The BeerCast

BeerCast episode 8 sees our panellists return to Europe, and to one of the countries many people think of when they think of decent beer. Germany has the second highest number of breweries in the world (behind the USA), and thanks to strict purity laws – the fabled Reinheitsgebot – produces some seriously decent beer. For this edition, we try four different styles, with firstly the ubiquitous German pilsener, Beck’s (5.0%). Up next is a Weizen from Munich’s Franziskaner brewery (5.0%), then a Dunkel from the giants of Erdinger (5.6%). Finally we wrap up with one to file under ‘acquired taste’ – the Marzen variety of Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier (5.1%). On the panel this week – which turns out to be one of the most interesting scorewise – are Grooben, Richard, the returning MrB, and Shovels, who starts everything off in true German style…by asking for directions?

1. Beck’s Pilsener (5%abv)
Brauerei Beck GmbH & Co, Bremen.
220ml glass bottle

The Bremen brewery was founded in 1873 by three men – Messers Beck, May and Rutenberg. After the latter two left, Beck perservered under the purity laws and continued producing beer. He was saved by two factors – the sudden popularity of the Czech-style Pilsener beer (which he happened to be producing), and the ease of distributing products from Bremen via the River Weser and the North Sea. Growing from strength to strength, in 2002 the brewery was taken over by Belgian behemoths InBev for a cool US$2bn. Beck’s pilsener is still produced under the Reinheitsgebot laws (i.e. beer must only contain water, barley, hops and yeast), and last year the hard-working Bremenites churned out 34m cases of the stuff.

What They Say – “This classic German pilsener carries a distinctive full-bodied taste, with a fresh ‘hoppy’ bouquet, golden colour and a rich full head. But the taste doesn’t end there – with a slightly fruity but firm crispness, this exciting blend of intriguing flavours ends with a clean, dry finish.” [Official Website]

What We Say…
MrB – I prefer this to many other lagers, it’s quite refreshing 8
Grooben – It’s just a lager, and it smells weird 6
Shovels – Even in a blind tasting I’d still know it was Beck’s 6
Richard – Has a ‘green’ smell, it’s less worse than it was 6

2. Franziskaner Weissbier Kristallklar (5.0%abv)
Spaten-Franziskaner-Bräu GmbH, Munich.
500ml glass bottle

In 1363 Seidel Vaterstetter set up a brewery in the Bavarian capital of Munich. The city takes it’s name from the number of monks who inhabited it at the time, so Herr Vaterstetter decided to name his fledgling company ‘Franziskaner’ after the monastery over the road. Today their Weissbier is the third best selling in the world, and the laughing friar on the label chuckles out from beer shop shelves all over the globe. Munich is also going places, being recently named the 8th best city in the world in which to live, although it’s also Germany’s most expensive in which to do so. Rather fittingly, Munich’s UK twin town is Edinburgh, home of the BeerCast. Will that win it any extra points?

What They Say – “This fresh, golden coloured and crystal-clear wheat beer is characterized by a certain citrousity and softness. The light, bubbly, and slightly acidic Franziskaner Kristall is an excellent thirst quencher and refreshing beverage delight. Kristallklar is a delicately bitter weiss beer for everyone who wants a fresh wheat beer without cloudiness.” [Official Website]

What We Say…
Richard – A nice wheatbeer, not flowery like some of the others 7
MrB – It smells like dishwasher tablets – I prefer Erdinger 6
Shovels – It’s not great, but not bad. I’d struggle to finish a pint 5
Grooben – This has grown off me the more of it I drink 4

3. Erdinger Weissbier Dunkel (5.6%abv)
Privatbrauerei Erdinger Weißbräu, Erding.
500ml glass bottle

Franziskaner does well to be the world’s third-best selling wheatbeer, but the daddies are undoubtedly Erdinger. A relative newcomer on the scene, they started in 1886 in the Bavarian town of Erding. Only thirty miles from Munich, this sleepy commuter centre houses a brewing giant – as long ago as 1935 they were producing 250,000 litres a year (the figure is now 800,000). But the citizens of Erding like a stein or two, as a town census in 1789 revealed 1700 people, and 11 pubs (one boozer for every 154.5 of them). The panel sampled Erdinger’s Dunkel, which is the German word for ‘dark’. Such beers are characterised by the colour and malty flavour.

