Trinken für drei- Drinking for Three: an Alcohol-free Beer Taste Test

You've heard the saying that pregnant ladies are eating for two when they are carrying a little one; but now that Mrs. Bier von Westfall is pregnant, I've been joking with people that I'm drinking for three. Thankfully we're in a country where there's a rich beer culture and that extends to the beer's lesser thought of cousin, what's referred to in German as alkoholfrei bier.

The line up of beers

In Germany, alcohol free beer is marketed as a healthy alternative to normal beer: it's about half as caloric, it's better for your liver, and it's a good post workout drink that helps to replenish the body's fluids.

While the vast majority of these beers taste like something is missing (because it is!) there's a whole range and so Mrs. Bier von Westfall and I wanted to find the best. We decided to have a taste test of four pilsner style alcohol free beers to help determine best "beer-like" pregnancy beverage.

When evaluating the beers, we each took notes on: appearance, aroma, flavor and any other comments about the beer and also whether it would be mistaken for a regular beer.

Clausthaler's Extra Herb

This is a brew from the large German brewery group Radeberger made in our current town of Frankfurt. It's described as on the website as (some good translation here): A balanced alcohol-free lager. Fresh and easy to drink. It is brewed with the finest malted barley and hops in the choicest, globally unique and patented brewing process in which only no alcohol is formed, which would subsequently be again removed. Pleasantly intense hops. Creamy on the palate, the sweetness of taste is balanced by a mild bitterness.

Annie's Comments
Appearance: looks like beer to me!
Aroma: smells kind of roasted.
Flavor: "extra herb" is a fitting description.
Notes: it's on the lighter side. very one dimensional. good, but one is enough. sort of in the middle, all around. Not bad.
Real beer? no.  

Michael's Comments 

Appearance: straw colored, crystal clear with a slightly off white head. 5-7 SRM.
Aroma: very grainy with a slight sulphur end.
Flavor: a strong initial grain flavor that immediately thins to an almost water finish.
Notes: decent beer, very easy drinker with a decent amount of flavor at the beginning that has a slight hint of herbal hop character. Just alright.
Real beer? Not a chance.

Bitburger Pils 0.0%

This alcohol free pils is marketed by Bitburger as a healthy post-workout drink. The description from their website says:  It convinces with vitamins and isotonic effect - and is the perfect refreshment. Naturally brewed according to the German purity law. The only alcohol-free isotonic beer with 0.0% alcohol.

Annie's Comments

Appearance: same as the other, very light yellow

Aroma: slight smell of cat litter... maybe I'm pregnant. 

Flavor: smooth, pretty flat, overall unoffensive. 

Notes: I like the first one better. Hard to get past the smell, but ultimately fairly drinkable. I'd probably just stick to water if this was my only option though. It does smell better once it's warmed a bit. No depth of flavor, what you smell is basically what you taste. 

Real Beer? NO

Michael's Comments

Appearance: very light yellow-straw colored. thin, short lasting head. 4-6 SRM.

Aroma: smells like a mash before it's fermented. very grainy. 

Flavor: grassy, grainy sweet malt flavor with a very slight hint of herbal hops (like they might have been in the room when it was brewed but never made it into the kettle). 

Notes: a good breakfast drink. a malt dominated flavor without a very little amount of noble hop presence. 

Real Beer? Not exactly. 

Alcohol-free Tannenzäpfle

This pilsner is the alcohol free version of Rothaus Brewery's beer named after the little pine cones that adorn the bottle's label and inspire the shape of the bottle. It's said that these pine cones grow upwards, so because it's depicted downwards on the label, one must turn it upside down and drink!  

On their website Rothaus goes into the process they use for producing this beer: To escape our beer alcohol while preserving its well-balanced taste, we were looking for a completely new way and found it. Based on an innovative, newly developed system, we can obtain almost all the flavors in the beer. First, the finished beer is gently heated in a vacuum, so the alcohol evaporates at 35 degrees.

Annie's Comments

Appearance: slightly lighter than the others.

Aroma: mild, very pleasant. 

