More Cupcake Madness, this time with Beer

Guinness chocolate cake, Guinness icing, in the shape of a perfectly poured pint!

Recipe can be found here at The Island of Dr. Gateau

via Must Have Cute

German Traditions + Redneck Craft Projects = Awesome Advent Calendar

I've lived in enough totally different places now to be a little culturally screwed up. Or we could look at it more positively, as having the opportunity to combine the best of various cultures.

This one is lacking in Asian influence, but blends the best of the redneck spirit of homemade things and the German traditions of Advent calendars. And from both, of course, beer!

Introducing the Official 2010 Schnitzelbahn Advent Calendar: 

Inside is waiting 24 days of malty, hoppy, beer goodness!

I started with a 24-beer crate and then filled it with an assortment of 24 different 0.33 L beers. As most beers here are half liter bottles, it was a little harder than expected to find enough good beers. But luckily I could branch out beyond German beers and add some American, Australian, Czech, flavored, English and other beers not allowed in the Beer Tournament.

Tasty!

After finding the beers, the major design difficulty was in creating "doors," as the beers were aligned in hexagonal holders, not in a straight grid.

So, a cardboard top with doors was out of the question and I had to build in dividers. I solved the problem with Curling ribbon and packing tape. I used the curling ribbon to create grid with an opening over each bottle. Then I ran packing tape, sticky side up, under each line in the grid. This stuck to the ribbon and held the shape, while also providing something adhesive on which to mount the top.

Building the Grid

I needed something that could easily be torn open, and also adhere tightly to the tape. Aluminum foil made the most sense and looked festive. The tape running along the ribbon also should serve as a border to stop the tearing when each compartment is opened daily.

And finally.... I got satin star stickers from a stationery store and wrote the numbers 1-24 for each day in silver pen.  

Finishing with stickers for each day

Update on Tuesday, December 7, 2010 at 16:18 by Frau A

This guy has taken a fun and different approach to the advent calendar idea....Each December, he tastes and reviews a different beer per day to celebrate Advent.

http://beeradventcalendar.blogspot.com/

German Beer Wars - Starkbier (the Dark & Dangerous Round)

In the German Beer Wars, we've had The Power Pils Round and this weekend played with fire by holding the Dark and Dangerous Round on a Sunday night.  I have to finish the homework I didn't do and go to morning German classes and Herr J has work....neither of which are things that go well with drinking superstrong beer the previous night. 

Our competitors this time all come from the Starkbier classification of beer. In reality, the "strong" part of "strong beer" has to do with a tax-based classification.  Beer in Germany is taxed based on the weight of the run-off that is strained off after the mashing part of the process (see here for more technical brewing and taxation info).

All four are strong lager types of beer, with 3 doppelbocks (darker, stronger lager beers traditionally brewed by the Paulaner monks in Munich for about 3 centuries).  Paulaner's Salvator (meaning "Savior") is the classic Starkbier, though many breweries make one these days. Interestingly, many often name the beer with a single word ending in "-ator." Here we have Löwenbräu's Triumphator, and you can also find other Starkbiers named Celebrator, Optimator, Maximator, and so on. This is also the beer known as the "liquid bread" that the monks could drink while fasting for Lent. See here for a good rendition of the history of Starkbier.

However, in our minds, the "strong" has more to do with the alcohol content, and not only with color and taste.  Let's put it this way...at 7.1% ABV, the Andechs Doppelbock Dunkel was the weakest beer of the group!

Next in line were Löwenbräu's Triumphator (Dunkler Doppelbock), with 7.6% ABV, and Paulaner's famous Salvator ("the original Starkbier"), with 7.9% ABV.

Leaving the first three in the dust, was our final competitor: SchorschBock 16%. You can likely guess from the name the alcohol content, and they proudly market it as "The Strongest Lagerbeer in the World." It is not, however, their strongest beer...SchorschBock's offerings proudly include the strongest wheat beer (13% ABV), the "formerly strongest beer in the world" (32% ABV), and The Strongest Beer in the World, clocking in at a liver-frightening 43% ABV.  Why make a beer with comparable ABV to scotch? "'cause Frankonian Men don't dress like girls."

We needed something to stand up to these beers, so we tasted them with our Feng Shui Texas Chili.  These are good beers to drink with a spicy and hearty chili, but the spice of the habaneros did cover up some of the flavors of the beers. So we also tasted them alone, and with only the slightly sweet cornbread.   

