Franconian Beer Message Board

Brau-Beviale -- First Day
Posted by Nick B. on 2011-11-09 22:58:03
Was nice to run into TreinJan & Gerhard yesterday, of course. They had managed to sample an impressive number of the Beer Star winners by the time I arrived at 13:15. Weyermann's stand is as popular this year as last year ( http://i43.tinypic.com/ji2fe1.jpg ) and their IPA this year is an excellent example of how it should be brewed: with as LITTLE dark (crystal) malt as possible. Dry, pale, bitter, and yes, hoppy. Many Yankobreweries could take a lesson from the Weyermann Versuchsbrauerei on this. Just around the corner, the Schmid Hopfenhandel stand (IIRC) had some new varieties of Hüller hops to play with (very, very oily and fruity aroma--need to find some of this to brew with!) as well as a small keg of a Bavarian Pale Ale under gravity pour. Forgot to ask where it's brewed, but here's the info: http://i40.tinypic.com/2zf785v.jpg They think that 250 g (9 oz) of hops is an impressive quantity for 100 litres...I use about 6 times that rate -- 150 g (5+ oz) with my 25 litre boil size. A nice enough beer, a good attempt. I'll go back again today. Other beer found its way into the mix whilst wandering the halls yesterday, most notably the pale Malheur on tap at the Packo stand in Hall 6 (Belgian beer in Franken! Lovely as I recall it being from 't Brugse Beertje years ago) and bottles of Chimay being served at some large stand or other (didn't bother with that, I can get it by post at home). I never found the stand from the hop dealer in extreme southern Bavaria (?) that offered 4 or 5 different dry-hopped Pilseners last year, each featuring different hop varieties, which were brewed at some little brewery (brewpub?) near Salzburg, where a friend of the Victory (Pennsylvania) team brews. Does anyone else recall this from last year? Was most excellent last year, I hope to find them today...if it's there this year! Perhaps most rewarding of all was not only finding 5 English and Welsh real ales on offer --and in perfect condition-- at the two BFBi stands ( http://i40.tinypic.com/zuqarn.jpg http://i39.tinypic.com/xnsx8l.jpg ) but turning a degreed brewing engineer and Braumeister from Neubrandenburg (Uwe Winkler, Braumeister at the closed former East German brewery Nordbräu, now brewing at http://www.wallensteinkeller-neubrandenburg.de/index.html ) on to real ale and strong, hoppy Yankobeer. He liked the very hoppy, bitter Oakham best, though also the Sneck Lifter (we'll forgive him this). Uwe also found the bottled (and canned) beers on offer at the Hop Growers of America stand to be eye-openers: http://i44.tinypic.com/33cx955.jpg Kiwanda Cream Ale is much more flavourful than I recall it being from a decade or two ago, and yes, you can get a good impression of the Mt. Hood hops through it. "These are not like what we Germans think of American beer." My plan for today was to brew a batch of half-IPA this morning and head to the Messe by 13:00 or so...I think today's brewing will have to be delayed until Saturday.
 
Followups:
       Brau-Beviale -- First Day by Nick B. on  2011-11-10 00:09:44
       Brau-Beviale -- First Day by Barry on  2011-11-10 01:42:56