A grand day out

Had a great day out on Saturday with the guys (and gal) from Hobbybrew Hamburg – if you're looking for people who want to step beyond the orthodox where beer is concerned, I reckon you can't do much better than chatting to home-brewers. After all, routine beer is so cheap here in Germany – as little as €0.50 a litre – the only reason to home-brew is because you want something that you can't get in the shops.

Klindworths Walpurgis-Ale

The plan was a trip out to Klindworths, mainly because it's a village brewpub with an ever-changing range of great beers, which is a bit unusual here, but perhaps also partly because it's just within the area covered by the Greater Hamburg public transport system, so anyone with a day-travelcard or season ticket can get there for free...

(Getting there did indeed work fine, though my concern at realising there was only one bus a day there was justified when it turned out that the expected return bus didn't exist, so we all had to pile into a taxi-van to get back to the train. Ah well.)

We arrived to find most of the place being set up for a wedding reception, and to a somewhat startled reception – apparently they'd wanted to tell us it wouldn't be a good day to visit after all because of the wedding, but had computer problems and lost our contact's details. I think they'd hoped when we didn't re-confirm that we weren't coming after all.

Fortunately, it all worked out fine – we didn't get the expected tour, but there was plenty of excellent beer and food. And because the bar we sat in also contained the coffee machine, we got several chances to ask the brewer questions while he made coffees for the wedding guests!

The star of the show beer-wise was the Walpurgis-Ale, a 7.3% black IPA thatwas brewed on the witches festival of Walpurgis Night (April 30th). The brewer said he wanted to do something appropriately "dark and witchy", and in this deep brown-black beer, with a big hopsack nose and loads of hoppy bitterness to complement its burnt malt and treacle notes, I'd say he succeeded admirably.

Landbier

I was also greatly impressed though by his regular Landbier, which I'd not tried before as it is aimed at the Pils drinkers. I'd say it's actually more of a hopped-up and slightly hazy Zwickl, with citrus notes and quite a bit more depth of flavour than the average Pils.

We then turned – with permission – to the home-brew samples people had brought along. Of the four on offer, for me there was one solid hit, one pretty good and a couple of so-so's, and a very lively discussion followed, as did several more Walpurgis-Ales. All in all, an excellent afternoon out, even if I still can't quite work out where all my money went...

The perils of going off piste, Pilsner-wise

What's up with the German megabrewers - have they forgotten how to handle hops and malt? It seems that way at times. Give them a recipe - preferably for Pilsner or Weizen - and they'll turn out a well-made beer. Then tell them that they have to economise and spend less on hops and malt, and they'll find ways to still brew a Pils that's just about sessionable in an unchallenging middle-of-the-road fashion. But ask them to go off-piste, to do something that's not in their recipe book, and they're a bit lost.

However, the signs are that customers, journalists and beer judges alike have all noticed a decline in flavour. For instance, it has become an article of faith among drinkers of Jever, the classic bitter beer that typified the hoppy Nordisch (North German) Pilsner sub-style, that it has been dumbed-down in recent times. [Incidentally, reproducing Jever "as it used to be" was formerly cited as the motivation for Meantime Brewing's Friesian Pilsner, although I see Meantime doesn't mention this now - maybe the German brewery complained!]

Other worries for the megabrewers must be that smaller local breweries and brewpubs are doing nicely with tastier beers, and - horror of horrors! - some people are even drinking American and American-inspired pale ales and IPAs.

So some of them have been scrabbling around for a response to this demand for extra flavour. At least, that's the most obvious reason I can think of for the appearance late last year and then again quite recently of two new "double hopped" Pilsners, both of which take a clear aim at Nordisch Pilsner but don't really hit the target.

Test-launched in cans last December, and now back as a regular but this time in bottles, Holsten Extra Herb (Extra Bitter) boasts 40 IBU (international bittering units) as against 28 for the ordinary Pilsner. By comparison Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, which is distributed in northern Germany and is pretty popular among aficionados, is 38 IBU, while Jever is reputedly 44 and Pilsner Urquell is about 45.

The original canned version was actually rather good for a megabrew woith a good balance of malt and fruity-floral hops, perhaps resembling an American Pale Ale (APA) as much as a Nordisch Pilsner. However, something's happened to the mass production version to render it much less impressive - attack of the accountants, methinks... Gone is the extra flavour, and it's just a bitter Pilsner now.

December also saw the launch of Warsteiner Herb, for which no IBU figure is given, but they write of adding "a significantly greater amount of Hallertau hops" during the boil. The result is rather one-dimensional - sure, there are dry-grassy hop notes and a bit of malt, but again all they've really done is add bitterness.

The problem is that IBUs are only part of the story, and bitterness on its own is actually rather boring - HopHeads may disagree at this point, but hear me out! Bitterness needs to be balanced by other elements in the beer, as Sierra Nevada and Pilsner Urquell know and demonstrate. Otherwise it becomes harsh, often with the acrid vegetal note that the Warsteiner has, for example.