  Feng Shui Texas Chili with Paulaner Salvator and SchorschBock 16%

First up were the Doppelbocks:

     

 Andechs Doppelbock Dunkelr vs Löwenbräu Triumphator

These two looked surprisingly similar in the glass, and both had a lovely dark beer smell....malty, a bit spicy and chocolaty.  Though their tastes were in the same family, each had a different take on the Doppelbock variety. The Löwenbräu finished with a slightly bitter, almost hoppy ending taste; the Andechs with a sweeter, toasted caramely ending.  It's really a matter of how you want your beer to taste, but we gave the win to Andechs, as we preferred the sweet finish to the bitter.  (No worries to you manly beer drinkers... as it's a stronger, darker beer, it is not a beer you can really call "sweet," just a description of it's final taste.  Both were great beers, very complex mix of flavors, and drinkable. Perfect for drinking on a cold night in front of a fire. However, these definitely pack quite a punch and are would be hard to drink for long beer drinking sessions!

Then we moved on to the heavyweight championship....Paulaner's world famous Salvator starkbier vs SchorschBock's world's strongest lager. I remember Paulaner from the annual Starkbierfest as a really dark, meaty beer. However, I also realize that I never quite saw what it looked like, as it was served in the traditional pottery mugs. Don't worry, it's still a liter of beer, but the container is completely opaque.

So, initially I thought it would be dark like the Doppelbocks and was certain that it was the darker of the two (see the picture above with the chili). And then I tasted them. Wow. I'm going to award extra points to any beer that makes Starkbier taste smooth and light by comparison.

Both were good, in their own ways. The Salvator was a tasty (many flavors combined together) and smooth beer. The SchorschBock did have a strong and good flavor, but was quite concentrated.  I doubt I could drink much of it in a sitting as a beer, but I would definitely serve it as a sort of "beer liquer." I'd expect that's even more true for their 43% beer! But it was much more concentrated, thus tasted closer to a whisky or liquor than to a beer. but with retaining the good maltiness, cloves, burnt caramel, and other characteric tastes you may find in a darker beer.

While the SchorschBock put in a nice showing in the first quarter, it couldn't go a full game and Paulaner predictably takes another victory.

We've learned a lot so far in this little experiment, including that generally all of the Paulaner and Andechs beers are unusually good beers.  So we knew that the Salvator vs Andechs Doppelbock Dunkel was going to be a tough matchup. It was. Again, this one came down to a matter of personal preference. We'd give both beers top marks, but found the Salvator to be a little smoother and drinkable. The flavors in both were outstanding, but the Starkbier just went down more smoothly. Something I really did not expect. I had thought it would be a little more bitter, and not so easy to drink. Of course, after half a maß of Starkbier it always goes down really smoothly. But I had always thought of it more as a festival beer, and not something you might drink with dinner or one evening. Another happy discovery, and I'm looking forward to celebrating Starkbierfest next spring at Paulaner am Nockherberg!

And to a Paulaner (Salvator) vs Paulaner (Original Münchener Dunkel) showdown for the Dunkel regional championship!

German Beer, American-style Bottle?

One of the Erdinger Brewery's nine beer offerings is the Erdinger Champ, described on their website as "the cool Weißier."

(I'm not going to even get into how bad the translation is on Erdinger's own English website....it would be a very long post.  Though I may have to write them and let them know how they're really missing the meaning.)

 

However, I think the bottle design may be really cool and innovative.  It's your typical American-style longneck bottle, but according to their website:

"features an integrated opener on the bottom for extra convenience. Simply place one Erdinger Champ on top of another to twist open the bottom bottle. As you can see, it's always best to order two bottles and enjoy Erdinger Champ in company!"

Sure, it's a bit unnecessary in Texas, where most beers are twist-off or you can always find an Aggie whose class ring serves as an emergency beer opener, but it's a cool idea.

The reviews of the beer are pretty bad and as I've never seen it sold or advertised anywhere despite being introduced 10 years ago with a heavy marketing campaign, I doubt it's done very well. In fact it might be a good candidate for a Marketing or Strategy case study about how (not) to position your product....

But my first thought upon seeing this on the Erdinger site was "Is this supposed to be like an American beer?" It may seem minor, but the shape and size of the bottle, plus the fact that it is meant to be drunk from the bottle, are nearly heretical here in southern Bavaria.  There are both a proper glass and a proper way to pour a Weißier.

Erdinger Champ, in its 0.33 mL longneck

Erdinger, in the standard 0.5 mL bottle and glass

As much as I may mock the rules sometimes, we have seen that temperature and pouring method DO actually affect the taste (and probably the glass shape, though we haven't tested those yet).  In reality, most German beers will give you a good beer experience however you pour them, but it is possible to optimize the experience if you want.

