EveryJoe » paulaner

Battle of the Starkbiers

Chris — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 19:15:23 +0000

Some time ago a few friends and I did a head-to-head comparison of a number of lovely Munich Starkbiers in honor of the end of Lent, and the winner was – Korbinian!

I’ll write a little more about Starkbier later, but you should know that the traditional Munich Starkbiers are all named with names which end in -ator. Korbinian is an exception to this rule, and it isn’t even the beer its brewer, Weihenstephan, mentions with respect to the season known as the “fifth season.” For those of us who tasted it, the winner was clear.
My ranking of the beers we had, for what it’s worth, is as follows:

1. Korbinian (Weihenstefan, a nice balance of heft and taste, with a pleasantly subtle sweetness)
2. Celebrator (Aying, tasty but somehow lacking in comparison to the number 1. A little thinner in taste)
3. Optimator (Spaten, too much heft for my taste, we all agreed one was enough for a single sitting)
4. Salvator (Paulaner, lighter in body and taste than the others, with a lot more sweetness)
5. St Victorious (Victory, I love many of their beers but this wasn’t one of their best efforts. Like the Celebrator mixed with water, too little body for this style)

Post from: EveryJoe

Battle of the Starkbiers

The fifth season approaches

Chris — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 12:52:53 +0000

If you haven’t looked at airfares recently, travel to Europe in the winter is pretty darn cheap (although the exchange rate will make your stay pretty darn pricey). Nonetheless, if you’re looking for a way to spend some of that money on a beer-related trip, Munich’s Starkbierfest may be the answer. The Starkbierfest, also called the fifth season, is a remnant of the days when the monks, fed up with fasting, tapped kegs of extremely thick, high-alcohol beer to get them through the rest of Lent. Nowadays there’s not much fasting going on, but a trip to Paulaner’s Nockherberg during the Starkbierfest is a must for any beer lover. For pictures of the place and the event, check out this webpage (in German).

A word to the wise, though, Starkbier means strong beer, although it doesn’t necessarily taste like it, so drink in moderation. This year’s Starkbierfest starts on February 21 and goes for 17 days, until March 9.

image from Toytown Germany

Post from: EveryJoe

The fifth season approaches

Augustiner

Chris — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 12:50:18 +0000

\r\n\r\nI\’ve mentioned it here and here, but I have always enjoyed Augustiner\’s beers. For those of you who have spent any time in Munich, you\’ll know that Augustiner is not nearly as well represented across the city as Paulaner, Löwenbräu and Spaten, but when you get the chance to order one, do (preferably an Edelstoff, don\’t ask, just order it). Like most Munich beers, the traditional Augustiner is a Munich Helles, so it\’s neither overly hoppy nor heavily malted, but it\’s a crisp, refreshing and eminently drinkable beer.\r\n\r\nSo it was that I ended up at one of the Augustiner tents during my recent trip to the Oktoberfest. As I quaffed my liter of beer, I noticed the beer was in fact quite tasty. Now, with all due respect to Munich\’s favorite festival, it is typically somewhat of a triumph of quantity over quality, so I didn\’t really expect to be wowed by the beer. In any event, I was, and I like to think that it\’s because I stumbled across the only remaining tent at the Oktoberfest which still serves beer out of wooden kegs rather than the more convenience stainless steel. \r\n\r\nI was told this interesting little factoid by my tablemate, a sometime Augustiner employee, before his lips and a good part of his tongue were sucked out of his face by a busty young lass out of Michigan. But I digress. Sure enough, we were sitting right across from the beer taps, and there stood a large wooden cask, behind which were two burly men and a somewhat complex system of ramps to get the thing into place. My lipless neighbor also told me that they go through 12 of those casks in an hour during the Oktoberfest, which I can certainly believe, and that they are a bitch to tap properly. \r\n\r\nIn any event, whether those last facts are correct or not, kudos to Manfred Vollmer, the master of Augustiner\’s Festhalle, for retaining good beer and tradition at the modern Oktoberfest. \r\n\r\nphoto from Oktoberfest.de\r\n

Post from: EveryJoe

Augustiner

The breweries …

Chris — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 14:24:22 +0000

One important detail about the Oktoberfest is the beer tents. The most important thing to know about that is that only Munich breweries may have a tent at the Oktoberfest. That said, there are in fact wine and champagne tents, which are surprisingly popular, as well as smaller “schnapps” tents serving up eau de vie made out of virtually anything which can be distilled. Just for the record, most anything which once lived can be distilled.

In any event, the Munich breweries are, in no particular order: Paulaner, Augustiner-Bräu, Hacker Pschorr, Spaten-Franziskaner Bräu, Löwenbräu, and Hofbräu. As I recall, there was a stink some years back when one of the breweries considered moving all of its brewing out of the city, only to be told that to do so would be to forfeit their place at the Wiesn. They figured out a way to keep some of that brewing in town.

Each tent has a particular personality, with some more popular with tourists (Americans seems to seek out the Löwenbräu and Hofbräu tents) and others much more mellow and laid back (relatively speaking). I prefer the Augustiner beers myself, so I lean towards their tents, but I’ve tried most if not all of them.

photo from Wikipedia

Post from: EveryJoe

The breweries …