500th Anniversary of the Reinheitsgebot

 Zum Schneider celebrates the 500th Anniversary of the Reinheitsgebot 

 Non-Flash version of the podcast

On April 23, 1516 in Ingolstadt, Germany, at a meeting of the Assembly of Estates, Bavarian Duke Wilhelm IV proposed a law which dictated, among other things, that beer should only be made from water, barley, and hops. It was referred to as the "Surrogatverbot", or prohibition of surrogate ingredients, and later, in 1918, was nicknamed the Reinheitsgebot, or purity agreement.

Sylvester says "prosit!"

500 years later the law endures, and its anniversary causes us to celebrate the bright, clean, healthy lager that has defined German beer, considered by many to be the best beer in the world. Of course, some folks in Belgium and England, and other beer centric lands, might disagree. But on the corner of E. 7th St. and Ave. C in what was Kleine Deutschland in the late 1800s, German beer reigns! Zum Schneider celebrates all week long with special kegs, and a beer-centric menu featuring dishes made with beer!

Freigeist Abraxxxas makes its debut on tap at ZS!

Rather than giving you a 10 page dissertation on the history of the Reinheitsgebot, we'll just give you the short story, and link some other more in depth resources below. Basically, the law sought to preserve the quality and consistency of Bavarian beer at a time when beer was made from a long list of ingredients that varied from hamlet to hamlet. Some used different sources for the sugars, which are converted to alcohol and carbon dioxide during fermentation -- not everyone use malted grain exclusively. And the beer was flavored and colored with all kinds of things: spices, ash, herbs, roots, bark -- pretty much anything was possible. So, by limiting what could go into beer, the beer became more consistent, and the quality was more reliable.

Zum Schneider shakes up the menu with some very special offerings!

It wasn't just beer quality at the core of the Reinheitsgebot, though. The rule sought to act as a price and supply control on grain, stipulating that only malted barley be used for beer, leaving wheat for the bakers, so there wouldn't be bread shortages due to a thirst for more beer! Wheat malt was allowed in beer brewing, but on a very limited basis through special dispensation from the monarchy, and following the end of one such charter, the reigning House of Wittlesbach gave themselves the exclusive monopoly to brew wheat beer in Bavaria from 1602 to 1798.

Fraulein B.R. und Herr Bockenstein.

Here are some good sources of information on the Reinheitsgebot:

The Guardian article about a German brewery's struggle with the beer law
All About Beer article on some history
Beer Sessions Radio featuring Sylvester Schneider and Sebastian of Freigeist
Oxford Companion to Beer with its definition and history
Wikipedia always a good source
Beer and Brewing more on the Reinheitsgebot

The Ja Ja Jas.

A clean, spray-free tapping of the Weissenohe!

Jorge pours the Weissenohe.

The photographer sports a Mahr's hat as he glances at the menu specials. 

Sylvester and the ladies sing.

Freigeist In Brooklyn

35 tumblers of beer on the tray, 35 tumblers of beer...

Freigeist's Sebastian at Bierkraft in Park Slope podcast

One of the side benefits of having a large international beerfest in our (general) area which features brewers is that they tend to make the most of their trip abroad, and end up doing some events in our little town. Such was the case following The Festival, and one such brewer was Sebastian Sauer of Freigeist from Cologne/Köln, Germany, who is also the brewer of another upstart brewery, The Monarchy. He led a tasting at Bierkraft in Park Slope, and was also on hand at Spuytin Duyvil which featured his beers as well.

Bierkraft's insane list!!!

About 30 people showed up to hear Sebastian talk about the breweries and to sample 5 of the 15 Freigeist/The Monarchy beers on tap -- FIFTEEN! It's rare to see even one of these brews on draught!

Bierkraft.

Freigeist Bierkultur was founded in 2009 and first began importing to the U.S. in 2012, while The Monarchy started up last year, and makes their beers in the Dutch brewery Jopen, located in a former church. They also brew at the Braustelle brewpub in Cologne and the Vormann Brewery, situated about 70km north-east of Cologne.

Sebastian isn't as sour as his last name implies.