Flavor: YUM! now this tastes like beer!

Notes: I may be biased because of the nostalgia factor--we drank regular Tannenzapfle on our first trip to Germany together--but I love this!! Smooth, drinkable, doesn't scream alcohol free. 

Real Beer? YES!

Michael's Comments

Appearance: similar color to others, slightly whiter head. 4-6 SRM. 

Aroma: sweet malt initial nose, with a slight sulphur finish

Flavor: very much like the regular TZ, a malty sweetness that has the good balance of faint grass/herbal hop flavor coupled with a quenching dryness that makes it highly drinkable. 

Notes: Would drink again, the best so far. 

Real Beer? Yeah. 

Jever Fun

This is the alcohol free version of my favorite German Pils. The mineral content of the water used in the brewing process gives it a unique flavor and aroma, a delicate mix of sweet herbal hop character coupled with a faint sulfuric whiff. Once you've had it, you'll not soon forget it. 

The great pitch from the Jever website:
The alcohol-free Jever Fun is the perfect thirst quencher for those who like to have fun
and are active - in short, the perfect companion for any business enterprise
beyond the everyday. Whether you're with your friends on the go BMX
or balancing on a tightrope, Jever FUN always provides the right refreshment. Have fun out there!

Annie's Comments

Appearance: very light, lots of carbonation. 

Aroma: sweet, with a hint of that acrid smell (that was present in the Bitburger, but not as pronounced here). 

Flavor: moves over your tongue, starting in middle and branching out to the sides. tastes a lot like beer from college.

Notes: This is the only one of these beers that has a dynamic flavor; all the rest are very one dimensional. This has that roasted finish that isn't my favorite. Decent, but very much reminds me of college (before I knew beer could taste good). 

Real Beer? kinda

Michael's Comments

Appearance: looks like it might be the lightest of the four, 2.5-5 SRM

Aroma: signature Jever nose: slightly skunky but also sweet malty hints

Flavor: this has the most herbal hop bitterness of the four, good wave of flavors. 

Notes: makes me thirsty, a good overall take on regular Jever, and a very thirst quenching beer. 

Real Beer? Borderline.

The clear winner of the four was the Rothaus Tannenzäpfle, it was the most like a regular beer. It had a good, lasting body that didn't just jump off your tongue after the first sip like some of the others. But ultimately, we poured the majority of the alkoholfrei beers (Annie did drink the remainder of the Rothaus) and I got a real beer. 

29 weeks and counting... 

  

Nord Rheinländisch Biertreffen

Uerige

This past Saturday I had the pleasure of tagging along with my newly minted beer friend Don, a fellow American who is also currently living in Bonn. He organized a meet-up of like-minded beer enthusiasts in Düsseldorf and Cologne, the two largest cities in Nordrhine-Westfalen. The plan was to hit up several breweries in these two rival Rhineland cities to sample some of the fine offerings typical of each city's unique, hybrid beer style and then end up at a bar in Cologne for a bottle share.

I say that the two cities are rivals because each is known for their interpretation of an ale made in a lager fashion, that is a top fermented beer that is fermented at colder than usual temperatures for ales and then lagered meaning it is stored at or below freezing temperatures to ensure a smoother, cleaner tasting final product. Despite these two cities' relative geographic closeness (which I recently learned was closer than Dallas and Fort Worth, Texas--to use the (in)famous American way of trying to wrap ones mind around world geography), the two styles are considerably different. I've had German friends tell me that if you are to order an Alt in Cologne (or vice versa, a Kölsch in Düsseldorf) the waiter if he doesn't ignore you completely will bring you a glass of water accompanied by scowl.

