Hopfenland - Lamplbräu microbrewery tour

As described in an earlier blog post, Frau A and I spent a weekend in Bavaria's "Hopfenland", Hallertau, which produces 80% of Germany's hops and accounts for 25% of worldwide output.  As part of the experience, we wanted to tour a brewery.  One option was a microbrewery about 10 minutes from our hotel, in a town called Larsbach.

I telephoned Lamplbräu and the owner, Mr. Stanglmayr, picked up.  He said that he would meet us basically any time, so we asked for Saturday 09.00 in the morning so we could fit more in that day.  No problem!

(Above:  sign outside Lamplbräu, "Bavarian Beer, unique in the world"; see the hops flowers in the crest?)

We arrived a few minutes early to a small, plain building that sits next to a hops farm (on the other side):

Note: a "Sudhaus" is the place in a brewery where the mashing process occurs and the wort is extracted.

Mr. Stanglmayr heard the car doors and came out right away.  We explained about our "hops weekend" and he showed us, right inside the door, a basket of fresh hops he just received from his neighbors.  That's fresh!
(We're guessing he extracts the resin/powder himself - no pre-packaged hops pellets for Lampl Bräurei.)

He started the tour right away.  Satisfyingly, we spoke only German with him, without major issues!

First, on the ground floor, the copper brew kettles where the wort and hops are boiled.

After boiling, the mixture is piped up to the second level and through the cooling apparatus (photo, left side).
When cool, the liquid is moved into the tank (right side) and yeast is added to start the fermentation process: 

After fermentation, the beer is transferred back to the ground floor for "racking" (lagering).  In this process it sits in "conditioning tanks" to age -- 4 to 12 weeks depending on the type of beer being brewed (less for weissbier, an ale):

The beer is held in those stainless steel tanks until bottled or kegged:

  

Mr. Stanglmayr is a certified Meisterbrauer (master brewer).  He rotates batches between weissbier, helles, and "bier nach Pilsner art" (beer in the pilsner style).  Local hops are used for the helles and weissbier of course.  Not sure about the pilsner though -- he might get Czech (Pilsen) hops for that, but we didn't ask specifically. 

Interestingly, 100% of the output is consumed "locally" (+/- 20 miles?) - you can't even get this in Munich!

He has an old Mercedes truck for deliveries!  Very cool:

 

His house is literally right next door to the brewery building - a perfect small-town artisian German lifestyle.

He took us into his back yard and showed us his charcoal grill, made by a neighbor from an old beer keg!

Who wouldn't want one of these?

At the end (about an hour) Mr. Stanglmayr offered us a six-pack of beer he had fresh:  3 weissbier, 3 pils:

Later, at the Hops Museum, we picked up his last batch of helles too.  Back in Munich we chilled and tasted them.
It's neat to try beer made by a German master brewer that is simply NOT available outside this small town area!

The helles was very similar (which is a good thing) to the Munich offerings... same sweetness and subtle hops.
The pilsner was also very good -- quite hoppy, but so much fresher and more complex than the big brands.
The most outstanding offering was his weissbier.  Incredibly crisp, a little less banana/clove than a typical weissbier, but with different spice notes that we really liked.  It would have been a Tournament contender!

A hearty thanks to Mr. Stanglmayr for his time, friendly conversation, and great gift of Lamplbräu beer!

Bavarian Hopfenland and Wolnzach - introduction

After hosting the German Beer Tournament, Frau A and I wanted to learn and experience more about the brewing art.  So we planned a weekend in the Hallertau region of Germany, which produces one-quarter of the world's hops.

"Hallertau" lies in Northern Bavaria.  It's a bit like "Franconia" -- not defined by municipal boundaries, but rather by common history and culture.  Hallertau includes parts of 3 districts and it lies 1.5 - 3 hours from Munich.

The earliest documents available show hops being cultivated in the Hallertau region since 736.  They were only "medicinal" at this time because hops' use in brewing beer started around 1079.  Today Germany is the world's #1, producing over 34,000 metric tonnes of hops each year (80% thereof are grown in Hallertau).

"Hallertauer hops" are one of the original four "noble" hops varieties (low in bitterness, high in aroma).
However, this type has been replaced by "Hersbrucker" because the former were highly susceptable to disease.