What They Say – “Erdinger Weissbier Dunkel is a rich and smooth wheat beer. It owes its full-bodied flavour to the fine hops and dark malt used in its production. The beer is brewed according to an age-old recipe, and its spicy flavour also results from the increased proportion of wort. Maturing in the bottle, this is a real speciality for connoisseurs.” [Official Website]

What We Say…
MrB – I prefer the dark German beers, this is lovely stuff 9
Richard – Wheatbeer taste up front with more going on behind 8
Grooben – Dark, subtle, an edge of malt – one of the nicest 8
Shovels – Nice smoky porter taste to it but not overpowering 7

4. Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier [Marzen] (5.1%abv)
Brauerei Schlenkerla, Bamberg.
500ml glass bottle

If you wander the historic cobbled streets of the Franconian town of Bamberg, you might be lucky and come across the Schlenkerla brewery tavern (it’s in Dominikanerstrasse). This classic Bavarian eatery is a half-timbered, geranium-clad hostelry of the oldest style. It’s here that the ‘original’ smokebeer is produced, by mixing beechsmoked malts with water and hops. The name Schlenkerla derives from the German verb to dangle, as 19th Century proprieter Andreas Graser apparently walked in a strange way due to a disability – the symol of the brewery is an old timer wobbling along with a cane in one hand and a giant beer in the other.

What They Say – “Even if the brew tastes somewhat strange at the first swallow, do not stop, because soon you will realize that your thirst will not decrease and your pleasure will visibly increase. Many have tried to describe Schlenkerla, but no comprehensive description is possible, one has to experience it to understand!” [Official Website]

What We Say…
Grooben – Past the smoky bacon crisp taste, has a certain charm 7
Richard – Woodsmokey; persevere and it’s by no means awful 6
Shovels – It grows on you – a 2 at first, but rising to a 5
MrB – It’s like drinking hotdogs in a blender, it turns my stomach 0

BeerCast panel verdict

Erdinger Weissbier Dunkel – 32/40
Beck’s Pilsener – 26/40
Franziskaner Krystallklar – 22/40
Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier – 18/40

Panellists – (from top left) Shovels, Grooben, MrB, Richard

• Listen to the episode here: BeerCast #8 – Das DeutscheCast
• Subscribe to the podcasts in iTunes or our site feed

We’ll be back in a couple of weeks with our extravagant BeerCast Christmas Special. Stay tuned for details…and please leave us comments on the blog or iTunes, or emails. Cheers!

‘Beers of the World’ magazine is one of the industry glossies that sings the praises of the planet’s favourite beverage. I’ve not read one, but apparently they have the usual brewing news and tasting notes on a series of beers. They sponsor annual gongs – the World Beer Awards – the latest winners of which were announced last Friday. Several BeerCast favourites were amongst those collecting trophies, so time for a quick run down of the brews highlighted by Roger Protz (the man gets around) and the panel.

World’s Best Ale
Bitter & Twisted, Harviestoun Brewery, Alva (Sco) 4.2%
Roughly 30 miles from BeerCast HQ in Edinburgh, Harviestoun are one of Scotland’s best brewers. Bitter & Twisted is possibly my favourite beer, so to see it given the coveted ‘best ale’ award was fantastic (it came through the tough pale ale category). By some co-incidence, the night of the announcement half of the BeerCasters were in Kays polishing off a large amount of Harviestoun’s other cracker, Schiehallion, which is simply wonderful on cask.

World’s Best Lager
Budvar Dark, Budweiser Brewery (Cze) 4.7%
Original and best, the Czech Budweiser brewery came out on top in the lager category with their dark beer. Our panellist MrB assures us that it’s seriously good stuff, and rest assured Lagerboy will be looking out for it soon to review. If it’s anything like their lighter coloured Budvar, it’s going to be tremendous.

