German Beer Styles
There are Beer nations and then there is Germany.
Germany has about a dozen classic styles of beer some of which can be divided into several categories. Some of these styles are strongly local and seasonal and while they can be found outside of their respective places and times but usually the best examples are indeed found when and where they should be. Outside of Germany it is often assumed that all german beers are lagers, inside Germany “lager” typically means the most basic of bottom fermented beer which is usually ordered by asking for a Helles. The world of brewing might refer to all bottom fermented beers as lagers, but the German drinker distinguishes each of them by style, of which there are six or seven. Many of the different styles of german beer are strongly associated with the cities that developed them and then when they were transported around the country the new regions put their own local spin on the product. While Pilsner is a specific style the different regions of germany produce slightly different Pilsners, the north makes the driest examples, and the southwest the maltiest for example. All of this conspires to make the description of regional and national beer styles in germany more difficult but considering that so much of our shared brewing history comes from the country a necessary goal.
The Beer Purity Law
The Bavarians were the first to have a Pure Beer law, the Reinheitsgebot stipulated that beer be made with: water, hops, malt, and yeast, and no additives. In fact the original legislation did not include yeast only a form of spontaneous fermentation was allowed. If the law prevented the Bavarians from making a Belgian Kreik or a British Sweet Sour nobody seemed to mind.
The Lagering Method
The term “Lager” means to “store.” Lagering is not a method of brewing but a method of maturation. The first brewers to practice this method were based in Munich, and is first mentioned in brewing history in 1420 in the minutes of the Munich town council. The lager method was not understood and perfected until the early 1800s. Gabriel Sedlmayr the Younger’s methodical lagering process was the first documented system. Lagering involves fermenting the beer in the low fifties and then storing the beer at near freezing temperatures for some weeks after fermentation has stopped, this was originally done by cellaring the beer in caves at the foothills of the Alps.
Munich Dark and Pale
Munich Lagers tend to be ‘maltier’ in character than either British or Danish beers, this comes from the Continental barleys, they use. Maltsters regard barley as either continental or maritime, the continental barleys have a higher protein content and contribute more of the traditional caramels that one associates with malt forward beers. Maritime barley being lower in protein has a lighter touch. In brewing the the style of malt used to make a dark lager is called the munich type it is a highly kilned malt but does not have a roasted taste. the prototypical munich dark is a deep mahogany that has a pronounced malt characteristic but does not have a roasted note or a sweetness to it. Munich Pale is a golden lager that is less hoppy and more more malt driven then a pilsner they also tend to come in at slightly less than five percent by volume alcohol.
Marzenbier
“March Beer” the name comes from the fact that March was the last month in which brewing was possible before the wild yeasts came out. So it was traditional to make a big brew to provide beer for the summer it needed to be a high gravity beer so that secondary fermentation could take place in bottle or cask so that yeast or bacteriological infection couldn’t take place. The traditional german Marzenbier is a medium-strong, malty, amber-red, translucent, bottom-fermenting beer made in the Viennese method. With an especially long Lagering period in the traditional Marzenbier the malt profile is mostly contained in the aroma. Marzenbiers are the traditional drink of the Munich Oktoberfest which when conceived in 1810 it was not a beer festival but a celebration of the betrothal of the Crown Prince of Bavaria. When a beer is presented as a festbier it is assumed to be of the marzen type.
