In reality this is just another of my dull posts that consists of little other than a table of numbers. It's amazing how I get away with so few words. Must be my animal charm. But there's so much more than just a German IPA in this table. There's a hatfull of other weird styles. Even I have no idea what half of them are. Dünnbier, Gewönliche Bier, Josty'sches Bier, Lebuser Bier. If you have any idea what the hell these might be, please let me know.
What's more surprising? How many top-fermenting styles there were in Germany or how little trace most have left? For me, it's the latter.
More German Top-fermenting beers | ||||||||
Year | Brewer | Beer | Style | Acidity | FG | OG | ABV | attenuation |
1849 | Doppelbier | Doppelbier | 5.29 | |||||
1849 | Doppelbier | Doppelbier | 3.83 | |||||
1849 | Doppelbier | Doppelbier | 4.36 | |||||
1849 | Doppelbier | Doppelbier | 3.93 | |||||
1853 | Zacherlbräu, München | Doppelbier | Doppelbier | 1026.0 | 1076.1 | 6.50 | 65.83% | |
1849 | Dünnbier | Dünnbier | 3.58 | |||||
1849 | Rose, | Gewönliche Bier | Gewönliche Bier | 2.60 | ||||
1849 | Rose, | Gewönliche Bier | Gewönliche Bier | 2.35 | ||||
1849 | Ziegenhain | Gewönliche Bier | Gewönliche Bier | 3.21 | ||||
1850 | Unknown | Quedlinburger Gose | Gose | 0.85 | 1017.4 | 1044.9 | 3.56 | 60.25% |
1890 | Unknown | Goslarsche Gose | Gose | 1020.0 | 1058.0 | 6.25 | 65.51% | |
1849 | Wöllnitz | Gose? | Gose | 3.04 | ||||
1870 | Unknown, | IPA | 1014.4 | 1066.2 | 6.76 | 78.25% | ||
1850 | Unknown, | Josty'sches Bier | Josty'sches Bier | 1010.1 | 1030.8 | 2.68 | 66.67% | |
1850 | Unknown | Lebuser Bier | Lebuser Bier | 1.19 | 1025.5 | 1039.4 | 1.77 | 34.31% |
1849 | Lichtenhain | Lichtenhainer | Lichtenhainer | 3.59 | ||||
1886 | Lichtenhainer | Lichtenhainer | Lichtenhainer | 0.238 | 1016.6 | 1036.8 | 3.75 | 54.10% |
1898 | Lichtenhainer | Lichtenhainer | Lichtenhainer | 0.207 | 1007.7 | 1031.2 | 3.04 | 74.65% |
1890 | Unknown | Lichtenhainer | Lichtenhainer | 1012.7 | 1043.3 | 3.96 | 70.66% | |
Sources: "Chemie der menschlichen Nahrungs- und Genussmittel" by Joseph König, 1879, pages 147 - 158 “Archive der Pharmacie”, 1855, pages 216-217 "Handbuch der chemischen technologie" by Otto Dammer, Rudolf Kaiser, 1896, pages 696-697 "Bericht über die Entwickelung der chemischen Industrie während des letzten Jahrzehends" by August Wilhelm von Hofmann, 1877, page 382 Handwörterbuch der reinen und angewandten Chemie by Justus Liebig, Johann Christian Poggendorff, Friedrich Wöhler, 1858, page 1038 “Archive der Pharmacie”, 1855, pages 216-217 Wahl & Henius, pages 823-830 "Handbuch der chemischen technologie" by Otto Dammer, Rudolf Kaiser, 1896, pages 696-697 | ||||||||
What else can I say? "Look how piss-weak most old German styles were".Yes, that'll do. Look how piss-weak most old German styles were. (Repetition. That's a good way of getting up my word count.)
I’d love to know more about that IPA from Bremen. Sadly, that single, bare analysis is all I have. Not to worry. Someone is bound to brew something with that name soon. Most likely in the USA. An IPA using German hops. That's a possibility. Or German Altbier yeast. The creativity of your modern brewer knows no bounds. As long as it doesn't involve coming up with something genuinely new.
Probably more of this crap tomorrow. Unless I can think of a proper topic. (Not much chance of that.)
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14 comments:
Lebuser Bier - sounds like a beer from the town of Lebus, east of Berlin.
Dünnbier - low alcohol beer
Josty'sches Bier - beer from the Josty brewery in Berlin (Prenzlauer Straße)
I can't say much about what those two styles may have been, but dunnbier would translate as "thin beer", so I'm guessing particularly weak and low bodied. Gewonliches bier translates as "ordinary beer". Who the hell knows...
Town Hall Brewpub here in Minneapolis, Minnesota has already made a German IPA. Seemed to be an IPA with German Hops. Don't know about yeast strain.
I think you just gave me an idea for a homebrew project!!
Jeremy, you're right about Josty'sches Bier being from the Josty brewery. Prenzlauer Strasse? Doesn't seem to exist any more.
aperfectpint, IPA with German hops = German IPA. great? That means Barclay Perkins brewed one back in the 1920's. I must fish out one of the recipes with Hallertau.
Joking aside, what would constitute a real German IPA? Just an IPA brewed in Germany? Or an IPA with some typically German ingredients? It's a fascinating philosophical question.
German IPA has been done by at least one american brewer. Sam Adams made what was essentially a Hallertau IPA a few years ago. I beleive it may have been a lager, but as Ron said, how would you really define German IPA? And IPL just sounds silly.
I wonder what the grist would be like for this German made IPA? Munich and Pilsner malts perhaps? I wonder if the resultant beer was closer in flavor/color to Pilsner or Marzen. Was it lagered like Altbier? Hmm...
Very interesting indeed. Occasionally I taste a craft pale ale or IPA that seems to use a predominant German hop of some kind, and the taste never seems right to me. But this may be an instance of learned behaviour.
The fact that German hops were used in some English brewing in the past as you've found, Ron, shows that it fit the English conception of beer where necessary, and in fact all these things are relative.
I would think the German IPA of the 1800's was a copy of a popular English beer as we know occurred also for porter.
Gary
If my very poor German is correct, surely a German IPA would be a KHB - Kaiserliches Hell-Bier.
Helles Reichsbier has a certain ring to it... or maybe Kolonialbier.
It depends whether you imagine German IPA to be an imitation of British IPA, or a German equivalent. It would be like in the parallel-universe stories you used to get in the Superman comics, but with beer. Kolonialbier was invented by Herr Hotschsohn and made with lots of hops to survive the long sea journey to south west Africa ...
Given that Bremen is a port, what's the likelihood of this being English beer just bottled or purchased in Bremen?
I think I might have identified the IPA. There was a brewery in Bremen called the Erste Norddeutsche Actien Ale-und-Porter-Brauerei who were founded in 1868. They definitely made an IPA because Klaus Ehm has a scan of the label on his breweriana collectors' site at klausehm.de.
Barm, that's really cool. You don't have a link to that label image do you?
Just brewing one today... though found your post after having the Brewing idea.
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