World’s Best Stout/Porter
Obsidian Stout, Deschutes Brewery, Oregon (USA) 6.4%
American porters are highly rated, and the brewery in Bend, Oregon, now has the world’s best example. Named after the planet’s largest expanse of the shiny black rock, which conveniently occurs just near the town, Obsidian Stout is a ‘satisfying beer with underlying espresso and chocolate flavours’. We’d love to try one, if only we could find it over here. However, the runner up was Fuller’s London Porter, which we’ll be sampling in an upcoming podcast.

World’s Best Wheat Beer
Grolsch Weizen, Grolsch Brewery (NL) 5.3%
I have to say that Grolsch lager is truly awful stuff, so surprising that their wheat beer is deemed worthy of an award by the panel – particularly with the quality of wheat beers from Germany or Belgium. Still, the panel of experts clearly know what they are doing, so hats off to Grolsch. Or should that be ‘strange bottle tops’ off to Grolsch?

In the minor categories – i.e. the beers that didn’t quite get through to snare one of the top four prizes, notables for us have to be the Meantime brewery in Greenwich collecting an impressive haul – their best in show chocolate stout is currently in my cupboard ready for our upcoming London BeerCast. Edinburgh’s Caledonian Golden Promise won the award for ‘Best Experimental beer’ – we sampled that local beauty in BeerCast Episode 1 (thankfully for us we gave it the highest score). Also the award for ‘Best Fruit Beer’ went to Cain’s Raisin Beer from Liverpool (BeerCast Episode 3). Not bad for prune juice, eh Shovels?

2007 Beers of World winners

Mull is the second largest of the Inner Hebridean islands off the west coast of Scotland, and although whisky is the major concern in those parts, beer is also available if you go looking. I was there a couple of months ago, and managed to locate some bottles from the local Isle of Mull Brewery. Just the bottles though, the brewery is tucked away behind a cafe bar at the southern end of Tobermory, and I couldn’t find it. They started in May 2005, and have a five barrel plant in Ledaig where they release a steady range of ales such as Terror of Tobermory, and their Island Pale Ale.

There’s no beer shop in Tobermory to speak of (which is the main town on the island), but the Tescos branch there sells a few varieties, as does a nearby deli, and the ironmongers further up the quayside – which is a first in my experience. I went there on the final day of my trip, trying to find the Mull IPA, but alas all I could find in the three retailers was a paltry two varieties of the Mull brewery’s range – McCaig’s Folly Dark Ale, and Galleon Gold Blonde. So I snapped those up, and went off to catch the ferry back to Oban on the mainland.

McCaig’s Folly is named after the circular tower that dominates Oban (and is pictured on the label). Built by a local industrialist at the turn of the century, it was planned to rival the colosseum in Rome, with a museum and art gallery in the centre. But when he died in 1902 the project was abandoned with only the outer walls completed. The beer is similarly empty, with not much going on. At 4.2%abv, it pours reddish brown, and tastes slightly gassy – almost like a watered down 80/-. It’s drinkable, but summed up in a single word – insipid.

Thankfully the Galleon Gold is far superior. A 5% straw coloured blonde ale, it’s named after a local legend involving a ship of the Spanish Armada. After they were routed by the Royal Navy, the surviving vessels fled around the entire British coastline – many coming to grief on rocks off Scotland or Ireland. The Florenica was moored in Tobermory harbour in 1588 when it suddenly exploded and sank. Reputedly part of the cargo was £300,000 of gold bullion, and it still lies somewhere off the Mull coastline. The ale might not be as valuable, but it’s got a mellow vanilla flavour to it, and is really rather good.

Thanks to everybody who has been in contact with us here at the BeerCast, we love receiving emails and comments. As we’ve been going for almost seven months it’s probably time for a bit of housekeeping and site news, in between the podcast posts and other beer news (and we’re hoping to record our German BeerCast sometime this week).