Hailing from Düsseldorf, there's the beer style known as Altbier, which is a light amber to deep copper colored beer with a long-lasting, thick, off-white head that boasts a complex aroma of bright maltiness, albeit overall very clean owing to its time spent at low temperatures, mixed with a light, German hop nose that comes out in a range from peppery to more floral notes. The taste is an initial, slight bitterness that is, when done well, balanced with a crisp maltiness that ranges from nutty to very dry with a slight sulfur finish. Like Cologne's Kölsch, Altbier is typically served colder than most other German beers in small, similarly straight-walled glasses and brought around by the waiters, also like in Cologne called Köbes, in wreath-like trays in a subscription fashion (that is they are brought to you in a borderline aggressive way before you finish your last sips). The Köbes keep track of the beers they bring you by pencil hash marks on your beermat, which you place atop your glass when you have decided you've had enough. 

Two Köbes waiting for kegs from a beer elevator 

While there was good response of potential participants on the beeradvocate's forum for German beer discussions, we had a more lean showing that what lacked in numbers was made up for in enthusiasm. There was also a range of travel that was required for this meetup; with one committed enthusiast's trip originating from his new home of Luxembourg (just over 4 hours away) to another who was able to join on foot from his home in Düsseldorf, with Don and I enjoying a nice, relatively short, one hour journey.

Around 11 AM, we found our way to Düsseldorf's Altstadt area to the arguably most well known of Altbreweries, Zum Uerige (www.uerige.de). Because it was still pretty early in the day, we were able to position our group in a corner of the front room just steps away from the beautiful copper bar where the Köbes hammer away at the kegs, filling the small glasses and positioning them in the trays. And within seconds of sitting down, we had cold glasses of Alt in hand. After initial introductions, the group delved into some good beer conversation over a couple of mid-day rounds that hit typical topics ranging from upcoming European beer festivals (Alvinne and Brugge both in Belgium) to recently consumed and traded beer and then venturing to where the logical next stop would be. Upon paying, we confirmed with the waiter that Uerige brewery had a small version of their bar in the basement of an upscale department store a short walk away that served their typical Alt, as well as an unfiltered version that is sometimes available. Although, once we got to the basement bar, we found out that they did not have the unfiltered version so we opted to grab a quick bite for lunch elsewhere. 

Schumacher's 1838er

After lunch, we walked back towards the city's Central Station and landed at the oldest of the famed Alt producers, Brauerei Schumacher (www.schumacher-alt.de). Here the group was interested to sample the beer called 1838er, which is Schumacher's riff on the typical Alt style. Originally brewed in 2013 in commemoration of Schumacher's 175th anniversary, 1838er is made with American Citra and Australian Galaxy hops giving it a much more pronounced hop aroma and flavor, a nice matrix of a subtle grapefruit nose and an almost berry-like flavor mixed with the typical Alt maltiness. While the Düsseldorfer in the group estimated that the beer we had was at about 60-70% of its optimal brightness, it was an intriguing take on the historical Alt style which should be on top of any beer traveler's list when in the area.

Alt being drawn from the keg

The group then jumped on a regional train and headed the 28 miles south the Cologne to continue the day of sampling Rheinländisch beer. In Cologne, we were on the hunt for some Alt's paler cousin, Kölsch. I won't go into the finer aspects of the beer so much here, since I've already written at length about its storied history here: A Beer You Can Subscribe to: Kölsch. We went to Päffgen Brauhaus, which has an amazing space replete with all the fixings that one would hope for in a classic beer hall and serves a solid version of the style.

Next we headed to Malzmühle (www.muehlenkoelsch.de/)
This great example of a Kölsch bar is within a 5 minute walk from the famous Dom. You enter the Malt Mill through one of two revolving doors, the left one leads you to the

restaurant/bar that turns out traditional German fare which pairs well with the beer, and the other opens to a more

Mühlen Kölsch at Malzmühle

straight-ahead drinker's den. They both serve Mühlen Kölsch which is a perfect example of the the style: clear straw color with a slight bone-white head, slightly maltier than some other varieties with a great noble hop aroma and taste with a clean, dry finish.

After our share of German beer of the area, we headed to Braustelle (www.braustelle.com) for the bottle share. I brought two beers that hold special significance for me, one from the brewery that I worked at before moving to Germany, Singlecut Beersmith's Billy Full Stack Imperial IPA; and one from my friends at the brewery from the town where I was born and raised, Jackie O's Bourbon Barrel Wood Burner. I won't go into much detail other than to say we had a fun time sampling a wide variety of styles from both Europe and the USA. 