Most of Freigeist's products are made for export, as Germany is not a huge market for "unusual" beers that don't fit squarely into the modern German lager styles of Pils and Helles. Freigeist doesn't own it's own facility, but rents brewing time at the Cologne brewpub Braustelle, as well as other breweries (Vollman and also Göller, near Bamberg), as many other renowned craft brewers do.

L-R: Anthony of Proletariat, Joel Shelton, 
Sebastian Sauer, Chris of Bierkraft.

In addition to talking about his own enterprises and creations, Sebastian also talked about some of the obscure and nearly forgotten historical beers of Germany, which are the focus of The Monarchy brewery, as well as the Reinheitsgebot and other germane topics. He also answered the many interesting questions posed by the thoughtful group gathered. Hear his full presentation on the Beer Hear podcast!

Alternate name: A Beer Named Sue.

And I thought it was a product of England.

Grodziskie: 3.3% ABV, 5 IBU, 100% oak-smoked wheat malt
Polish style sour, bittered with willow bark.

Methusalem: 10% ABV Adambier aka Dortmunder Altbier.

Son Of A Batch: dark sour Göse, brewed with coriander
and Hawaiian black lava salt, aged in apple wood.

Munchhausen: Münsterland Altbier style, traditionally (mildly) sour.

Sauer Power ale: collaboration with Jester King.

Phoebe Caufield: this better be a rye beer!

Bierkraft backyard.

L-R: Joe from Bierkraft, Ira Glass, B.R. of Shelton Bros.

Jim spins the schlager platters.

Sebastian looks ready to bust some Schuhplattler moves.

You know, Heino!

Ottokolong at Spuyten Duyvil.

Black Smoke at Spuyten Duyvil.

Spuyten Duyvil list.

Son Of A Hickory: dark Göse sour, brewed with coriander and Hawaiian black lava salt, aged in hickory wood.
.

Rauch at Spuyten Duyvil.

  [link to podcast page]

The Festival: Portland, ME

Last year Shelton Brothers Importers and 12% Imports made history by establishing possibly the most incredible international craft beer gathering ever conceived, bringing together over 70 different brewers and cider makers from the ends of the earth under one roof. Rather than travel the world over, the public was given an opportunity to sample a literal world of beer, brought right to their doorstep. It was THE Festival. The second year of The Festival had some welcome similarities and some stark differences from the inaugural edition.

Excuse me, but do you know where the beer is?

THE KEY DIFFERENCES
This year it was held in an active, friendly, vibrant coastal city -- Portland, Maine -- gorgeous to walk through during the day, and loaded with things to do at night, as opposed to land-locked Worcester, Mass. which has two great bars and... a pile of rocks (and I think that the pile of rocks is now gone, so... two great bars?). Both cities, coincidentally enough, have American Hockey League arenas downtown! If it's held in Albany or Philly or Hartford next year, then we'll know something is up.

Portland Yacht Services... now serving beer.

In Worcester, we were treated to a wonderfully elegant venue in Mechanics Hall, which had beauty, style, comfort and grandiosity. In Portland, it was an industrial space -- a cavernous, wide open ship repair workhouse, with rust, smudged windows, flaking paint, and an uneven, (somewhat) dirty cement floor. Which is not to say one was better than the other. In fact, most of the brewers who we spoke to loved both venues for very different reasons. No problem spilling beer on the floor in Portland! In fact, while even tiny spills of water unnerved the custodians of Mechanics Hall, ice delivery at the Portland Yacht Services building meant driving a truck straight into the middle of the place and dumping a ton of ice onto the floor!

Cool truck!

Last year, it was two Saturday sessions and a Sunday session, and this year it was a Friday night session and two Saturday sessions, which we think was a better format.

Long, long line to get in.

In Worcester, hotels were inexpensive, and located a few blocks from the venue. In Portland, hotels downtown were expensive, so most of the brewers and staff stayed at economical accommodations by the airport, which was a 15 minute, $20 cab ride away, although the Festival provided free shuttle buses each day.

(Beer) school is IN!

It seems that there were more tickets sold/more people at the Portland Festival, which only makes sense, since more people learned about the event from the previous year. I'd risk a guess that there was a bigger built-in beer scene in Portland, too, a city with a number of breweries, brewpubs, and beer bars. There also seemed to be much more press and publicity this year, with even a local t.v. news crew covering the event.

