We haven't had a chance to try Sam Adams' and Weihenstephaner's Infinium, but we did try a true champagne beer - Sylter Hopfen. While Miller High Life claims to be "The Champagne of Beer" (a title we feel more accurately describes weißbier), this beer truly is a champagne beer. In fact, it is labeled as a "Bierspezialität," as it cannot be called "beer" under German rules.
So, what's special about this beer?
- Natural ingredients for an organic beer
- Sylt Hops: The hops used in the beer are grown on the German island of Sylt. After much experimentation, they found that English hops best suited the unique island climate.
- Packaging: Packaged in champagne bottles, with individually numbered labels, embossed with real gold.
- Yeast: Brewed with two types of yeast, including French champagne yeast
- Fermentation Process: Fermented twice; the first, bottom fermented in vats. The second ocurrs in the bottles, at different temperatures, with each bottle rotated up to 20 times by hand during the second fermentation
- Dégorgement: Utilizing the champagne method, the cork is removed for a second (after fermentation) to allow the yeast to pop out of the bottle. The champagne yeast need to be removed prior to consumption, and this method allows them to do it naturally and avoid filtering the beer.
The company is located in Flensburg, which lies near the German-Danish border on the peninsula near Sylt. That this is a high end beer fits in well with Sylt's reputation as a destination.
But how does it taste?
I enjoyed it, but wouldn't drink it every day (plus it's priced closer to champagne than beer!). Herr J didn't love it, but thought it wasn't bad. Weißbiers are not his favorite, and the flavors that registered on the sides of his tongue were similar to those of a weißbier.
;)
The first thing you'll notice is the major head on this beer. It pours similar to a champagne in that it takes much pouring and waiting in order to get a full glass. As you can see here, the flutes are all foam, with a sip of beer at the bottom. The extreme carbonation comes from the champagne yeast and the second fermentation.
In the mouth, however, it is not nearly as bubbly as champagne. Definitely more bubbly than normal beer, but not too crazy. Unlike German beer, Sylter Hopfen should be served very cold.
Since my only champagne flutes are red, we poured it into a normal clear glass in order to see the color (and also because it was too labor-intensive to get an actual glassfull!).
It's a darker beer, slightly cloudy due to the lack of filtration. Even with very careful pouring into a tilted glass, there's still a large amount of foam.
The taste is much sweeter than beer or champagne and very complex. So complex that it's difficult to identify the different tastes...there's a little of the champagne tartness, but the sweetness of a malty drink, and some very light hints of the clove taste of a weißbier.
Overall, it was an enjoyable drink, but not really a beer. It's something you should drink as an aperitif or wine. Perhaps it's a good wine substitute for beer drinkers who don't like wine?
;)
We paired it with a cheese I saw when buying the raclette cheese. It's an Italian hard cheese (pasteurized cows milk cheese), called Bacchus. It looked very much like a wonderful parmesan-like cheese that was served in Tuscany with a wine jelly as an appetizer. I crumbled it up and had some white wine and pear jelly. It was just the same as I remembered and a happy discovery!