Biergeschenk Guide

It's only a couple of weeks away from Christmas, this can present a challenge for some people who are thinking about a gift for their favorite beer lover. Here are a couple guides and things I've come across recently.

All About Beer's Gift Guide

All About Beer's gift guide (the link has an annoying security captcha) has something for every beer enthusiast, homebrewer and beer foodie. Here are a couple of my favorites:

Spiegelau's Stout Glass (set of two) $24.95:

While a little steep for two glasses, all Spiegelau is of high quality and is perfect for a beer drinker who has an extensive glass collection.  



The Craft Beer Revolution Hard Cover $17.41, Kindle $11.99:

Steve Hindy, founder of Brooklyn Brewery, in his second beer book tackles the issues of advertising, distribution, in-fighting, failures and fears of the American Craft Beer scene. 

The Roaming Pint

The Roaming Pint's guide with a good spectrum of ideas. Here are a couple of my favorites:

Hydro Flask insulated Stainless Steel Growler $49.99: 

I've got one of these Mercedes of Growlers, it not only stays cold for hours, it's easy to keep clean. Top of the line all the way and perfect for hikes.

Draft beer Hop back Randall (the Enamel Animal) $63.64:

Think of it as a French Press of hops (or pretty much any flavor enhancer) addition for your draft beer.

Ex-con Martha Stewart's Gift Ideas for Every Beer Lover

Actually a pretty good guide of 6 beer related gift ideas, perhaps she made some of her own homebrew during her time in the clink.

Stainless Silver Bottle Opener Cufflinks $49.95: It's a couple steps up from the lighter method of opening a beer.

Hop Ornament

From Etsy, this hand-formed polymer clay ornament mimics a beer essential - hops. Each batch of beads is slightly different due to the hand crafted process. Colors and sizes will vary from what is shown on screen. Ornaments are approx. 2" long by 1.5" wide. The hanger is another 1.5 - 2" long.

Guide for making your own coasters

If you are a little more of that other kind of crafty, and would like a project for making a gift for your beer lover, this is a great step-by-step rundown to making some custom coasters. 

A Beer You Can Subscribe to: Kölsch

Kranz of Kölsch at Brauhaus Putz

The last post I wrote went into some detail of the American influence on the German beer landscape, so I thought it would only be appropriate to discuss a German beer style that many American craft brewers are embracing: Kölsch (pronounced “coalsch”). The Oxford Companion to Beer describes Kölsch as, "a pleasant bridge from bland, industrial lagers to more flavorful traditional beers." This is a beer that is overall hoppier than other traditional German styles which is probably why hop worshipping American craft brewers are adopting it. Kölsch, at around 4.8%abv, typically served cold and in a small .2 liter glass called a Stange (pronounced "staan-gah, German for "rod", because of the straight, narrow shape of the glass) is one of the original "session" beers.

Dom of Cologne

The term kölsch is a controlled appellation protected by the Kölsch Konvention (doesn't that sound like a fun convention?) and is restricted to 20 breweries in and around the city of Cologne (the English for Köln) which lies on the banks the Rhine River. The Konvention defines the beer as a "light, highly attenuated, hop-accentuated, clear top-fermenting Vollbier." This is a beer that is characterized by a lightly fruity yeast presence, both in taste and aroma, as well as a slight present hoppy bitterness in some varieties to a much more pronounced one in others. The hops that are used are not the hops that contribute a hop character that most Americans associate with a hoppy beer (i.e. aggressively bitter, citrusy  or "skunky"), these are what are referred to as German noble hops (Hallertau, Tettnang, Spalt or Herbrucker) bringing an herbal, almost minty bitterness to the palette. Although this is a top-fermented beer, meaning an ale yeast is used, it is typically fermented at a cooler than normal ale temperature and then lagered (meaning it is stored at a cool temperature to give the beer a bit milder flavor and cleaner aroma) for at least a month.

