German Beer Wars - The Oktoberfest Round

Since we live in Munich, we decide to include some Oktoberfest beers in the tournament. It is an important part of the beer culture here, after all!

Maybe not the wisest decision, as it isn't available year round and could be a problem to find in later rounds...

Pork chops with roasted winter veggies and warm goat cheese salad

Tonight featured 3 of the Big Six's Oktobefest beers.  Hofbrau vs Spaten, and then Löwenbräu vs one of Altenmünster brewery's offerings. We weren't really sure where to fit the Altenmünster, which was a beer we did not know. It's supposed to be a flavorful lager, but not sure if that means Helles, or something different. But we thought it would stand well with the Oktoberfest beers. Luckily, we were correct in that guess.

The Altenmünster was very tasty when compared to the Löwenbräu Oktoberfestbier - it had a very clean taste, with good flavors, but was not overly hoppy. The Löwenbräu was good too, but was less carbonated and also felt a bit flat in taste when compared to the Altenmünster.

I was surprised at the outcome of the Hofbrau vs Spaten match, as I think of Hofbrau more in terms of a touristy (but fun) beerhall, not in terms of good beer. However, HB has proved to be more than just a good party...it's a really good beer! The Spaten was good, and it's hops had a little bit of sweetness to them. The Hofbrau, on the other hand, was very crisp and not too hoppy, . It was just a perfectly balanced beer. Both were good, but we prefered the note of the hops used in the Hofbrau. The strange thing was that the Spaten was much better in the bottle than it was in the Oktoberfest tents.

Hofbrau went on to an easy victory over the Altenmünster. Despite how good it tasted in the first round, it seemed light and watery when compared to the Hofbrau, which was sparkly without being overly carbonated.

German Beer Wars: Helles Surf & Turf

 Coming back to the German Beer Wars, we move on to a promising round of Helles beers. Here we have Munich power Spaten against Weihenstephaner, the oldest operating brewery in the world and an asset of the Free State of Bavaria (yes, another reason Bavaria and Texas are long lost cousins). And then the unknown to us Hubauer Urhell vs Tegernseer, the favorite of many locals.

 

We weren't sure what to predict with this tasting...We had only had Spaten at Oktoberfest (and I used to drink Spaten Light at Stan's on Greenville!) and I'd never had Weihenstephaner. The Spaten was a typical Helles - light and drinkable, but nothing noteworthy. The Weihenstephaner, however, had more depth to it than the Spaten and was just a more enjoyable taste. Thus it advanced to face the winner of the night's other game.

Then we had the long-awaited contest...Many here consider Tegernseer to be the best Helles and the best beer in the greater Munich area (Tegernsee is a beautiful lake area a little less than an hour south of Munich). But it's not widely marketed, doesn't have associated restaurants in Munich, and isn't available everywhere. It's mainly known by reputation and word of mouth, rather than any real marketing efforts.

Hubauer Urhell was one we'd never heard of before, and it cost €0.39 for a 500mL bottle. (Most German beer here is €0.59 or €0.89, for comparison, and imports around €2). It was unbelievably cheap, so we weren't sure how it would compare with the others.

The Hubauer was shockingly good - I tasted it first (blindly, as always) and assumed it was the Tegernseer. However, then I tasted the next, and it was perfectly balanced, mild, and super drinkable. THAT was the Tegernseer. Unfortunately for the Hubauer, it was up against what likely will be one fo the top beers in the tournament. Otherwise, it would have advanced past the first round. Just bad luck to be playing against a top seed!

In the Weihenstephaner vs Tegernseer matchup, Tegernseer won the Sweet Sixteen berth. It just tasted better and was very light and enjoyable. I can picture drinking it on a warm afternoon on a patio overlooking the lake.

And for fun, we paired the Helles with a tasty (and low carb) surf and turf. Herr J found some gorgeous French lobster (the ones with no claws), filets, and made his famous feta-stuffed peppers.  Delicious!

The Advent Beer Calendar Selection

So as not to spoil Herr J's fun, I did not reveal online the contents of his Advent Beer Calendar.

Some we had tried before (in the German Beer Championship), and others were new....but the calendar opened up possibilities of non-German beers and "beers" that do not conform to the Reinheitsgebot, and thus cannot be called "beer."

The 24 Beers of Advent 2010 were:

Tegernseer Hell
Beck's Ice
Beck's Green Lime
Heineken
Beck's Gold
Paulaner Originial Münchener Hell
Paulaner Hefeweißbier Natrutrüb
Schöfferhofer Hefeweizen Grapefruit
Schöfferhofer Hefeweizen Kaktusfeige (Cactus-Fig flavor)
Guinness
Desperados
Magners Irish Cider
Budvar (the Czech Budweiser)
Bittburger
Cab (Dragon-Fruit flavored cola & beer)
Samuel Smith's India Ale
Samuel Smith's Taddy Porter
Foster's
Corona Extra
Samuel Smith's Nut Brown Ale
Warsteiner
Jever Pils
Legendary Duff Beer (yes, Homer Simpson's favorite)
König Pilsner

And as with any chocolate sampler, there are one or two "suprises"....here we had two potential bombs: Cab, the Dragonfruit-flavored Cola & Beer, and Desperados Tequila-flavored beer.

 
Now, you have to understand that I mock Desperados relentlessly. I had never tried it, but the commercials were endless on MTV and billboards. And I just didn't get the concept. Sure, I enjoyed a nice tequila followed by a Bohemia beer in Mexico. But I did not mix them. And most of the under-25 party crowd (the group targeted by Desperados) doesn't drink tequila for it's taste....so why flavor a beer with tequila?

But I tried it, blindly, in a taste test with Samuel Smith's India Ale. (In my cute Ladybug and Ribbit glasses that we often use for tasting....)

Herr J brought me a glass of each, without telling me what I was drinking. The India Ale was a bit too hoppy for my taste.

And after a sip of the Desperados, I said, "Wow, that's good, suprisingly sweet. What is it?"

I was shocked when he told me. Now, I probably wouldn't order it in a bar or buy a case. But it mostly tastes like a Radler (half beer, half lemon soda) or a Beck's lime. So, a super light and refreshing beer with a little sweetness. Something you would drink on a hot summer day in Texas or by the river. So, I stand corrected, and there is actually a time and a place for drinking Desperados. Not sure why they say it tastes like tequila, but I guess that makes it sound edgier than Beck's Lime or Bud Light Lime.

We'll let you know how the Cab tastes....It's brewed by Krombacher, so it might be actually be good.  

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