A German IPA is born

[rjurban101 10]

Actually bueschen, it's "drunken".

 

@2B orNot2Be...check the label on your Krušovice...you should notice that it also contains hops extract. Just looked at some today. I bet if you were to have a bottle of the stuff before this atrocity occurred, you'd notice the difference. I definitely do in Pilsner Urquel. What the hell is going on??????

[Mikeyb87 2]

I'm from San diego CA, and I have never had a problem getting my hands on excellent beers! My favorite is Stone brewing Co. in San Marcos CA, they have brewed some of the most delicious liquid I have ever had the pleasure of drinking, long live the arrogant bastard ale!! Alas a snowboarding accident and two seizures means no beer for me for awhile, although every now and then I do enjoy 1 and I would have to say my favorite German beer is duckstein sehr lecker! But all in all I do find German beer to be a bit boring in taste, not bad but just to simple for me.

[CincyInDE 3,293]

So Iain, did you ever crack open one of these Franconian IPAs?

[itsthatz 1]

You can't trash American beer based on the pisswaters like coor, bud and miller etc or after drinking few hop happy IPA. Beer preference comes down to subjective individual tastes. I lived in Minnesota, which has some excellent excellent micro breweries. They produce beers ranging from extra hoppy ales to smooth imperial or russian stouts. Before moving to MN, i grew up drinking Lion stout which made me a fan of strong stouts and porters. I was always able to find a beer that agreeable to my palate. I have tried (and enjoyed) several breweries across Midwest, California and especially from bend, Oregan area. Finding good heavy dark beers (dunkles is not dark nor strong) in Munich seems to be impossible. That doesn't mean i should call Munich beer scene crappy... lets go easy on stereotyping and generalizing a country's beer production on one's subjective taste.

[z_charron 7]

Several months ago I had this IPA from Franconia:

 

IPA

 

and damn if it wasn't just great. Nearly identical to an American-style IPA. Kudos.

 

And of course any beer freak should know about this tasty brew from Schneiderweise:

 

Hopfenweise

[mere 76]

 

The Association of Brewers reports that of July 31, 2009 there were a total 1482 craft breweries (962 Brewpubs)(456 Microbreweries)(64 Regional Craft Breweries) in the United States.

My guess is that in the capital of the largest country in Europe there might be 4-5 microbreweries.

 

I wonder how they decide what counts. I know I know of over 100 brewpubs in Wisconsin alone along with many microbreweries so these number might be accurate, but what criteria are they using that some of the microbreweries and brewpubs aren't counted?

[Small Town Boy 6,672]

I would image that you are a microbrewery rather than a brewpub if you sell your beer in an outlet other than your own, regardless of whether in bottles or keys.

 

You can't really compare the number of brewpubs in America with the number in Europe because there are different histories in the different continents. Brewpubs aren't a big deal here in Europe because we have always had a large number of breweries (there used to many, many more). In America, the beer revolution only started 25 years ago, and the cheapest way of setting up a commercial brewing operation is to open a brewpub.

 

There are breweries in Franconia in Germany that only sell the beer they brew in their own pub and have done so for 200 years, but if you told them they were a brewpub they wouldn't know what you were talking about.

[mere 76]

I'm not questioning what the differences is, but how did they decide which count as a brewpub or brewery versus not counting at all? Those numbers might be correct and I know some states have more than others, but I can think of over 10 brewpubs in a 30miles radius of Milwaukee (there are probably more)and 4-5 breweries in the same area.

Within a 5 min walk of me (sitting at work right now) there are 3 brewpubs

[Small Town Boy 6,672]

Um, well that's fairly simple. If they have a brewing system and use it to brew beer for commercial purposes, then they count as a brewery. You can't extrapolate the figures of the precise region you're in to the whole of the US; some states have barely a dozen breweries.

[BrewZ 6]

 

Several months ago I had this IPA from Franconia:

 

IPA

 

and damn if it wasn't just great. Nearly identical to an American-style IPA. Kudos.