The history of Kölsch is a rich one that mirrors other regionally produced food items such as Parmesan cheese and Champagne, sharing a Protected Geographical Indication. Although the modern day kölsch, as it's brewed today, is a relatively new style (relatively new for Germany) that according to the German Beer Institute goes back about 100 years, there are recorded accounts of beer being brewed in Cologne for over 1,000 years. In 1250, the brewing office of Cologne began controlling the production of beer and in 1396 representatives of the brewers' guild founded the "Kölner Brauer-Kooperation" which has been around since. During the late 1800s, imported pale lager from Bohemia began cropping up in the region along the Rhine River, prompting the brewers of Cologne to band together and brew their own pale beer. This was probably when it adopted its current flavor profile as being a hoppy but dry golden beer.

The coaster with pencil marks indicating how many I subscribed to 

Kölsch waiters, called Köbes in German, in the traditional bars that serve the beer are encouraged to speak the local dialect, also called "Kölsch" and to use rough, unrefined language, which might include crude jokes with the customers (meaning there's no formal Sie, only Du even when they are speaking to a 90 year old). In keeping with serving tradition, the Köbes in such pubs will also continue to exchange empty Kölsch glasses with new ones unprompted until customers leave their glass half full or place the coaster on the glass to signal that they no longer wish to be served. The Köbes carry full the Stanges of the beer to customers in a special circular tray called a Kranz (German for "wreath"). They are then ready to replace any empty glasses immediately and mark your coaster with a pencil, which is why it's said you don't so much buy the beer but have a subscription to it.   

Here are some suggestions of how to enjoy this great German beer, both in Cologne and in the US: 

Traditional Kölsch Bar in Cologne's Altstadt

Malzmühle (Heumarkt 6, 50667 Köln, Deutschland) www.muehlenkoelsch.de/

Mühlen Kölsch at Malzmühle

This great example of a Kölsch bar is within a 5 minute walk from the famous Dom. You enter the Malt Mill through one of two revolving doors, the left one leads you to the restaurant/bar that turns out traditional German fare which pairs well with the beer, and the other opens to a more straight-ahead drinker's den. They both serve Mühlen Kölsch which is a perfect example of the the style: clear straw color with a slight bone-white head, slightly maltier than some other varieties with a great noble hop aroma and taste with a clean, dry finish.

Päffgen Brauhaus (Friesenstraße 64, 50670 Köln, Deutschland)

This is a great example of a traditional Kölsch brewpub, replete with a "Beichtstuhl" (confessional) and "Thekenschaf" (bar sheep). This bar sheep stands on the bar and keeps things in order. Standard, well prepared German food helps the cold Päffgen Kölsch go down. 

Traditional Kölsch Bar in Cologne but outside of Altstadt

Brauhaus (K.A.) Pütz (Engelbertstraße 67, 50674 Köln, Deutschland)

This restaurant/bar is about a 20 minute walk from the city center located in the New Town South neighborhood, but well worth the trek. Real gemütlichkeit (German word for coziness) here with wooden tables, low ceilings and a lively staff who practice the Köbes attitude. They also serve Mühlen Kölsch, which is my favorite of the style as you could probably guess.        

Päffgen Brauhaus

Not-So-Traditional Kölsch

Ale Mania- Rheinländer is a modern German take on the traditional style. It's 4.8% abv, unfiltered and much darker in color, with an almost orange hue to it, and a huge hop nose to it.  Made with Hercules, Pearl, Sapphire and Spalter it's not the typical noble hop nose, much more like an American hoppy beer but has a characteristically dry finish that does not linger and makes it highly drinkable. Check out this beer from Bonn's premier craft brewer. 

Traditional Kölsch Available in the U.S. 

Reissdorf Kölsch or Gaffels Kölsch both are widely available in throughout the world and are great examples of the style. Evenly balance, hop/malt flavor and aroma with soft, bitter finish. They are great in warm weather but can be enjoyed year-round. 