We’re now well over 1000 hits and climbing – sadly we didn’t have a prize for our 1000th guest, but the person at Edinburgh Uni who found us by Googling for ‘Bar with Canadian Beer Edinburgh’ hopefully found what he/she wanted. Although I can’t think of any off the top of my head. Hopefully they read our Edinburgh pub guide and ended up somewhere cosy and welcoming. And speaking of which, we’re thinking of other cities for pub guides, so watch this space.

Our BeerCast panel may be expanding in the near future, so keep listening for new podcast guests and bloggers. We’ve now covered 26 beers in all, ranging from the top ranked Coniston Bluebird and Daleside IPA (both scoring 80%), to the outstandingly awful Rodenbach Grand Cru (3%). Panellist Grooben has volunteered to test this independently and report back, just to see if the podcasters sampled one that was off. Stay tuned for that. We’re also amazed at our position on iTunes (we were the 8th most popular beer podcast at one point), given that we’ve only put out seven episodes that’s fantastic. Don’t forget to leave us a comment on our iTunes page.

Also we’re in the process of moving things to a new domain – we’ve splashed out on a proper URL (www.thebeercast.com), so once we’ve got a design up and running (expect an email Edd!) we’ll pull ourselves away from the good people at Blogger and go it alone. For those of you into social networking – and let’s face it, who isn’t? – you can also find the BeerCast on MySpace and Facebook. Come and say hi, add us as a friend, leave us filthy comments. It’s all part of the fun.

Anyway, we’ll be back on the beer soon, thanks again for listening/reading the BeerCast, and special thanks to all the brewers who have emailed us about our tasting sessions. If any others have ideas about what beers we should try, or suggestions for episodes or themes, please get in touch via the email address. Cheers!

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Japan has a long and proud history of brewing, and after our European-based early editions, the BeerCast has flown 6000 miles to explore some of their creations. Episode 7 was intended to be our German spectacular – but the lure of Ji-biru proved too strong, and the running order has been somewhat altered. For this episode our panel sample four genuine Japanese beers, three of which were purchased by Richard on a recent trip to Tokyo. Thankfully some information can be gleaned about a few of them, but the Minoh Seasonal beer was almost a complete unknown quantity – but not an unpleasant one, as it turned out. On the panel this week are Richard, Shovels, Andy and Grooben – recently departed from Vancouver and back in Edinburgh (therefore we have a vacancy for a BC BeerCaster. Unless CraigAS wants to take responsibility for the entire country…) Anyway, on with the biru. Irashaimase!!!

1. Yebisu Premium (5%abv)
Sapporo Brewery, Hokkaido.
334ml glass bottle

OK, hands up – this one was bought in Edinburgh. But it was brewed in Japan, as Yebisu (pronounced “Ebisu” is part of the behemoth Sapporo Corporation. First produced in Meguro, Tokyo, in 1890 by the Japan Beer Brewing Company, it was eventually acquired by the Hokkaido outfit, and was resurrected in 1971. As one of the country’s oldest brands, Yebisu is marketed as Sapporo’s luxury product (which explains why we could find it in our local beer retailer rather than any of Sapporo’s other brews). It is named after the eponymous God from Japanese mythology, one of the seven Gods of Fortune. Yebisu is depicted on the label in his usual guise, a portly fisherman with a giant carp under his arm (as he is also the protector of those who catch fish). Will our panel put it in the keepnet, or throw it back?