So perhaps it's the way big brews work: maybe it's an issue with the process of scaling up from a pilot brew to mass production - though I don't know why Sierra Nevada and PU can do it but the Germans can't. Anyone got any ideas? Or am I talking bollards here?

Do note by the way that not all beers labelled Herb are recently introduced over-bittered Pilsners. Most are simply German-style Pilsners, probably given that name to distinguish them from less hoppy styles such as Helles.

Beer for BBQs - decisions, decisions.

I've just been told that not only are we going to two barbeques this afternoon, but both sets of hosts are expecting me to bring along 'interesting' beer. Argh!

I'm now trying to think which of the local shops to hit - this would be an ideal reason to visit Bierland and/or the new Craft Beer Store in Hamburg, but that would mean a two to three hour expedition, and there isn't time.

Thinking helmet on, then... It's going to have to be German, because the only foreign stuff in town is either very uninteresting (Guinness, Heineken, Tyskie) or rather expensive (Brewdog Punk IPA at €4 a bottle in the deli). Hmm, I suppose I do usually like a challenge!

So far I'm thinking maybe Ratsherrn Pale Ale, some of the Maisel & Friends stuff, and maybe a couple of the better dunkels. I'd take Schneider Weisse Tap 5 Hopfen-Weisse as well, except I've not seen it on sale around here. Oh, and there's still a few Maibocks around - maybe a tad strong for barbeque quaffing, but what the heck. OK, here goes!

Evil Twin - Ashtray Heart Smoked Imperial Stout

Every now and then a beer comes along and reminds me just how much I enjoy the Dark Side: this is one of those beers. Struggling for a comparison, I came up with vintage port and a barrel-aged barley-wine, getting married in a burnt-out toffee factory. Pretentious maybe, but it fits.

Produced by Denmark's Evil Twin Brewing – whose brewer Jeppe is the brother of Mikkeller's eponymous founder Mikkel – at De Molen in the Netherlands, at 8.9% this is almost a lightweight by modern Imperial Stout standards, yet it packs a big flavoursome punch.

Ashtray Heart pours a deep black-brown with a big foamy tan head. On the nose there's smoke and malt, plus hints of roasted coffee and smoky bacon. In the mouth it's well-named – there's notes of ash, leather, old wine, black treacle and a faint tartness. Then in the finish, a little malty sweetness, a hint of roasted cocoa, and that burnt bitterness that tends to signify roasted barley.

If you don't like smoked beers, you'll hate this. But if you like them, or if you're neutral to them but like strong stouts and porters, I suspect you might love this.

Fuller's Frontier keg lager

Fuller's is dipping its toes back into the lager pond, with the launch of a new keg beer called Frontier. Described by head brewer John Keeling on Twitter as "a new wave lager", Frontier is already available in the Mawsons Arms next to the brewery in Chiswick. It is going into 50 pubs to test consumer reaction, he added.

The Frontier launch is being supported by London-based marketing specialist Boutique Beer Brands which also represent the likes of Timmermanns and Blanche de Namur, presumably to help Fuller's reach out to a new market segment.

It's not the first time Fuller's has brewed a lager of course – in the early 1980s it produced one called K2. This didn't last all that long but you can still see K2 Lager memorabilia in the Hock Cellar at the brewery (left).

And more recently some of its ales have been actively targeted at lager drinkers, most notably Discovery and Honey Dew – Discovery was subsequently switched from a normal cellar temperature ale to being served only chilled, at 8-10C.

When the Fuller's Fine Ale club asked members last year whether the brewery should produce a lager, the responses were divided. Some said it would be an unnecessary distraction, others pointed out that British breweries – most notably Harviestoun, with Schiehallion – already made good cask or craft lagers, so why not?

And of course since then we've been the continued rise of craft beer, including some very fine London lagers from the likes of Camden Town Brewery and Meantime, so it is not too surprising that Fuller's might decide to join in.

Indeed, given its interest in historical beers for its Past Masters range and the fact that lagers have been brewed in London for well over a century (and elsewhere in Britain for even longer), perhaps a Past Masters-style dark Munich lager is in order.

Being out of the country for a while longer, I won't be able to taste Frontier any time soon, but if you get the chance, please do let me know what you think!

Willemoes: when is a Stout Porter not a Stout?

I'd not come across Vestfyen Brewery's Willemoes brand before our recent trip to Denmark, although it turns out I had tried a beer from Vestfyen before, but it was a naff and forgettable Eurolager, Vestfyen Classic.

Thankfully, the Willemoes stuff – there's now five regular Willemoes ales, plus seasonals – is a very different (brew)kettle of fish. As well as these two, a 6.5% Stout and a 9.8% Porter, I also picked up a bottle of their very nice 200 år ('200 years'), a rich 6.5% Dunkelbock.

