plzeň, known as Pilsen in German. I can’t remember how many times I’ve heard people say it’s too bad the Czechs didn’t retain control over the name.

Ah, but they tried.

Beer Culture

Stories about great beer from the countries that invented it.

Author: Evan Rail (Page 13 of 15)

Starkbierzeit in Munich

One Solution to the Hop Shortage: Hemp Beer

Two from Norway

News from Strakonice and Elsewhere

Kout in Domažlice

Bamberger Zwergla

Bamberger Rauchbier

Bamberg

Pivovar Platan

Czech Beer and Protected Names

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