What They Say – “Well known as a beer with a touch of class. Lavished with select aroma hops from Bayern, Yebisu is mellowed over a long period to be a 100% malt premium beer, with select aroma hops producing a pleasant bitterness without any aftertaste. Yebisu has been, and will be, a brand that contributes to the creation of Japanese beer culture.” [Official Website]

What We Say…
Richard – Not a bad malty lager, it doesn’t linger at all 7
Grooben – More to it than some, but it’s not exceptional 6
Shovels – This is just a standard lager really 5
Andy – Has a feeling rather than an aftertaste 5

2. Angry Boy Brown Ale (6.2%abv)
Baird Brewery, Numazu.
360ml glass bottle

The rest of the beers were purchased from the wonderful Tanakaya shop in Mejiro, Tokyo. Baird beers featured quite heavily in their selection, so I plumped for ‘Angry Boy’ Brown Ale to see what the Japanese do with a classic English style. “We will not brew vapid beer” promises the Baird website, which can only be a good thing. Founded in 2000 by husband and wife team Bryan and Sayuri Baird, they produce a wide range of varying beers from their Shizuoka base. With an admirable philiosophy of ‘celebrating beer’, we had high hopes for this one.

What They Say – “Angry Boy is a brown ale that doesn’t quite fit in; it is bigger, bolder, hoppier and more complex than most. It has, if you will, an angry edge. It is somewhat sweet and very full-bodied in the mouth but piquantly bitter and warming in the finish. If you are feeling angst, this is your brew.” [Official Website]

What We Say…
Shovels – Plenty going on there, I really like it 7
Richard – This would reward you the more of it you had 7
Grooben – Has a North American brown ale feel to it 6½
Andy – It jumps in your mouth and throws a tantrum, but not an unpleasant one 6

3. Hitachino Nest Sweet Stout (4%abv)
Kiuchi Brewery, Naka.
330ml glass bottle

The Japanese are highly aware of presentation, and the next beer sampled comes with a label designed around an appealing owl logo. Hitachino Nest Beers are the range from the Ibaraki-based Kiuchi Brewery, and amongst their wares at Tanakaya I came across a Sweet Stout. The BeerCast has yet to come to grips with one of those, so into the basket it went. Founded in 1823 this sake producer only took up the challenge of making beer in 1996. After their successes, the enterprising company turned their hands to wine, planting vineyards near their premises. Their stout is augmented with added Lactose, the sugar derived from milk. This can’t be consumed by yeast during the fermentation process, so these types of beers have a certain characteristic sweetness about them.

What They Say – “A perfect mixture of coffee, chocolate, and roasted flavours in the nose and on the palate. No bitterness, but sweet notes throughout to the very finish.” [Official Website]

What We Say…
Grooben – Pleasingly subtle and growing on me 7
Andy – Dark flavours but with the volume turned down 7
Richard – Tastes like an old style stout, not too sweet 7
Shovels – Got the burnt toast of a Porter, it’s very nice 6

4. Minoh Seasonal Beer (5.5%abv)
AJI Brewery, Minoh.
320ml glass bottle

Minoh is 15km north of Japan’s second city, Osaka, and home of the Aji Brewery. They release a wide variety of beers on the local market, including some unusual brews infused with hemp seeds (called Ganja High), and grapes (Cabernet Ale). Minoh Seasonal Beer gives little away on the bottle as to the contents (at least, it does for the non-Japanese reading buyer), but according to the brewery website is their Belgian-style blonde ale. Given the BeerCast’s recent double-entry forage into the world of Belgian beer, it was always going to be an interesting exercise in comparison.

What They Say – “副原料は使用せず、ベルジャン酵母特有の柔らかなフルーツ香と複雑なス パイシーさが特徴です” [Official Website]

What We Say…
Grooben – Just as good as other global Belgian style beers 8
Andy – Light, fruity and refreshing 7½
Shovels – Very similar to Belgian beer, very nice 7
Richard – They’ve got this spot on – it’s very drinkable 7

BeerCast panel verdict

Minoh Seasonal Beer – 29½/40
Hitachino Sweet Stout – 27/40
Baird Angry Boy Brown Ale – 26½/40
Yebisu Premium – 23/40

Panellists – (from top left) Grooben, Richard, Andy, Shovels

• Listen to the episode here: BeerCast #7 – Turning Japanese
• Subscribe to the podcasts in iTunes or our site feed

We’ll be back in a couple of weeks with Episode 8. Stay tuned for details…and please leave us comments on the blog or iTunes, or emails. Cheers!