All were good, the Porter especially so: it poured a deep red-brown, with a rich treacley nose with touches of chocolate, coffee and tobacco leaf. The body was full and drying and slightly sour, yet balanced with sweet notes. Flavours I picked up included black treacle, burnt prunes, liquorice, and something pleasantly reminiscent of old leather and aged port.

The deep black-red Stout was notably lighter bodied, some might even call it a bit thin. It still had a good flavour though, with faint aromas of toasted bread and malt followed by dry fruit and wine notes in the body.

It's tempting to look at these two beers though and think that someone on West Funen (Vestfyn) has missed the point. After all, historically "stout" meant "strong" and in beer terms was a contraction of Stout Porter, so shouldn't a brewery's Stout be stronger than its regular Porter?

Some would say not. This pair do match the BJCP Style Guidelines for Baltic Porter and Dry Stout pretty well, and according to that guide, and to many modern brewers, historical differentiation by strength is gone now, leaving distinctively different beer styles with their own characteristics. That's even before we add Imperial and Double (and Double Imperial!) versions into the mix...

I'm not so sure though. These are historically-inspired beers, after all, complete with old wood-cut style labels and a historical name. Vestfyen's "speciality series", it's named after local hero Peter Willemoes, who distinguished himself as commander of a floating gun-battery in the 1801 Battle of Copenhagen, in which Nelson's ships destroyed a Danish-Norwegian fleet - that's the battle where Nelson was supposedly ordered to withdraw, but put the telescope to his blind eye, saying "I see no signal!" (It wasn't quite like that, but that's another story.)

Indeed, the 200 år bock was first brewed in 2008 to commemorate the 200th anniversary of Peter Willemoes' death in another naval battle, at the age of just 24. (Yes, as a 2nd Lieutenant a month short of his 18th birthday, he had been put in command of 129 men and 20 cannon. Different times...)

So it would be nice in a way if the beers followed 19th century norms, rather than 21st century. But whatever, Willemoes is a name I will be looking out for in the future.

Brauereifest, doubled!

One of the nice things about this part of the world is the attachment to festivals. Pretty much every community seems to have its village fair, summer festival or autumn fête, with its line-up of local voluntary groups, almost always including the volunteer fire brigade of course, plus entertainment for the children, maybe music for the adults, and stalls selling cakes, coffees, and bratwurst.

Enjoying the music at Klindworths

A more recent addition to the roster – as far as I can tell, anyhow – is the brauereifest, or brewery festival. It seems to be part of a rekindled interest in localism, local businesses and local produce. Even the big boys have got into the act, with Carlsberg-owned Holsten promoting its third annual brauereifest back in April under the slogan "Hamburg is Holsten and Holsten is Hamburg".


I couldn't get to the Holsten one, but last weekend we visited not one but two rather smaller brauereifests, the first at the Klindworths brewpub in the countryside southwest of Hamburg, and the other at the tiny village of Sommerbeck to the east of Lüneburg, where the Sommerbecker Dachs (Dachs=Badger) microbrewery is based.

Fun & games in Sommerbeck

The basic format for all three events was pretty much as you'd expect: a family fun-day, with live music, beer and food. It's not so much about the brewery itself, although tours are sometimes on offer, as it is about asserting its connection with the locality. For example, as the village pub for some 350 years, Klindworths invited all the locals to come and be photographed for a village project.

Both the brauereifests we went to were good fun, though they were noticeably different. Klindworths was very local, yet friendly to us non-locals. The afternoon music – pub-rock covers – was excellent and lively, the beer garden was roomy and sufficiently sunny, and Niko's beer was as excellent and characterful as ever. As well as the regular Landbier Pils, on tap were the frisky 2013 Maibock, with citrus and gingery hops, and the rich and slightly chocolatey brown Stout. I was tipped off too that if I went inside, the Weizenbock was on, which was delicious and Cascade hoppy (that's the brewer's hand you can see in the photo below, pouring the next one).

Tasty Weizenbock

They did a really great job of entertaining the kids too. Among other things, there was a superb balloon artist – Roric went back time and again, coming back first with not only a balloon sword but a balloon swordbelt for it, and then later with a complete balloon aeroplane and pilot – plus a pile of hay with sweeties hidden in it, and a raffle-type game.

Where Dachs scored was the variety of food stalls around. As well as the inevitable (and good) sausages, there was a specialist chips and fried potato (bratkartoffel) van, and a cake stall. The beers – their regular Pils and Marzen, plus an Oktoberfest called Okti, and Schwatt which is apparently dialect for schwartz – are very nice in a crafted mainstream way. The kids certainly appreciated the bouncy-castle and football games, at least until the rain started. Sommerbeck was also more crowded, even before the rain forced everyone undercover and made it worse. I think they had publicised it more widely – there certainly looked to be a good few Hamburg yuppies present.

With the summer fair season only just getting going now, we are looking forward more events of the kind!