 
What is the proper way to pour a Weißier?

Here we have "Brother Helmut" to help us out

And a very non-traditional, but totally accurate mechanical version for all you boys who like toys

Feeling Tarty: The First Dunkelweißbier Round

The German Beer Wars have also been a great excuse to play around in the kitchen. Luckily I have a willing guinea pig who will eat almost anything.

Tonight’s competitors: Dunkel Weißbier and 3 courses of tarts. 

 Tonight's Competitors, and the growing collection of bottlecaps

We kicked off the Dunkel Region with some Dunkelweißbiers from the Bavarian heavy hitters Paulaner, Erdinger, Franziskaner, and König Ludwig.  Erdinger and Franziskaner make only Weißbier - Erdinger is a private brewery outside Munich that brews 9 varieties, including seasonal, light, and non-alcoholic; Franziskaner brews 5 varieties and is part of the Spaten-Löwenbräu-Gruppe, now owned by Anheuser-Busch InBev.  Of the 5 Franziskaners, we have 3 in the tournament (the other two are Light and Alcohol-Free, thus not in the competition).

König Ludwig, the royal brewery, brews a wide variety of beers, covering the main types and seasonal and regional beers. Their weißbiers are pretty well-regarded around here, so we were curious to see how they stacked up with the wießbier specialists. 

 

In the first competition pitting Erdinger Dunkel vs König Ludwig, we found the König Ludwig to be extremely smooth and drinkable.  It was surprisingly light for a dunkelweißbier, which is why we had to pick the Erdinger Dunkel as the winner. It had a lovely dark color and wonderful classic dark beer flavoring combined with the sweetness and fullness of the weißbier. 

In the second, the Franziskaner beat out Paulaner's Hefe-Weissbier Dunkel due to it's slightly more complex flavorings. 

The next round was similar, with the Erdinger noticeably darker and more flavorful than the Franziskaner. We'd happily drink either, but the Erdinger just had a better, richer taste and therefore earns a spot in the Sweet Sixteen.

In terms of the food, all three were winners and the beef pie is always a crowd pleaser (and better yet, simple to make and freeze for later).

Tomato Tarts, Schwarzbier Beef Pie, and Pine Nut Tartelettes

Yes, yes, I know.... the beef pie isn’t exactly a tart, but it’s a great excuse to buy cute little ramekins…which just means I need to make chocolate lava cakes now!  Here are the recipes:

Tomato and Caramelized Onion Tartelettes – adapted from a BBC recipe here

This one works pretty much true to the recipe, other than I always need to add a little cold water when making the dough. It makes an impressive looking and tasty large tart. For tonight, I just made it in 4 tartelette pans rather than one large tart.

Schwarzbier Mini Beef Pies – adapted from an Australian recipe (I've also made with Guiness and it's equally tasty. Will try with Starkbier and some of the more flavorful Dunkelbiers soon) 

Ingredients: (Makes 6-8 pies, depending on your ramekin size)

• 2 kg (4.4 lbs) roast beef ("rinderbraten" in German supermarkets)
• 3 sliced onions
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 Tbsp oil
• 2/3 cup flour
• 400 mL (1 3/4 cups) Schwarzbier 
• 475 mL (2 cups) beef broth
• Puff pastry (Tante Fanny's here is perfect and flaky)
• 1 egg, beaten

 Instructions:

1. Cut roast beef into cubes and chop in batches in food processor. (Alternately you could use ground beef, but this has a better result)

2. In a large pot, brown the beef in 1 Tbsp oil, then set aside. In the same pot, cook the sliced onions and garlic in the remaining oil until golden. Sprinkle in 2/3 cup plain flour and cook for 1 min.

3. Return the meat to the pot with the onions.  Add the Schwarzbier and beef stock, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover the pot, and simmer for 1 1/2 hours until tender.  Uncover and continue to cook until sauce has reduced and thickened.

4. Preheat oven to 200°C (390°F).  Spoon beef mixture into ovenproof ramekins. Cut out circles of the puff pastry to cover - size should be slightly larger than the top of the ramekin. Press pastry firmly onto dishes and seal. Brush with the beaten egg, place on a tray and bake for 25 minutes until golden.

I often make larger batches to freeze. After step 3, wrap in plastic wrap, then in foil to freeze. Make sure to thaw fully before cooking.

Pine Nut Tartelettes – from Tartelette

This one works exactly as written...it will seem that the dough will never come together, but in the end it does work and is worth the effort!

(If you haven’t discovered her blog yet, head on over there….the recipes always work out perfectly and the pictures are beautiful!)

