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Altbier... yum!

  • Thread starter DavyJones
  • Start date

DavyJones

Is ready to take this hobby to a whole new level
I got a chance to attend a fair in Dusseldorf on Friday, and enjoyed some (and by some I mean A LOT) of yummy Altbier. And... look what else I snagged :-D Now I just have to find someone who sells Alt in the states, so that I can enjoy it when I get home.

IMG_2873.jpg
 
That's great and I hate to admit it, but that was a more appealing day than most of the field trips people describe here.

Some American microbrewers sell alts, at least seasonally. The only German one I see regularly is organic and with a red label. I can't remember the name. It's good, but a former co-worker who knows such things says the best ones are only bottled from a tap, like growlers here, and can't be shipped. One of the homebrew yeast companies sells an alt yeast and I found a recipe and it was one of the best I ever made. If I start brewing again, that'll be one of the first I do.
 
You guys need Beeradvocate accounts: http://beeradvocate.com/articles/260
Alt is good, but I'm a huge Maibock fan myself.

When/if I start brewing again (it needs to cool down first), I'd like to make a mead, because I never have, and it's very oldschool.
 
Pinkus Organic Münster Alt, listed at the bottom of the page PK linked, is the one I was thinking of. Google searches for obscure beers always lead to beeradvocate, but I've never set up an account.

Right before I quit brewing, I bought a lot of honey (I think it was 12 lbs) to make mead, but I never got around to making it. After I went back to school, homebrewing seemed like too much of a chore on top of everything else I either wanted or had to do. People of ordinary ambition levels should find one or two other people also interested in brewing because it'll be a lot easier to keep it going.

Back to DavyJones, since you're so close, you should take a side trip to Belgium, where beer reaches its pinnacle. Maybe it isn't as worthwhile as chasing down alts in Dusseldorf, since lots of Belgian beers are imported here (Stella soesn't count), but there must be some that never make it out of Belgium.
 
the only beer I have EVER tasted that I couldn't even finish was a rauch(sp?) beer, which tasted like a smoked sausage, it was even a bit on the salty side YEEECH

I have a german buddy who brings beer when he visits- there's a LOT of beer in germany that you have to go to specific towns just to buy. He always brings a white beer outta Mannheim called EischBaum, it's freakin excellent :D

Like the Bocks too, mmmm
 
(Stella soesn't count)
I always have to lol when I hear anyone talking about this beer. Everyone in America (well college-age at least) seems to think its really classy and awesome. Perhaps they're fooled by the astronomically ludicrous price tag. Stella is like the Bud Select of Europe. There's a reason it's referred to as "wife-beater". :-))
 
ha same with Corona- that swill is inSANELY expensive and it is swill. a 5 cent lemon wedge does NOT make a crummy beer worth 7+ dollars a bottle
 
Back to DavyJones, since you're so close, you should take a side trip to Belgium, where beer reaches its pinnacle. Maybe it isn't as worthwhile as chasing down alts in Dusseldorf, since lots of Belgian beers are imported here (Stella soesn't count), but there must be some that never make it out of Belgium.

I would love to go travel around to other parts of Europe, but last week I spent all my traveling money on a train ticket to Kiel next weekend. I'm very excited, I have yet to see any of northern Germany. I should do some beer research before I head up there, to see what is good.
 
Good luck in Kiel and it's always worth trying local products where ever you go, whatever the product is. When I was in Florida a couple weeks ago, I was disappointed at how hard it was to find local beers on tap or even in a bottle at restaurants the family wanted to go to. But they all had @#$%^& Corona. I fell prey to that Stella allure my freshman year (drinking age was 18 then, kiddies) but got over it. By the way, is anyone surprised that Stella, Budweiser and Corona will be cousins after all the recent mergers/acquisitions?
 
  • #10
Right before I quit brewing, I bought a lot of honey (I think it was 12 lbs)

What did you do with all that honey?
 
  • #11
By the way, is anyone surprised that Stella, Budweiser and Corona will be cousins after all the recent mergers/acquisitions?
I am very disappointed my freshman beer of choice (Beck's) is involved in that merger. Back when I lived in Bremen, it was still locally owned, and only cost a Euro if you went to the right bars. Normally I am not very big on hops, but I love Beck's for some reason.

If you go North, Becks is everywhere and good. If you can find it, grab a Kräusen. It looks like cloudy pee but is one of the awesomest beers I've ever had. Stay away from Jever and Öttinger. Öttinger was the party beer we'd pick up for like 14 Euro for a case of 30 half liter bottles. We still wouldn't touch Jever though.

I can't remember where it's from, but Oberdorfer is another good brand.
 
  • #12
We used some of that honey and I rediscovered 1+ qts of it when cleaning the basement last year. It had turned a deep mahogany brown and, not feeling very brave, I composted it (thinned with a couple gallons of water).

A lot of what used to be good local beers were absorbed into big companies. Many of what we think of as being old European brewers are conglomerates that are busy monopolizing local markets while exporting like mad.
 
  • #13
I can truly say that I never fell for the Stella allure, I don't see what people see in it, I think it is pretty boring. Maybe that's what people like about it, there's nothing special about it. My dad has a co-worker who's favorite beer, no lie, is Keystone Light. Apparently he just can't wait to go home and crack open a stone everynight, and he is certainly not hurting for money. Oh well...
 
  • #14
When/if I start brewing again (it needs to cool down first), I'd like to make a mead, because I never have, and it's very oldschool.

I've been brewing quite a bit recently; I have 10 gallons fermenting right now and about 13 gallons bottled. I also have a mead working which was brewed on Leap Day (Feb 29) and won't be drank until the next Feb 20 (2012). My next mead is going to be a Capsicumel (Chile Mead) as soon as I can get some more honey. wooo
 
  • #15
Not to hijack the thread even further, but what's the temperature where your beer is fermenting nealfor? My basement is in the mid 70s this time of year and and the mid-summer beers I brewed generally weren't as good as what I got the rest of the year, when the temperature varied from the 60s down to the upper 40s in midwinter.

As for the Stella, I could get a case for $12 or a 12 pack of Busch for $5 (Atlanta prices ca 1980). So it wasn't that much more expensive than domestic urine. Or we could go out to the closest bar for $2.50 pitchers, so most of my beer intake came from a glass. Or from a paper cup, since the Atlanta Braves sold big beers (20 oz?) for $2.00. Those were the days. Anyway, I really convinced myself that Stella was something special and, when I tried one a couple years later, I thought someone was playing a joke on me. I tried one again a few years ago and that'll be the final chapter of my Stella experience.

It's great that DavyJones is over there trying the good stuff and I'm jealous of him and of PK, who's been there too.
 
  • #16
Not to hijack the thread even further, but what's the temperature where your beer is fermenting nealfor? My basement is in the mid 70s this time of year and and the mid-summer beers I brewed generally weren't as good as what I got the rest of the year, when the temperature varied from the 60s down to the upper 40s in midwinter.

Mid 60s is generally the best temperature for most beer yeasts; if you get into the mid or high 70s you can easily begin to get some off flavors which is probably what you were experiencing. I'm actually having problems keeping mine under 70 during these summer months so I am going to hack up an old fridge and create a fermentation chamber to keep my fermenters cool. :-O
 
  • #17
some folks keep their beer fermenting in swimming pools or other water-thingies during summer, you could try that too :D
 
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