American Kölsch-style Beer  

Jackie O's -Ja, Bitte At 4.9 %abv, this is a great example of an American brewery turning out a traditional German style, perfect for have a few cold ones, it will have you saying "Yes, Please! (yep, I went there). 

Captain Lawrence-Captain's Kölsch

This is another great example of an American take on the style, available in both bottles and draft and if you are lucky it will be served in a traditional Stange. 

    

Ich Bin Ein Berliner IPA

Recently, there's been an insurgence of American influence (read: American grown hops) on the international beer scene in general, and in particular the historically conservative German beer scene.

Hops &Barley

Over the last seven years, Germany has seen a steady decline in overall beer consumption, a shift that has seen a newfound interest in alternative spirits such as wine and harder alcohol. This brings German brewers the need for new approaches to the industry, and they are looking to one place where new approaches are thriving: the United States. American Craft Beer is a hot ticket in an overall stagnating market; according to the Brewers Association, craft brewers gained 14% of the $100 billion (yes with a B!) total market share last year. And, while US total beer sales fell at about 1.9%, American craft beer sales grew about 17%. These are the type of numbers that turn heads and change approaches. German brewers are following the American lead in creating bolder flavored beers and deviating from the typical pilsners their parents and grandparents drank.

When I started coming to Germany five years ago, one was hard pressed to find a beer outside of the "big three": pilsner, hefeweizen, dunkel. Now it's becoming more and more common to see some American style IPAs crop up at both bars and stores (and talk about globalization: a German beer that takes its cues from an American interpretation of a English beer that was historically shipped to India).

This summer I spend a couple of months in Berlin and got the chance to experience some of these new trends first-hand, heres a list of some good places one can go to find some of these bitter flavored beers that hop heads crave:

Bars

Vagabund Brauerei (Antwerpener Straße 3, 13353 Berlin) www.vagabundbrauerei.com/
Run by three American expats who have a passion for beer. A wonderful spot that opened in 2013 in the Wedding neighborhood that has 5 draft lines and a solid selection of bottles.

Beer to try: American Pale Ale- Vagabund  4.7% abv. A well balanced Pale Ale that has three American hops (Cascade, Williamette and Simcoe) no compromise on flavor or nose with this one, a full body, easy drinker.

Pfefferbräu

Pfefferbräu (Schönhauser Allee 176, 10119 Berlin) www.pfefferbraeu.de/
Not only do they make their own, top quality beer, their food is wonderful. Their clean, state of the art brew house on the inside is complemented by their welcoming beer garden that sits atop the well trafficed street.

Beer to try: Wet Hop Pale Ale- Pfefferbräu

Hops & Barley (Wühlischstraße 22-23, 10245 Berlin) www.hopsandbarley-berlin.de/ 
This brew pub, named after the English punk band' Leatherface song of the same name, which opened in 2008 is housed in a former butcher shop. They have a several classic German styles with their own twist like Freidrichshainer Pilsner their unfiltered Pilsner that's both thirst quenching and flavorful. In addition to their normal draft selection of Pils, Dunkel Weizen and Cider, they have a dedicated line that is one of their rotating line up of 15 different beers.

Beer to try: Bernstein-Hops & Barley A highly session-able Red Lager that has some pleasant hop character and a clean finish.

Hopfenreich (Sorauer Straße 31, 10997 Berlin)
This is one of newer beer bars to open in Berlin. A strong and varied rotating draft line-up of 14 lines as well as a great selection of bottles.

Beer to try: Holy Shit Ale -Schoppe Bräu 10% abv An Imperial IPA that you've got to be careful with, its alcohol burn is masked by a very hoppy nose and overall good malt/hop balance.

Heidenpeters

Heidenpeters (Eisenbahnstraße 42-43, 10997 Berlin) http://heidenpeters.de/
Tucked in the back corner of the Markt Hall Neun, a world class food market open Thursday through Saturday with different food stalls that would make any foodie's mouth water, this brewery is turning out some vibrant, flavorful beers. Every Thursday they unveil a new brew.

Beer to try: Black IPA- Heidenpeters 5.6% abv Cascadian Dark Ale with a great mix of roasty malt flavor and some hop kick to it, think: hoppy stout that has a lingering hop character.