Where is Georgetown in the Beer Bracket?

Yesterday, Frau A reminded me, quite clearly, that in my post Understanding the Beer Bracket, Part II, there was an inexcusable omission.  Actually, two.  Without hesitation, she offered a suggestion for the appropriate analogy linking the missing university and beer.

 

Her argument goes like this:

Georgetown is part of the Big East, but lies geographically closer to ACC country, near the heart of the sport.  Franziskaner is located in Munich (beer central) rather than the German northwest like the others in Part II.  Like the brewers in Part II, Franziskaner is big - the 3rd largest producer of weissbier in the world.  The others in Part II produce mainly pilsner, but we can probably agree the Hoyas play a different style of basketball than their Northeast conference mates.  Franziskaner started as a brewery across from a Franciscan monastery (hence the name and friar in the logo).  Georgetown was the first, and is therefore the oldest, Roman-Catholic (Jesuit) university in the U.S., and was founded by the first American bishop, John Carroll.

 

Note:  I'm sure her idea has nothing to do with the fact that Georgetown is her alma mater... or that Franziskaner is probably her favorite weissbier...or that Franziskaner brewed the first Vienna/Märzen style with higher alcohol content for Oktoberfest (in 1872)... or that Franziskaner had a cool carousel-bar at this year's Oktoberfest which rotated to give drinkers a changing view of the fair (see below)... but I had to admit it was a good start.  So I looked further into the matter.

 

Franziskaner Carousel Bar at Oktoberfest, 2010 

 

Munich is the capital of Bavaria, Washington the capital of the U.S..  Franziskaner is not far from the Isar River; Georgetown's main campus is on the Potomac.  In 1683, Bavarian troops stationed at the gates of Vienna to fight the Turks are supplied with weissbier, helping the Austrians achieve a historic victory.  Georgetown had over 1100 students (most of 'em) enlist to preserve the Union in the Civil War.  But there's more.

 

There have always been concerns that beer is unhealthy, whether for physical or spiritual reasons.  (In the year 600, an Irish missionary travelling through Bavaria was mortified to observe beer being sacrificed to a heathen god.  Today our gods are sports teams?)  But in 1602, Duke Maximilian I of Bavaria recognized that weissbier is an "ideal refreshment" for the population. He places every Bavarian brewery that produces weissbier under state ownership... Is this kind of like Obamacare - government medicine for the masses?  Did G-town grads have a hand that legislation?  But that's not all.

In the first decade of the 20th century, Franziskaner started delivering beer to North America.  In the same time frame, Georgetown founded their School of Medicine and School of Nursing.  Well, now that weissbier is available over here, they probably thought they should train healthcare personnel to administer it, right?  Healthy and ideal refreshment, right?  Within the same ten years, Georgetown began its basketball team/program too.  I'm not sure if this was a place to sacrifice the beer to the new god, or simply a central place/events to administer a recurring student healthcare treatment.  In either case, I'm guessing it was quickly followed by the first visit of the police to a campus party, but there is no historical evidance to support this theory.  Overall, the evidence is clear: Frau A's idea really makes sense.

 

A few final thoughts on Georgetown, beer and Franziskaner:

In the year 719, Duke Lantfrit decreed in his code of law, the 'Lex Alemannorum', that all bonded peasants must pay tribute to their lords IN BEER.  Why can't the government-types from Georgetown change U.S. tax laws in this direction???

In 1924, Franziskaner's parent company unveiled a new slogan:  "Lass Dir raten, trinke Spaten" (literally "Let yourself be advised, drink Spaten").  The verb "advised" is interesting... a more influencial approach than just marketing?  Not long after, in 1928, the U.S. Senate passed the first bill that attempted to regulate lobbyists (but it was blocked by the House).  Georgetown is known for government and political affairs... can this just be concidence?  Hoyas in the beer lobby are out of control!

Frau A spent quite some time in Texas, and Franziskaner's web site has most of its marketing events there.  There is Spaten Pint Night at The Libertine Bar in Dallas, Spaten Sundays (Franziskaner is part of the Spaten/Löwenbräu brewery group) at Ginger Man in Fort Worth, and Franziskaner Hefeweisse avaialble at the American Airlines Center.

 

So there we have it.  Franziskaner = Georgetown.  Readers:  any other beers/teams you think should be included?

Franziskaner logo and dried hops, Oktoberfest, 2010

Understanding the Beer Bracket, Part II

This is a continuation of the post where we describe the major German beer regions and brewers by comparing them with their counterparts in NCAA basketball.  It's now time to look at the northern breweries and their NCAA basketball counterparts.