Interestingly, some towns here are also main figures in production of German white asparagus (Schrobenhausen, Abensberg).  Others are more known for being on the shores of the Donau river (Neustadt/Vohburg an der Donau).  We decided to stay in Wolnzach because it was centrally positioned for the excursions we had planned...
and it's home to the German Hops Museum (of course, this will be addressed in detail in another blog post).

We've taken the autobahn north from Munich many times, and always see this sign on the road side...

...and this weekend we finally took one of the exits to "Hopfenland".  You can see some hops fields from the autobahn, but once you get onto the local roads you really start to get a sense of their size and scope.  In the second photo below you'll notice that it was harvest time - we saw tractors loaded with hops bines running all weekend:  

Note:  "hops bine" was not a typo in the previous sentence.  Hops are bines, not vines because they climb using stems and stiff, downward facing hairs/bristles (rather than vines, which climb using curling tendrils and suckers).

The weekend started well:  we photographed a small hops processing barn right across from the hotel.
Tall hops bines were hung onto a conveyor, which fed them into a machine that separates the flowers.
Only female plants are grown, to prevent fertilization - the flowers' resin is useful, but seeds are not.

Here's a video of the machine in action - halfway through it zooms in on the "picked" flowers coming out:

More on hops farming and processing in some following posts...

Wolnzach, our base for exploration that weekend, is a town of 11,000 inhabitants.  It is also called Markt Wolnzach, because its roots (as early as the year 814) start with an important crossroads and market there.
Interestingly, the German Rail System does not go here directly -- you would have to take a bus from a nearby town.  Due to hops farming expansion and newer small industrial firms, Wolnzach has grown 50% since 1987.

Translation: Welcome to the Hops Metropolis of Wolnzach

The new rathaus (town hall) was completed in 1880.  It was built with areas to weigh, inspect, and seal hops: 

The Saint Laurentius church had its foundations laid in the year 800 and was expanded slightly in 1080.
In 1717 it got a new altar & pulpit, then in 1912 was rennovated to its current size and "new baroque" style: 

We were looking for lunch on Saturday, and found the perfect spot at the old post office - a biergarten.
Makes sense - traditionally there was an inn and restaurant at this center of activity, right on the town square:

We joined some locals in the shade.  The biergarten serves Augustiner, so we shared a helles and a dunkles. 

Later that afternoon, we wanted some eis (ice cream)... the local place on the Marienplatz had 5 menus (4 for ice cream, 1 for coffee)!  Also, typically German, it had abundant flowers around the outdoor seating area:

On the walk back to the hotel, we saw yet another hops processing barn in action - right there in town!
Rather than using large central processing centers (probably like the U.S. has) Germany has hundreds of small, independent facilities.  Many are located right near the fields, while others are in the town center like this one. 

That explains why we saw tractors loaded with hops bines moving constantly through town, past the church:

We took the rental car on a number of hops excursions, like the already-posted hops wreath-making. 
We'll post the other stories soon, but you should know we traveled in style:  upgraded to a BMW 535i!
(Photo below is Frau enjoying the sun, with an empty/just-harvested hops field in the background.) 

Coming next:  walk through hops fields, the Hops Museum, and visits to a micro- and medium-size brewery...

Travels in Beer - Spain

We ended our recent hiking trip through the Pyrennees with some tapas and Spanish beer at our hotel in Barcelona.

Since our hotel was located around the corner from the Damm brewery, it was only fitting that we tried two of their offerings.

We had seen Estrella Damm often (on all of the umbrellas and chairs at many cafes!) but had never heard of the AK Damm.  Since our waitress couldn't tell us anything about the differences, we decided to try one of each. 

Herr J had the standard Estrella Damm, which is pretty similar to other mass-produced lagers.  While it was a notch above Budweiser in taste, it's pretty much Spain's Bud (or Budvar, if we want to stay in Europe).  A reliably decent beer that you can get everywhere.

Interesting we make the comparison...Damm actually is Spain's licensed producer of Budweiser.  While they are not owned by InBev, they are in a partnership (to produce Bud). 

The S.A. Damm brewery has been in Barcelona for around 130 years, and is one of Spain's largest producers.  They have a pretty wide variety in the beer assortment.  We definitely see some German influence, as they include Märzen, Kellerbier, weissbier, and Bock styles, as well as a Radler! Given that Spain is the land of tinto de verano (red wine + sprite as a summer drink), it's only fitting that they have radlers....

