As you'll be able to see from the label I've so thoughtfully provided as an illustration, it wasn't just sugar that was used to sweeten these beers. They used artificial sweeteners, too. For some reason that was allowed, even in the Reinheitsgebot days. It's amazing how many ingredients - other than the malt, hops, water, yeast - were allowed under the RHG."Süßbier and Malzbier, also Doppelbier and Kraftbier, are without exception dark in colour and have a sweet taste. The latter rests partly on the malt used in their manufacture; the minimum quantity of malt is, for such beers as Malzbier or those beers which have "Malz" in their name and are made with sugar, in the North German Brausteuergebiet legally set at a minimum of 15 kg per hectolitre. The sweet taste in these beers is also partly derived from sugar, which however is not used in all such products. The original gravity of these beers derived from malt differs greatly, however names such as "Doppel-", "Kraft-" and suchlike imply an especially concentrated wort, in whose manufacture at least the amount of malt normally used for bottom-fermenting Lager is employed. The malt is usually high-dried, and contains an addition of up to 10% Karamlemalz. It is coloured with Farbmalz, Farbebier or Biercouleur. Mashing schemes vary greatly and hopping is very light. For fermentation only lightly-attenuating yeast is used; lagering is performed in several ways according to one of the methods described. The addition of sugar, often in the form of a concentrated water solution, which these beers undergo, amounts to between 2 and 5 kg per hectolitre of beer and usually occurs during filling."
"Encyklopädisches Handbuch der technischen Chemie, Volume 4, Part 1", 1915, page 304. My translation.
Broyhan is next. That's the beer I'd most like to see revived. If only I could work out how the hell it was brewed. Maybe we'll find out tomorrow.
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3 comments:
Ron, one of the things I always found odd about modern German beer was the penchant to mix it with Coca Cola or a similar cola drink. Some breweries in Germany offer a cola-and-beer combination amongst their product range. I believe this is less common in other countries. I know that some people make the combination themselves, at home or in the bar.
But in light of this information about the malz beer tradition, I wonder if adding cola to beer was a way to duplicate the palate of the old sweet mum, Dantziger and other high malt and sugar beers. (It might have been a way too to recall the palate of the original Munich style). Sometimes a tradition lives on in altered form. So adding Coke to beer doesn't seem so strange to me now.
I suspect too that the origin of loading beers with malt and sugar is linked to the old practice of sending high-malt beers on board ship for subsequent fermenting or re-fermenting. This was a question which preoccupied British naval authorities in the 1700's for example. Peter Mathias sets out the history in his well-known 1959 book.
A number of these very sweet beers seem to have their origin in northern German cities which are either on the Coast or estuaries or navigable rivers. Even where the beers were made elsewhere in Germany, I wonder if they didn't get there by reputation, similar to how bock beer implanted in Bavaria.
Gary
The description sounds as rank as the Malzbier I had in Muhlhausen in Koeln. Funnily enough I'd assumed it was a modern concoction to appeal to dumbed down tastes - didn't realise it had historical precedent!
Ron, Gilde in Hanover, now owned by InBev, makes a top-fermented beer called Luttje Lagen. Here is a description from its website, www.gildebrau.de. (I left in what I think is a reference to the clear spirit sometimes added by the drinker). I think this may be a successor to Broyan alt but am not sure:
Lüttje Lagen
Original hannoversch
Lüttje Lagen ist die traditionsreichste Schankbier-Spezialität Hannovers und einmalig in Deutschland.
Das Lüttje-Lagen-Trinken ist ein jahrhundertealter Brauch und bis auf den heutigen Tag ein vergnüglicher Spaß auf Schützen-, Sport- und Volksfesten und überall dort, wo sich Freunde am Stammtisch oder zum Skatspiel treffen.
Brauart: obergärig
Biergattung: Schankbier
Stammwürze: ca. 7,5%
Alkoholgehalt: Vol. ca. 2,8%
Gary
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