About the beer: Ah yes, the crisp air of the fall season can only mean two things for beer lovers: 1. Pumpkin flavored everything & 2. Oktoberfest style beers! Being a native New Englander means being lucky enough to experience all four seasons, but it also comes with the unapologetic love for all of the Sam Adams seasonal varietals. And what’s not to love about a new beer for every season?
About the beer: Dopplebocks are dark and strong lagers that are traditionally enjoyed in the winter months. There’s still no reason why you can’t enjoy them any time of year though so last week I cracked open a bottle I had in my small beer cellar. The one I went with, Smuttynose S’Muttonator is a great example of this traditional style, but with an American twist.
In a Nutshell: Smuttynose S’muttonator is a great American take on a classic German style.
Review: Smuttynose has long been a favorite New England brewery of mine. While they are mostly known for more conservative fair like pale ales, when they do bolder styles in their Big Beer series they never disappoint. The S’Muttonator is no different. It’s a big, bold, nutty beer that tastes great. While dopplebocks are meant to be strong beers, both in their flavor and alcohol, I’ve often found many of them a bit too sweet to really get into. The S’muttonator does a nice job balancing out the sweeter qualities with just a kiss of hops, making it a beer I think anyone could enjoy.
Rating: 4 out of 5
(Photo by Dan Larson)
As we’ve discussed before, Berliner Weisse is a tart wheat beer that was popular in Germany up through the 19th century. Today this style is actually pretty rare, but Southern California’s The Bruery gives us a great example in the Hottenroth. This unusual breed is known for its tart flavor and is commonly served with a fruit syrup to add some sweet to the the sourness caused by fermentation processes or (as in most cases today) the addition of natural bacteria into the brew. Coming in at around 3.1%, this brew is pretty typical to its style – light, mild, tart, and refreshing.
Now that the warmer weather is finally here it’s a great time to start drinking wheat beers. The light, yet full-bodied flavor of most wheat brews make it the perfect way to chill out on a hot day. While most fans of craft beer are familiar with hefeweizen and other popular wheat styles, there’s a good chance you’ve never heard of Berliner weisse, an oft over looked wheat beer. Today we take a quick look at this tasty brew.
Although Oktoberfest in Munich ended last Sunday, there’s no reason why we can’t continue to enjoy all the great Oktoberfest beer that’s produced every year. Today we’re going to take a look at the history and characteristics of this wonderful German style of beer.
Oktoberfest first took place on October 10, 1810 as a 16 day celebration of the marriage between Prince Ludwig of Bavaria and Princess Therese of Saxony-Hildburghausen. The main attraction for the 40,000 Bavarians at the festival wasn’t the beer but rather a horse race. Over the next few years, the attention shifted away from the horse race and wedding anniversary and toward a celebration of the fall harvest. When food and beer stands were introduced in 1818, this transition was complete, and the Oktoberfest as we know it was born. Since that time, Oktoberfest celebrations have spread to the rest of Germany, and today, Oktoberfest type celebrations are held throughout the world each fall.
Some brewers have a tendency to make whatever beer they want and call it “Oktoberfest,” but the real stuff has its roots in the strong traditions of German beer. Oktoberfest is usually brewed in the Marzen style, a beer brewed in the late spring for consumption over the hot summer months. A type of lager, Oktoberfest/Marzen typically has a copper to red color with a lightly malty or sweet taste. The hops are generally mild and take a backseat to the malts. These balanced qualities make Oktoberfest/Marzen the perfect brew for the fall. It’s right between the lighter summer styles and the heavier winter styles.
Sam Adams’ take on Oktoberfest is probably the most well known American version, but be sure to try some German varieties for something slightly more authentic. Paulaner, Spaten and Ayinger are three great German breweries who each make a mean Oktoberfest that’s slightly sweeter than Sam Adams.
What’s your favorite Oktoberfest beer? Let us know next time you have it by tweeting your beer and adding the ‘#mybeer’ hashtag.
A copy of the 1516 German beer purity law, the Reinheitsgebot
Today beer is commonly defined as containing four main ingredients: Water, barley, yeast and hops, but there are plenty of exceptions to this definition. There are the folks at Dogfish Head Brewery who have been known to throw everything from juniper to strawberries into their world class beers, and on the other end macro-brewers like Anheuser-Busch who use corn and rice to make their cheap lagers even cheaper. Despite these outliers beer has generally stuck to these basic four ingredients. Although there are many contributing factors, beer’s adherence to these rules can largely be traced back to the Reinheitsgebot, the German law enacted by Wilhelm IV of Bavaria on April 23, 1516 stating:
The only ingredients used for the brewing of beer must be barley, hops and water. Whosoever knowingly disregards or transgresses upon this ordinance, shall be punished by the Court authorities’ confiscating such barrels of beer, without fail.