The A.K. Damm, on the other hand, was a bit more interesting. We had no idea what to expect, but were pleasantly surprised by its smooth, light taste and almost a tingle on the tongue. While it was light and crisp, it also had some of the caramel notes of a darker, maltier beer. And it was not clear, but had no sediment.  We really weren't sure where to classify this beer, but it's probably closest to a helles, with a little more malt.  Part of me felt it leaned toward a weissbier, but it clearly was not one.   

The bottle describes the beer as being brewed according to the Alsatian method, and combining German character with French refinement.  Named after the Damm founder August Kuentzmann Damm, it was released in 2001 to celebrate the brewery's 125th anniversary.  It uses the original beer recipe that he brought with him when he moved from Strasbourg to Barcelona in 1876.

We're not quite sure what the Alsatian method is, but it appears to be brewed according to reinheitsgebot standards and is called a "pure malt beer" that uses the barley and hops from the Alsace.  Alsace is France's main beer brewing and hops-growing region, with a strong German influence. We could definitely enjoy this beer with a nice flammkuchen!

While we quite enjoyed its light and unique taste, this beer does not get good reviews on most beer rating sites.  We suspect that this is driven by one of two factors:

1) Preference - it seems the typical person who rates beers on these sites prefers a strong hoppy or dark or bitter beer.  The smoother, sweeter beers generally are not well-rated.

2) The Hofbräu Effect - We coined this term during our beer tournament.  When asked what they think about Hofbräu beer, most Munich residents gave a thumbs down. But in blind tastings, it was well-liked. (The same was true for Löwenbräu).  So, we suspect this beer lost several points just for being a Spanish beer and would have fared better in blind tastings.

While we're the first to admit that we're biased towards Helles and less hoppy beers, we really enjoyed this one and will definitely order it again next time we're in Spain.  

And as a bonus, we're now inspired to go visit the Alsace and check out their beers! 

Radler Tournament - Becks

After our first radler round, tasting four Warsteiner beer mixes, we decided to test out 4 of the Beck's offerings.  Beck's is notable in the flavored beer category, not only because it seems to have more varieties widely available than anyone else, but also because its Green Lemon is one of the most popular beer mixes. Many good Bavarians will turn up their noses at the idea of a fruity beer mixed drink, but Beck's Green Lemon seems to be one of the firt and one of the more accepted ones out there.

In addition to its normal Pils beer assortment (we tasted Beck's and Beck's Gold in the Schnitzelbahn Beer Tournament), Beck's offers several flavored beers. Beck's Green Lemon was introduced in 2005, followed the next year by Chilled Orange and Level 7 (Guarana and lemongrass alcoholic energy drink). Then in 2008 came Beck's Ice, a mint and lime beverage that Beck's describes as having "filtered out the coloring of beer leaving the typical Beck's taste." 

We'll taste it in another round, but this year they're producing a "limited edition" Black Currant.

All of these are categorized as beer mixed drinks (Biermixgetränken), with 2.5% alcohol content. They also make a Beck's Lime, which at 4.9% alcohol content is described as "Real Beck's with a shot of lime." 

So, for this round we started with the Green Lemon, Lime, Ice, and Chilled Orange. Our biggest question before the tasting was "what's the difference between Green Lemon and Lime?" We did all the research after the tasting, so we could go into it without any prejudice. Therefore, we were unprepared for how different Green Lemon and Lime were. The Green Lemon tastes like beer, though a light one with a lime flavor. It's light, crisp, and sparkly and really enjoyable. A good mix, that isn't too sweet but retains the taste of beer.

The Lime tasted exactly as described - a real full beer, with a shot of lime... a very small hint of lime. While it's definitely a German pils, it reminds me of a Corona with lime. The lime softens the pils hoppiness and I think this would be a great beer with Mexican food. While we were pleasantly surprised by both, we preferred the smooth, light Green Lemon.  The Lime was good, but had a slight sour finish. Had we paired it with food, it might have beat its lighter brother. But for summer beer drinking, we'd choose the Green Lemon.

Then we had Beck's Ice Lime & Mint vs Beck's Chilled Orange. After the creamsicle-y Warsteiner Orange, we weren't sure what to expect. And we had no idea what to expect with the Lime & Mint. Well, Beck's Ice basically is Smirnoff Ice with less alcohol. There's no beer taste whatsoever.  I'd wouldn't be suprised if this one does well. Caipirinhas are quite popular here, and this is kind of a caipirinha-flavored drink. It's very smooth and easy to drink.