Bierkombinat Kreuzberg aka BKK (Manteuffelstraße 53, 10999 Berlin) www.bier-kombinat.de
A Fußball bar with a sort of dive bar/welcoming feel to it. 

Beer to try: XPA- Shoppe Bräu 7% abv American Pale Ale that has exactly what you are looking for in the style.

Beer Shops

Berlin Bier Shop (Kirchstraße 23, 10557 Berlin) www.berlinbiershop.com/

This shop is a cornerstone of the Berlin craft beer scene. Great selection of German, European and some American Beers. Decent prices and a very friendly staff who can make some great recommendations. 

Hopfen und Malz (Triftstraße 57, 13353 Berlin) www.hopfenmalz.de/

Great selection and well organized shop of German, some other European and a few American beers.


Do you have any places you'd add to the list? Let me know, I'm always looking to find some new spots. 

Bamberg: Heavens, what a beer!

"Himmel, welch ein Bier!" 
Jean Paul

NINE! No, that's not a misspelling of Nein. It's the number of independent breweries that dot the rolling landscape of Bamberg. Couple that with the 60 breweries in the surrounding area, and you have a beer enthusiast's mecca, all of this for a city of about 70,000 people.

Beer is done right in Bamberg and if you look to the history in this medieval Bavarian town, it's easy to understand why it is treated with such reverence. In 1039 (yeah that's not a typo either!) Bamberg's Cathedral Canon Ouldaricus's dying wish was to serve free beer to all of the town's inhabitants on the day of his death. Many beer drinkers are familiar with Reinheitsgebot, or the Bavarian Purity Law of 1516, which limits the permissible ingredients of beer to only hops, malt and barley (later adding yeast when it was "discovered") but Bamberg trumps that. The town had its own purity law 27 years prior, the Bamberg Purity Law of 1489. Bamberg is still a part of current brewing history as it is home of Weyerman Malthouse, which was founded in 1879 and still is the world's leading producer of specialty malts.

Smoked beer, or Rauchbier in German, is what most beer drinkers identify with from Bamberg and rightly so. If you've ever tipped back one of these strong, smoke smelling beers, you will not soon forget it. This past summer, I was drinking with some friends and one handed another his Rauchbier to try, to which he proclaimed after taking a healthy gulp, "Hmm...That tastes exactly like smoked ham." It's not a beer for everybody but it pairs nicely with hearty food and especially well with smoked meats and cheese. Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier from Brauerei Heller-Trum is the best known and easily available brand of Rauchbier from Bamberg. Rauchbier mostly derives its smoked flavor and aroma from the malt used in the brewing process: a green malt is dried over an open beech-wood fire as opposed to the typical hot air method employed by most maltsters. But thankfully for those who aren't into Rauchbier there's many more Bamberg offerings to sample.

The city of Bamberg makes it easy for a beer drinker like myself to really experience the nearly 1000 years of history of beer in Bamberg. The BierSchmecker Tour, or beer taster tour,  is a self-guided walking tour offered by the city to tourists looking to imbibe Bamberg's finest liquids. For 22 Euros you receive: "A handy Bamberg Rucksack", Five beer vouchers for a half liter of beer at eight of the town's breweries or beer halls, A Bamberg Stein, Coasters from the participating breweries, and a great packet of information including maps, a good rundown of the breweries and the whole history of beer in Bamberg. Also, as stated several times on both their website, in the packet of information and at the tourist office: the tour is for a maximum of 6 people.

Here's some highlights of the places I hit up on my BierSchmecker tour and the beer that I had at each:

Greifenklau Brewery, a beer with a view. We walked up the winding hills of the city to start the tour at the Brauerei Greifenklau, which was about 20 min walk from the city center but well worth the trek for not only the Greifenklau Lagerbier but also the amazing beer garden behind the brewery that sits atop a valley of orchards and small homesteads. The beer is a traditionally brewed Helles Lager with a hint of herbal hop and a nice, round, sweet malt finish. At 4.8% abv it was a good start of the tour.