Bock and Double Bock
Firstly in Germany a Bock is a strong beer approaching 7% by volume and some are much stronger than that. There are even Bocks that pass 13% by volume alcohol. Traditionally Bocks are dark beers but there are many pale examples now, most are bottom fermented with longish lagering periods. The name most likely originates in the town of Eisbeck that was slowly corrupted to Bock. The spread of Bock beer brewing is attributed to the marriage between a duke from the city of Brunswick and the daughter of an aristocrat from the south of germany. In the late 1700s a dictionary refers to the Oanbock of the Hofbrauhaus of Munich. Hofbrauhaus means “royal court brewery” the hofbrauhaus is now a public enterprise owned by the state of Bravaria. At the Hofbrauhaus the most important bock season is May when the mayor of Munich ceremoniously taps the first huge barrel of Maibock the ceremony takes place on mayday. The Hofbrauhaus Maibock has a dense head an aroma so powerful that it can almost be eaten a rich start, and a long chewy-dry malty finish. It has a very deep amber-red color but is regarded as a Helles Bock. Most Maibocks are pale, and usually a bronze-yellow color. In gravity and style both of these are Double Bocks. a “single” Bock usually balances its maltiness with a good attenuation and a smooth but definite hoppy dryness in the finish. Paulaner Salvator, the original double Bock is a dark beer, with amber highlights, a very rich start, a rounded body and a long finish, with some dryness, it is made with three malts and with hellertau bittering and aroma hops, it is lagered for two and a half months sometimes longer. The strongest bock beers are made in the city of Kulmbach at the Kumbacher Reichelbrau brewery it is called Eisbock, which takes advantage of the fact that water freezes at a higher temperature than alcohol. The Eisbock Bayrisch G’frons (Bravarian Frozen) is an extremely dense tasting beer with a lot of alcoholic warmth in the finish and it clocks in at above ten percent by volume.
Speciality beers of Franconia
Nowhere are dark lagers more readily found then in Franconia, they range from the tawny and translucent to the almost black. Some of the more rustic examples are very yeasty many of the local beers are offered unfiltered in a variety of forms. Krausenbier is found in other parts of germany but it is most common in Franconia. Krausening is a traditional form of carbonating beer that involves repitching a yeasted wart into the beer to be bottled or casked. Kellerbier is a variation that is only raked off the maturation tank before being sold unfiltered heavily hopped to prevent infection. A third variation is called ungerspunderd meaning unbunged is matured in at least partially open tanks, with very low carbonation.
Bamberger Rauchbier
This is the beer worlds answer to single malt Scotch. Bamberger Rauchbier takes its smokiness from the kilning of barley malt over beechwood logs. Bamberger Rauchbier is a dark brown, bottom-fermenting beer, with an intensely smoky aroma and palate. The best known example of the style is the Heller’s Brewery Aecht Sclenkerla Rauchbier, which is produced as a Marzen year round and as a Bock in November and December.
Rauchenfels Steinbiere
A smoky beer of a different style is produced by the Rauchenfels Brewery. The beer gains its character from an astonishing method of production, revived in the 1980s by an especially entrepreneurial brewery-owner. Stones heated to twenty two hundred degrees fahrenheit over beechwood fires are immersed into the kettle to heat the wort. Not only do the hot stones boil the wort, amid much roaring, seething, and hissing, they also gain their own coating of caramelized brewing sugars. The stones are later placed into the lagering tanks where the caramel coating dissolves, creating an almost explosive secondary fermentation. The end product which is top-fermenting has a smooth rich smoky palete and a long rounded finish, with a tawny color, there is also a companion stone brewed Wheat beer, Rauchenfels Steinweizen.
Weizenbier
Weizenbier or wheat beer is a style while not limited to southern Germany is most often found there. There is much more variation between Weizenbiers then can be found among most other german specialities. This may be in part due to the large number of small country breweries. There is no intentional lactic fermentation in Weizenbier. Only brewers yeast usually single cell and always top fermenting. The choice of yeast is central to the expression of Weizenbier. The clove, vanilla and occasionally fruity notes sometimes green apples and plums all come from the action of the yeast. Weizenbier with no further name modifications from germany typically has an ABV of between 5% and 5.6%, and a color from pale gold to deep bronze. Darker, copper-red or brown versions are also made but they are called dunkelweizen. There is also a style with a higher amount of alcohol that is called a Weizenbock.