School bus full of brewers.

There were some technical differences in 2013, such as the use of drink tickets (48 one-once pours per attendee) this year, as opposed to unlimited pours. This was due to the more restrictive regulations regarding alcohol in Maine, which caused other (unseen) complications for the Festival organizers. However, in the end, the technical changes didn't seem to affect the enjoyment by attendees or the brewers, and I didn't hear of anyone who felt that they were unable to try all the beers that they wanted to sample.

THE KEY SIMILARITIES
Quite simply, acres of some of the world's most creative, skilled and inspired brewers, manning tables that dispensed the sweetest nectar of the gods! The ability to not only sample fresh, sometimes rare, and often exclusive brews, but then to also be able to talk to the creators about them is what makes The Festival truly unique among beer fests.

The X-mas Keebler (aka Jim Barnes) made an appearance.

Like last year, there was plenty of quality, and affordable, food on hand, at the very back of the venue. There was the Bite Into Maine lobster roll truck, which served the best lobster that we had on this trip ($15 with tax for a roll bursting with fresh, sweet lobstah), served Maine-style (mayo and chives), picnic version (with coleslaw, butter, celery salt), chipotle style, curry version, etc.  There was a mobile brick oven/wood fire gourmet pizza vendor, which served the best pizza I've had outside of NYC. If you spy Pizza Pie on the Fly, you'll be remiss not to give it try! There was a decent Mexican food vendor, Hella Good Tacos, with fish tacos, burritos, etc. The Small Ax food truck seemed to be mostly about meat sandwiches -- it all looked good, but we stuck to the seafood.
I could probably cut and paste the blog post from last year's Festival, and, save for some minor details, it would remain accurate. Basically, you've got a warehouse full of serious beer aficionados of varying experience -- novice to expert -- true beer lovers all, flitting to and fro, searching for the cool, rare, exclusive, exciting, unknown bottle or keg, telling friends, "you have to try this!" and "don't do anything -- ANYTHING --  before going to this table to try that beer!" And on the other side of the tables are veritable brewing legends. Each session is a four-hour magic kingdom excursion of beer wonderment, all thanks to Dan Shelton, aka Malt Disney!

Malt Disney, center.

Listed below are the breweries that were in attendance this year. Be watching for a number of podcasts to be posted from all the interviews we were able to record with the numerous attending brewers, including Kout, Yeastie Boys, Prairie, De La Senne and Freigeist.

Pink Panzer.

Shelton Brothers breweries 2013 (new attendees in bold)
8 Wired (New Zealand) ▪ Agullons (Catalonia, Spain) ▪ Amager Bryghus (Denmark) ▪ Anchorage (USA) ▪ Au Baron (France) ▪ Bad Attitude (Switzerland) ▪ Baird (Japan) ▪ Barfly/Laborotorio (Italy) ▪ Blaugies (Belgium) ▪ Brewfist (Italy) ▪ Brodie’s (England) ▪ Buxton (England) ▪ Cambridge (USA) ▪ Cantillon (Belgium) ▪ CCM (Catalonia, Spain) ▪ Celestial Meads (USA) ▪ Cidrerie Traditionnelle du Perche (France) ▪ Crooked Stave (USA) ▪ De La Senne (Belgium) ▪ De Molen (Holland) ▪ De Ranke (Belgium) ▪ Dieu du Ciel! (Quebec, Canada) ▪ Drie Fonteinen (Belgium) ▪ Freigeist (Germany) ▪ Guineu (Catalonia, Spain) ▪ Haand (Norway) ▪ Het Nest (Belgium) ▪ High & Mighty (USA) ▪ Hill Farmstead (USA) ▪ Hogan’s (England) ▪ Jester King (USA) ▪ Jolly Pumpkin (USA) ▪ Kerkom (Belgium) ▪ Kissmeyer (Denmark) ▪ Kout (Czech Republic) ▪ Lagar de Ribela (Spain) ▪ Le Trou du Diable (Quebec, Canada) ▪ Mahr’s (Germany) ▪ Marina (Catalonia, Spain) ▪ Midtfyns (Denmark) ▪ Mikkeller (Denmark) ▪ Mjodhamnen (Sweden) ▪ Naparbier (Spain) ▪ Nøgne Ø (Norway) ▪ Page 24 (France) ▪ Pays du Flamand (France) ▪ Prairie Artisan Ales (USA) ▪ Pretty Things (USA) ▪ Rappi Bier Factory (Switzerland) ▪ Renaissance (New Zealand) ▪ Ridgeway (England) ▪ Saint Somewhere (USA) ▪ Struise (Belgium) ▪ ‘t Hofbrouwerijke (Belgium) ▪ The Drunk Monk (Belgium) ▪ The Monarchy (Germany) ▪ Thiriez (France) ▪To Øl (Denmark) ▪ Toccalmatto (Italy) ▪ Trois Dames (Switzerland) ▪ Yeastie Boys (New Zealand)