Beer Garden at Brauerei Greifenklau

Next we headed back into the center of the city to Fässla Brewery for their Dunkel Lager called Zwergla. At this brewery, all beer is served from a Schwemme, which is a large gateway in the brewery with a serving hatch, at the center of the brewery that eliminates the need for waiters and waitresses while also creating quite a stir of foot traffic. The Zwergla at 6.0% abv is a Mahogany-colored beer with a yellowish head, a sweet malt and nut aroma that has has some real body to it but finishes smoothly.

Walking into Brauereigasthof Spezial

Then we headed across the street to Brauereigasthof Spezial which touts itself as "Bamberg's oldest smoked beer brewery" where it generates its own solar energy and fuels its malt kiln with wood. Here I had their Spezial Märzen Rauchbier which is about as typical of a smoked beer as one can get. It had a huge salty, smoke aroma with a thick, oily mouthfeel that paired perfectly with the sausage, kraut and mustard I ate with it. This inn, with its wood ceiling, tiled stove and animal busts on the wall really typified what in German is called gemütlichkeit, or that cozy feeling. We were supplanted from our original table by a regular who came up to us and told us we were sitting his "Standard plätze." We stood up a bit confused but almost instantly were able to find a very friendly Bamberger by the name of "Uncle Klaus" who dusted off the bench near him for us to sit down and join his monitoring of card game a group of old men were playing when he assured us, "he was there to make sure they didn't cheat." Uncle Klaus was incredibly friendly (if not a bit drunk) while he humored my wife and I with our elementary German, instructing us of what to eat, how to order it and even laughed at some of our attempted jokes in German.   

The last of the stops on our BierSchmecker was the Keesman Brewery which describes itself as "the Home of Pilsner." If a beer drinker is looking for a beer that defines the German Pilsner style, you must head to Keesman and grab a few of their Keesman Herren Pils. At 4.8% abv, this clear, straw-colored pils with a tight, white head and huge noble hop aroma (think minty and grassy at the same time), a bitterness that bounced around on the tongue and then quickly finished in a thirst quenching dryness was the perfect finish to my tour. So perfect was this beer, that I needed to have a second one to just make sure the it wasn't a fluke, it wasn't. This was my favorite beer of the Schmecker Tour, quite easy to see why beer fans from all around line up to get a fresh glass of Herren Pils at the annual tapping of the barrel ceremony at Brauerei Keesman.

181st Oktoberfest by the Numbers

Newly elected mayor of Munich, Dieter Reiter taps the first keg

At noon on the first Saturday of Oktoberfest, at the end of a parade that travels the streets of Munich, the mayor of Munich uses a mallet to tap a wooden keg brought by draft horses and proclaims, "O'zapft is!" which is a Bavarian saying meaning, "It's tapped!" thus starting the three weeks of festivities.


Here's a rundown of numbers of this year's Oktoberfest, the 181st that has been celebrated on Munich's hallowed ground called Theresienwise, or as the pros refer to it: Wies'n.


6.3 Million: Number of visitors
6.5 Million Liters: Beer Consumed
3.7 Million: Additional Passengers on the Munich Subway and Bus System
112,000: Stolen Bier Steins
3,603: People who needed medical attention
1,290: Arrests
681: Alcohol Poisonings
150: Closures of the Theresienwise Subway station because of overcrowding
36: Fights in which the Liter Steins were used

8: Found Children

2.98 Million Kilowatts: Power Consumed
220,000 Cubic Meters: Gas Consumption

115,000 Cubic Meters: Water Consumption

570 GB: Mobile Data on the First Saturday
112: Oxen Eaten

3,646: Lost and Found Items
900: IDs
530: Purses
230: Eyeglasses
330: Smart phones
1: iPhone 6
4: Tickets to the Bayern München vs. Hannover 96 Soccer match

Source: http://www.sueddeutsche.de/muenchen/oktoberfest-bilanz-fundstuecke-und-ein-erschlagenes-monster-1.2159365