The Chilled Orange was also good, and had much more of a natural mandarin orange flavor, rather than the orange creamsicle sweetness of Warsteiner. We didn't love either of them, but we found the Chilled Orange to be more drinkable. The Ice probably is more popular, but it would be hard to drink much of it.

Not surprisingly, the Green Lemon then beat the Chilled Orange in the final of this preliminary round. We found the Green Lemon to be more in the spirit of a radler and the Orange has a slight artificial taste. Not bad, but we just prefered the smooth, not too sweet Green Lemon. 

Radler Tournament - Warsteiner

We've felt a little lost without a beer tournament, so we decided to test out the radlers, including the radler-style flavored beers. 

For the first competition, we tried four of Warsteiner's radlers: Radler, Grapefruit Radler, Lemon, and Orange.  

Since the Lemon and the Radler seemed closest, we matched them up for the first competition.   

We expected they would be quite similar, but were surprised with the outcome. The Radler, not surprisingly, has the classic radler taste of light, sweet, crisp, and with hints of beer and lemon-soda. The Lemon Warsteiner, on the other hand, tasted more like lemon flavor (rather than like Sprite), though it was not bitter.  It was not sweet, though, and we barely tasted the beer. 

We unanimously chose the Radler, since it was crisper and still maintained a little beer taste.

Next up were the Grapefruit Radler and the Orange. We really had no idea what to expect.  I was somehow surprised, though, to find that the Grapefruit had actual grapefruit taste, rather than some artificial flavor that was called "grapefruit." I love grapefruit juice and will eat them plain, but the grapefruit in my beer was just a little odd.  But, big points for authentic taste...it tastes exactly as described!

The Orange, on the other hand, had an orange taste that was closer to a sweet creamsicle-y orange rather than a citrus fruit. It was light and refreshing, and clean and sweet with the orange taste coming as a very light taste at the end. 

We wouldn't say the Grapefruit Radler is bad, but the Orange is much better and refreshing.

So, then we have a final taste-off for the first spot in the Radler Final Four (yes, this really is an abbreviated tournament!):  Warsteiner Radler vs Warsteiner Orange.

It was a really close call - both the Radler and the Orange tasted very similar at the beginning of each sip.  They were crisp, light, and refreshing.  But at the end of the sip, the tastes diverged.  The Radler had the classic Sprite taste and the Orange had a light creamsicle taste.  I just found the Orange to be more enjoyable tasting, but Herr J voted for it because he could still taste a little bit of beer in there.  And even though it is a flavored summer beer, he still wanted it to be a beer.

Next up, we'll taste some of Beck's many offerings and some classic Munich radlers.  We'll also compare bottled radlers to home-made.

Not your ordinary German beer...

I always enjoy seeing what they have in new grocery stores. (Herr J can attest to how long I can spend in a store in a foreign country, amazed by the different products). In Germany, I like to check out the beer section in different regions, to see if there are some new beers to try.

They've started carrying Dr. Pepper, Mountain Dew, and Antarctica's Guarana soda in some of the stores in Munich.

However, my most recent discovery is really rather shocking.

No, your eyes are not decieving you...They really ARE selling The Beast and Busch here, in the Galleria store at Frankfurt Hauptwache!

Of all the American beers they could be selling here......

It's beginning already...

Oktoberfest preparations are underway. The official Oktoberfest 2011 poster has been released.

Most importantly, the beer prices now have been set! Munich residents hope year after year (in vain) for a year with no increase in the price of a maß. Alas, this year the average increase is around 4%, with all tents selling a Maß of Oktoberfestbier (or Radler) for €8.80 to €9.20. A Maß of Weißbier at the Weinzelt tent (primarily a wine and champagne tent) will run you an incredible €14.20!

How does this compare to the biergarten prices? Each one differs, but a Maß of helles typically runs from around €6.75 to €8.00 at a biergarten. (Keep in mind that a helles also has a lower alcohol content than the Oktoberfest Märzen, so part of the higher Oktoberfest price is reflected in higher alcohol content).

In a city serious about its beer, this is big news every year.

For me the bigger news would be that they're brewing the Olde Wiesn Jubliaumsbier again. I see it on the 2011 beer price list. Has anyone heard that they're planning to make it again? That stuff was soooo good - I'd be thrilled to have it again!

source: Abendzeitung newspaper

A few pictures to start the countdown to Oktoberfest 2011