The wording of this law of course omits the all-important ingredient of yeast, but that was because folks at the time weren’t aware of its existence. Yeast as well as wheat were later added to the list of acceptable ingredients and the law remained in effect until 1987. Because this rule applied to not only beer made in Germany but beer sold there as well the law ended up dictating the habits of brewers not just in Germany but all across Europe as no one wanted to be excluded from the profitable German market.
There were two main reasons for enacting this law. The first was an issue of health. Back in the 16th century much of the water available, especially in more urban areas, was not fit for drinking; beer was what folks drank morning, noon and night. With so many people relying on their daily share of beer for basic hydration, this law esured that the beer was made with only safe and trusted ingredients.
The second reason the purity law was put into effect was a matter of economics. The land’s barley fields were owned by the aristocrats of the land, and making it illegal to brew with anything else meant that the wealthy land owners were basically able to guarantee themselves a virtual monopoly on the grains bought for brewing.
Although the Reinheitsgebot certainly stifled a great deal of creativity among brewers it also ensured that beer would become a consistent and lasting part of Western culture, so in many ways it’s a mixed blessing, but one that I’ll toast to either way.
Lagers don’t get much attention in the craft beer world, mostly because of the higher level of difficulty in making them compared to ales. As a result many beer drinkers, even craft beer drinkers, often associate lagers with the thin, watery beers made by the big macro breweries like Miller and Coors. In reality, there is a wide variety of different styles of lagers ranging from the hoppy, to the sweet and everything in between. (Not sure what makes a lager different from a ale? Take a look at our article on the subject) Today we’re going to take a look at some lager styles you may not know from Germany, the land of lagers:
Bock/Dopplebock – These nutty, sweet beers were originally brewed by German monks to be consumed as a source of sustenance during fasts. Their malty flavors are balanced by the smoothness that is a hallmark of lagers. Sam Adams Winter Lager is a great example of the style by an American craft brewer.
As you might expect, dopplebocks (dopple meaning double) are a much stronger version of the style, sometimes ranging to the 7, 8, or 9% alcohol by volume range. One of the first widely available dopplebocks was Paulaner’s Salavator and as a result many other brewers have taken to naming their dopplebocks with a name ending in “–ator.” Examples include Ayinger’s Celebrator and Spaten’s Optimator. Both bocks and dopplebocks also happen to be associated with goats, which appear frequently on their labels, owing to the fact ‘bock’ can refer to male goats in German.
Rauchbier – This style’s name means “smoked beer” in German and I really could think of no better name. The taste is almost like barbecue. Although there are many different styles of smoked beer, this is the original, tracing its roots back to the 1500’s when smoked beer was pretty much all that was available as cleaner techniques for preparing grains had yet to be invented. Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier Urbock is the undisputed signature version of this style.
Eisbock – German for “ice beer,” this is lager which is frozen after brewing and some of the ice is removed, leaving a more concentrated beer, both in terms of flavor and alcoholic strength, which can range from 9 to 15%. The end result is a rich, sweet and smooth beer akin to brandy, or cognac, great for warming you up on cold nights. Please don’t confuse this style with the ridiculous “Ice” brands of the major macro breweries, such as Bud Ice. While some of them are indeed frozen like an eisbock to increase strength, they don’t resemble the style in any other way. Kulmbacher Reichelbrau Eisbock is one of the better known versions of this style, but it’s still quite rare, as a result of the difficult in producing it.
Dunkel/Dark Lager – This is lager brewed with dark, sweet and rich grains, but balanced nicely by the smoothness of the lager process. It’s not nearly as nutty as a bock, but makes up for it with a creaminess unique to the style. Negra Modelo, while often mistaken for a Vienna lager, is actually an example of the style, and probably the most well known version of it. Try a Blackened Voodoo Lager from Dixie brewing for an American craft take on the style. Schwarzbier (black beer) is a very similar style, of which Sam Adams Black Lager is a great example.
Dortmunder Export – A style originally from the town of Dortmund, it’s a light, crisp beer similar to a pilsner but more intense, with a stronger maltiness and hints of honey in it. Like many “export” styles it was made more robust in order to better survive shipment to other countries and faraway lands, however the 5-6% alcohol range may seem light to modern drinkers. This style was once one of the most popular in Germany and much of Europe. The heavy damage Dortmund endured during World War II resulted in this style becoming fairly uncommon today. Try a Great Lakes Dortmunder Gold for an American craft take on this style.
Have any other favorite craft lagers that look past pilsners? Let us know on Twitter! Next time you try one of these, or any other beer tweet what it is and add the #mybeer hashtag to it to let us know what you’re drinking and what you think about it.