Berliner Weisse
The so called Champagne of beers, is said to have been the verdict of Napoleon’s occupying troops. Berliner weisse is a wheat beer and is the principle northern style of this beer. They use less wheat in the mass as traditional weizens from the south and the alcoholic content is usually much lower 2.5% to 3% by volume. Sometimes hops are added to the mash tun as a ward against infection but not the kettle so no bitterness is imparted. The yeast culture for Berliner Weisse is also unique it is a melding of two distinct actors a top fermenting yeast and a lactobacillus. Normally the presence of a lactobacillus would give brewers nightmare but the acidic characteristic of the bacillus is central to the style of Berliner Weisse. The traditional method of making Berliner Weisse is not particularly evident in the mashing and brewing steps but there are very significant changes to the fermentation stage of a Berliner Weisse. In the primary fermentation stage the wort is pitched with lactobacillus delbruckii and also blended with a small portion of three to six month old wort. The wort is then moved to the cellar where it spends three months to ideally on year at warm temperatures. After this period of “ripening,” it is then blended again. This blending before it is bottled is effectively a krausening with wort that has only been fermenting for one day. There is another dosage of L. delbruckii before the beer is bottled the beer is then released after four weeks bottle conditioning at warm temperatures. The best examples will be further cellared for two years following release at a cool temperature to allow the fruitiness, acidity and fragrance to fully emerge.
Cologne and Kolschbier
Kolsch is an extremely pale, golden, aromatic, top-fermenting brew, light in body but not in palate, and very delicate in character. In the english speaking world, it would be regarded as an ale, though one of unusual pallor and cleanness. Some examples contain a small proportion of malted wheat which heightens their fruitiness and head-retention. The producers seek to impart to their beer a definite, but only slight, fruity-winy bouquet. This is regarded as a very important aspect of the style. They also aim for a gentle hop dryness in the finish, flowery but less effusive than a pilsner.
Dortmunder
The word dortmund or dortmunder appears on the labels of about 30 beers in different styles, all brewed in the city, under nine different marques. Although some of the companies share plants, or are linked through their ownership, there are no fewer than five major breweries in the city. Dortmund, which has been a brewing center since the 1200s, made top-fermenting, dark Wheat beers for much of its history. In 1843, the city’s oldest brewery, Dortmunder Kronen, began to make bottom-fermenting beers. In the 1870s, Dortmunder Union developed a bottom-fermenting beer which won wide renown in Germany. It was so widely marketed that the Dortmund brewers began to refer to it as the export style. Beers in this style are produced elsewhere in germany but Dortmund is its home. Dortmunder Export is a recognized style, albeit these days one with a low public profile. A beer in the true Dortmunder Export style is a bottom-fermenting beer made from barley malt, with an ‘old gold’ color, drier than a Munich pale but fuller-bodied than a Pilsner, and a little higher in alcohol then either. Between the elegance of a the fine German Pilsners and the heartiness of the Munich Pale beers, the Dortmunder Export style has been overshadowed.
Dusseldorf and Altbier
The word Alt, meaning ‘old’ is used in labeling to describe a variety of specialty beers in germany. Whichever the specialty, the implication is that the beer is a type with predates the pale, bottom-fermenting styles most commonly found today. If Alt is employed on its own, as a noun, it usually implies a copper-colored style of top-fermenting brew made in the north of Germany and especially associated with the area around Dusseldorf. An Altbier of this type is the German brew closest to a Belgian or British-style ale. The typical Altbier has a full copper color, light to medium body and lots of hop character. THe combination of an all-malt mash and a period of cold conditioning makes for a smoother, cleaner, less fruity character than is found in most ales. The german way of hopping and the varieties used produce a fragrance and often a considerable bitterness, but not the acidity often present in a British ale.
German Pilsners
Other countries may use the term lightly, but in germany the term ‘Pilsner’ means something. It indicates more than a pale lager. In Germany a Pilsner has a definite hop character, in both irs flowery bouquet and its dry finish. Although Pilsner is not regarded as a regional style, and is produced throughout Germany, the far north and northwest have some of the best known examples. German pilsners typically have a strong hop accent, a straw to light gold color, light body, and an average amount of alcohol.
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