I am quite shocked that there is another German IPA that has made it to the market. Also, I wonder how some German brewers are getting the idea to make this type of beer. I know that USA Hops has been trying to push their products at the BrauBeviale (yearly brewing exhibition in Nuremberg), and also at the brewing university at Weihenstephan. It would be interesting to hear the back story on why they decided to brew this new beer style in Germany.

 

They also aren't a small brewery. They have a 300hl brewhouse with 50,000hl of lagering capacity (according to a environmental report in 2008). Also of note, the authors of "Bierführer Mittelfranken" Schieder/Forster said in their brand new book, Kaiser Bräu is making one special beer, just before Christmas, for a project under the new name "Veldensteiner Bierwerkstatt". So, last year was the IPA, I would assume, (website above posted in Jan, if you were paying attention) and this year is a Chocolate Stout. Exciting stuff.

 

Also in the book, they said that the IPA was made with American Cascade hops, with a original gravity of 17%, with notes of Grapefruit.

[HellesAngel 1,889]

Does anyone know if.this is available in a shop in Munich anywhere? I need a present for tomorrow night and this would be ideal.

[Small Town Boy 6,672]

Don't think so. I've bought that brewery's beers in the Landbierparadies in Nürnberg, but I doubt they've ever left Franconia.

[Lupo 42]

Well finally an IPA in Germany! For more background see Germany's renascent beer scene

 

Beer is a wonderful thing...There will always be those ignoramuses who know nought about the US brew scene, and who still spout the following beers with little taste, the norm in the US The US has a unique and respectable beer culture! So does Germany. And the UK. I am curious how these IPA's fare compared to English or US brethren. Do they use local hops, or US hops for example? Iain let us know!

[Ruhetag 197]

Worst USA beer ever: Point Beer from Stevens Point Wisconsin. Tastes like detergent!

 

What are the worst German biers? Dortmunder Union Export is just nasty!

[BrewZ 6]

@Lupo:

 

The IPA from Kaiser Bräu was made with American Cascade hops, as is the Schneider Weisse "Mein Grünes" Weissbier.

 

This month, USA Hops is also going to be holding an event at Weihenstephan brewing university with a brewing competition using only American hops. We'll see how well Germans can brew an Imperial Stout with 100 IBUs!

[umass319 2]

Belgium and America make the best beers in the world, right now. 2.5 million people worldwide say so.

 

http://www.ratebeer.com/RateBeerBest/bestbeers_012010.asp

[Small Town Boy 6,672]

Ratebeer's users are almost all American, so I'm not sure that's an entirely fair voting system.

[Lupo 42]

 

@Lupo:

 

The IPA from Kaiser Bräu was made with American Cascade hops, as is the Schneider Weisse "Mein Grünes" Weissbier.

 

This month, USA Hops is also going to be holding an event at Weihenstephan brewing university with a brewing competition using only American hops. We'll see how well Germans can brew an Imperial Stout with 100 IBUs!

 

I see they mention Cascade on the label of the Kaiser Brau, but I don't see any mention on the SW website about their "Mein Gruenes" having Cascade hops. Are you sure about the latter, or is it obvious once you try it?

 

It seems US Hops are making inroads in Germany, for now. Wonderful.

[iain 141]

Ian (not TT Ian) would be the person to ask about the Cascade hops in SW, but I'm sure if BZ claims it is so, it probably is. Sorry I dropped off the face of the planet for a couple of months. I did try the IPA from weldensteiner and have to say my first impression of it was OK. It's kinda brewed to german tastes, I'm going to crack the second bottle and have it head to head with a couple of american beers and see how it holds up. I'm currently trying to get a hold of some of the veldensteiner stuff. We shall see how that works out.

[umass319 2]

 

Ratebeer's users are almost all American, so I'm not sure that's an entirely fair voting system.

 

"Despite the majority of reviewers and beers being American, the community is enriched by 90% of RateBeer's top 10 raters being from outside the United States. The depth and breadth of RateBeer's beer database is unsurpassed." (ratebeer.com)