12% Imports breweries 2013
Beachwood BBQ & Brewing (USA) ▪ Evil Twin Brewing (Denmark/USA) ▪ Stillwater Artisanal (USA) ▪ Omnipollo (Sweden) ▪ Gueuzerie Tilquin (Belgium) ▪ Brouwerij Hof ten Dormaal (Belgium) ▪ Hopfenstark (Canada) ▪ Brasserie Cazeau (Belgium) ▪ Local Option (USA) ▪ Brouwerij Emelisse (Netherlands) ▪ Nomada Brewing Company (Spain) ▪ Westbrook Brewing (USA)  

Local breweries 2013
Allagash ▪ Bull Jagger (TBC) ▪ Maine Beer Co. • Maine Mead Works • Marshall Wharf ▪ Oxbow ▪ Rising Tide

2012 breweries
8 Wired • AeppelTreow • Against the Grain • Agullons • Anchorage Brewing • Bad Attitude • Baird • Beer Here • Blaugies • Brodie • Buxton • Cambridge Brewing • Cantillon • CCM • Celestial Meads • Christoffel • Cidrerie Traditionnelle du Perche • Crooked Stave • De Graal • De la Senne • Devil's Brew • De Molen • De Ranke • Dock Street • Dieu du Ciel! • Freigeist • Hogan's • Haand • High & Mighty • Hill Farmstead • Hofbrouwerijke • Huvila/Malmgard • Jandrain • Jester King • Jolly Pumpkin • Kerkom • Kissmeyer • Les Trois Mousquetaires • Le Trou du Diable • Mahr's • Middlemiss • Midtfyn's • Mikkeller • Nest/Schelde • Nøgne Ø • Oliver's • Page 24/St. Germain • Pretty Things • Ridgeway • Saint Somewhere • Sixpoint • Slaapmutske • Struise • Thiriez • Tø Øl • Trois Dames • Weissenohe • West County • Yeastie Boys/Renaissance • Local Option • Cabinet Artisanal Brewhouse • Brouwerij De Dochter Van De Korenaar • Evil Twin Brewing • Brouwerij ‘t Gaverhopke • Hopfenstark • Omnipollo • Hof ten Dormaal • Stillwater Artisanal Ales • Gueuzerie Tilquin • Bierbrouwerij Emelisse • Huisbrouwerij Sint Canarus • Brasserie de Cazeau • 'Proef' Brewery

At Infinity brewpub.

L-R: Jean Cantillon, Jason Perkins, Rob Tod, Tom Peters, Yvan De Baets, Stephane Mahrs.

Infinity brewpub.

The harbor.

Oysters and beer at Eventide.

Lunch at Eventide, after Friday afternoon set up.

Probably hauled b'tatahs back in the day. Ayyuh.

Ice is nice.

Sour at Infinity.

Transwesteit, De Struise collaboration, at Infinity.

Infinity brewpub, the Thursday before The Festival began.

Lunch at Portsmouth Brewery, on the way up.

Chase from Prairie on the left.

A true Prairie home companion!

This looks shadey... what are you up to, Andrew?

Room #2.

Far right, Urbain from De Struise.

Ron of Jester King on the right.

The men from Mahr's with Miss Maine -- Mahr's needs women...?

In room #2.

100 barrels of beer on the wall, 100 barrels of beer... at Allagash.

Choose your Allagash Coolship poison.

Duck pond next to Allagash.

Beneath Allagash's massive fermentors.

Post Festival at Novare Res.