Nordrhein-Westphalia & Rheinland-Palitinate = The Big East

Nordrhein-Westphalia is the state in germany with the greatest population (18 of Germany’s 80 million) and the center of “liberal” politics in the country – think Northeast corridor in the U.S..  The breweries here, like Big East schools, often are located outside the large cities.  The brewing towns may be small, but the production is immense.  Despite having only about 10% of the 1200 breweries in Germany, they crank out 2.7 billion liters of beer each year (25% of German production volume).  Here’s who were talking about:

Warsteiner and Krombacher = Connecticut and Syracuse

These two brewers are located in the region north of Frankfurt (the NYC of Germany) and are the #2 and #1 volume leaders in Germany respectively. Each makes 450 million liters annually, with Warsteiner exporting 80 million of that.  Marketing is the priority here and it is executed to perfection – these brands are always on television with expensive commercials, sponsoring sports teams and events, and reminding everyone how good they are.  Their pilsners are good, though are missing the feeling of tradition and cultural integration like that found in Bavaria.  But it’s consumed and enjoyed in volume by locals and foreigners alike.

Bitburger = Pittsburgh

 

The town of Bitburg is in Rheinland-Palatinate, a state often overshadowed by it’s larger and richer neighbor Nordrhein Westphallen.  (Hello, Pennsylvania.)  The culture here is distinctly more blue collar, and the beer reflects that.  It’s the brew that factory workers grab after their shift.  Bitburger has a stronger presence of hops giving a, well, more bitter taste, and many northerners claim it is the real thing – not like the glossy offerings of Warsteiner and Krombacher.

Veltins = Villanova

Veltins is the seventh largest brewer in Germany and is strongly associated with the soccer team FC Schalke 04 which has a broad base of fans.  Why the match with Villanova?  Both Schalke and Villanova have blue colors. Like Villanova, Schalke is known for an open (rather than defensive) style of play.  Finally, Villanova is a catholic university… and Pope John Paul II became an honorary member of Schalke's Fussball Club after celebrating a mass in the stadium.  God, football and beer. 

Best of all, Schalke plays in the Veltins Arena, which seats 61,000 people, has a slide-out field, a Teflon-coated retractable roof, and was the first stadium with the four screens above the pitch (the new Cowboys stadium super-sized this concept).  More importantly, it has a 5km long beer pipeline, direct from the brewery to the stadium, which pumps 52,000 liters of beer to the concession stands during each home game!  Despite the fact that it’s yet another large sports-oriented beer, I have never actually tried one – but am looking forward to the tasting in our tournament.
 

 

Cologne and Düsseldorf

A final note on Nordrhein-Westphalia:  Are you familiar with the Rheinheitsgebot from 1517?  It defined “what is beer” and anything that did not conform to its definition was not recognized as beer.  Well, Cologne and Düsseldorf are not interested in obeying orders.  They’re like many teams in the Big East that will try any approach to basketball.  Stick to a zone defense (‘Cuse), go with a 4 guard lineup (‘Nova), run & gun (Louisville), or just cut and paste a football offensive line as your starting five (Pittsburgh)?  No problem.  Likewise, Cologne has “kölsch” and Düsseldorf “altbier”, neither of which conform to the RHG, and that’s just how the locals want it.  The are served in special kinds of glasses too, to make sure everyone knows this is not your grandfather’s lager.  In fact, these are not even clearly an ale or a lager, as they use mixed production techniques.

One more metaphor is quite useful for the Schnitzelbahn Beer Tournament: 

Franconia = Midwest/Grain Belt Basketball

              

Franconia is a region, not a state, comprising parts of Baden-Wüttemburg, southern Thuringia, and northern Bavaria.  Small towns, lots of local flavor, purist mentality – I think of kids shooting hoops in the driveway, no showboating or hard fouls, just great passing and accurate jump shots.  The city of Bamberg is the spiritual center of beer here (not sure if I would make this Indiana or Kansas…) and coincidentally has one of the best professional basketball teams in the German league!

Frau A and I have actually heard both Bavarians and northern Germans admit that they think Franconia has truly the best beer in Germany – and one colleague at work actually takes beer tours through the region!  Locals claim that it’s the pure water that makes the difference (water is the main ingredient in beer, after all), and everyone seems to take advantage:  there are more breweries concentrated here than anywhere else in Germany, though typically smaller (often a brewery/bar combo) and with limited or no distribution outside the region.  This is truly the heartland of beer, and Frau A & I are looking forward to a beer tour here – we will post when we do.