In February Paul Taddei (B. United International) and I had the opportunity, and the pleasure, of traveling to Europe to engross ourselves in the minds of some of the brightest brewers and cider producers in the world. Our journey was slated to begin in Saignelégier, Switzerland – a small town nestled in the mountains of the Jura. Unfortunately Paul’s arrival was delayed by conditions in Boston that are best characterized as Siberian. I headed to the snowy Jura mountains alone and soon found myself navigating the windy B-Roads of this stunningly bucolic region of Switzerland. After a long drive I arrived at Brasserie Franches-Montagnes (BFM) where I met Jêromé Rebetez. My several days with Jerome revealed to me his unique vision of beer. There are few that see beer in the way that Jerome does and this quickly became evident. For example BFM’s La Meule appears to be a simple golden ale, however, when you delve deeper you realize it is far from that. Upfront the beer is brightened by a noble hop bill but slowly the herbaciousnesss from the addition of sage begins to build. Peaking in the finish, the sage compliments a similarly intense hoppy bitterness that concludes this refreshing and eye opening beer.
After tasting most of Jerome’s beers together I realized they all shared a similar characteristic – poise. Each beer is so well structured and calculated; they push stylistic envelopes with grace. Despite this, BFM’s beers are far from lacking in passion and nothing more perfectly demonstrates that then Abbaye de Saint Bon Chien. This artfully blended sour beer is one of dazzling complexity – a beer that you can get lost in for hours. One of the most striking aspects of BFM itself is the sheer number of barrels for Jerome’s various projects. For Abbaye de Saint Bon Chien, Jerome fills his many wine (and other) barrels with a base beer that is closest in style to a Belgian tripel or Biere de Garde. This base beer was brewed specifically for ASBC and was made to be extremely receptive to aging in barrel. Jerome let me taste this base straight from the fermentation tank, it had echoes of Bon Chien but it was evident to me that this was the fresh, blank canvass. After an extended period of aging, Jerome tastes every barrel and then blends as many as is required to make Abbaye de Saint Bon Chien. Jerome says the average blend is upwards of 13 barrels. He had me (attempt) to create a blend from unblended ASBC taken from four different barrels (a rum barrel, a Vin Jaun barrel, a Sauvingon Blanc, and what appeared to be a red wine barrel). I failed quite miserably at this exercise. Jerome took a sip of each and, the maestro of barrels that he is, had a blend down in about 2 minutes. It was quite a sight. After much cheese, bread and charcuterie, it was time to leave Switzerland and head back to Germany. After meeting up with Paul, who had successfully escaped the Arctic conditions in Boston, we headed to Kelheim, Germany.
In Kelheim we visited Schneider-Weisse, a brewery teeming with history and renown. The Schneider family has run the brewery since its inception in 1872 when Georg Schneider I purchased the rights to brew wheat beer from the ruling Dukes of Bavaria who had previously owned a monopoly on the style. The Schneider family stayed true to the style and never once deviated from its historical, stylistic roots. Today Schneider continues to brew that same beer alongside a prodigious line-up of modern permutations of this historical style. When in Kelheim, we meet with Hans-Peter Drexler, Schneider’s Brewmaster. His tour of the brewery showed us just how dynamic Schneider is. Despite its deep historical roots, Schneider is packed with pieces of technology that look like they came straight out of Star Wars – their yeast propagation system and the bespoke cryo-concentration system to aid in the production of Eisbock, are nothing short of baffling. While Schneider does possess these space age systems, their basic brewing ethos has never changed. Its open top fermentation vessels are massive and would not have been much different in 1872. These fermenters are a necessity for wheat beer as they allow for greater ester and phenol production. These fermentation vessels also serve another purpose – easy removal of the krausen. The krausen is the rocky layer of foam that forms during fermentation. The krausen is usually composed of hop resins and coagulated proteins – it does not taste pleasant. Open fermentation allows for Hans-Peter and his team to easily scrape off this bitter and undesirable element. Once primary fermentation is complete, the beer goes straight into bottle with a small percentage (%10) of unfermented wort. This sweet addition will restart fermentation in the bottle and create the carbonation that is so characteristic of this Bavarian wheat beer.
After seeing the main brewery floor and the fermenters, Hans-Peter took us to the barrel room. Here, in what was once Schneider’s malting room, one of their latest creations is resting – Cuvee Barrique. This small, dark room is packed with used wine barrels inside of which a blend of Aventinus and Aventinus Eisbock are resting. Cuvee Barrique spends around 10 months in barrels and the resultant liquid is one that still retains a distinctly Aventinus taste of fruity, clove like phenols but is completely transformed by the bacteria and wild yeast which it encounters in the oak. The sourness is linear but never sharp. The barrels add a building acidity that plays very nicely with the classically Schneider phenol signature. Hans-Peter presides over a vast range of beers and does so with immense precision. The beers of Schneider Weisse will always be rooted in their history but Schneider’s forward-looking experimentation, coupled with great brewing acumen has kept Schneider on the forefront of beer world.
Bamberg was next on the itinerary. The city of Bamberg, Germany is locked in time. Buildings like the Altenburg Castle, Michaelsberg Abbey, the Bamberg cathedral, and the old town hall built in the middle of the Regnitz River define this city’s charming medievalism. Bamberg is home to Aecht Schlenkerla. The Trum family has run this brewery for 6 generations and the first mention of the brewery was in 1405. Schlenkerla is an institution in Bamberg and it is central to the city’s rich medieval history. Matthias Trum, the brewmaster and owner of Schlenkerla, is also a historian. His passion for history is as intense as his passion for beer. His brewery is a piece of living history. Schlenkerla’s smoking/mlating procedure is an ancient one. Before the industrial revolution swept Europe, smoking was the only way to malt barley. This was the method used all across Europe. This was typically accomplished with the most common local fuel source. In Scotland for example, peat moss was used; in Bamberg, Beechwood was used. With the onset of the industrial revolution came the common use of coal. Wood had become expensive; coal had become the common heat source. Coal and heat exchangers removed smoke from the malting equation. This was also around the time of the invention of the pilsner style as well as filtration systems. This new malting method was expensive however and as a result, malting operations were outsourced to maltsters. Within 100 years, every brewery was buying malt from maltsters.
Schlenkerla, however, never changed. They still malt their barley over a direct heat source, as they did 1405. Beechwood is used in the majority of their beer (save for the dopplebock which is oak smoked and Helles which is un-smoked). Schlenkerla sources all of their Beechwood from a nearby forest, where it has been harvested for centuries. Franconia, the region Bamberg is in, was very conservative. The industrial revolution never really reached Bamberg and its population density remained low. Bamberg also has a very traditional structure of family breweries. Even today, this is still the case. ¼ of all German breweries are within an hour’s drive of Bamberg. Furthermore, the neighboring Beechwood forest was still the easiest source for fuel. Schlenkerla never changed and is the same as it was centuries ago.