Grätzer guidelines update

Now there's a surprise. I hadn't bothered commenting to the Brewers' Association on their Grätzer* guidleines, for the simple reason I didn't expect them to pay me any attention. But someone did**.

And blow me if they didn't change them. Take a look and see what you think:

"Grätzer
Grätzer (also Grodziskie) is a Polish-Germanic pre-Reinheitsgebot style of straw to golden colored ale. Chill haze is allowable at cold temperatures. The distinctive character comes from 100% oak wood smoked wheat malt. The overall balance is a sessionably medium to medium-high assertively oak-smoky malt emphasized beer. Aroma is dominated by oak smoke notes. They have a medium low to medium perceived clean hop bitterness. European noble hop flavor notes are very low to low, and low ester may also be present. Body is low to medium low. A Kölsch-like ale fermentation and aging process lends a crisp overall flavor impression and low degree of ester fruitiness. Sourness, diacetyl, and sweet corn-like DMS (dimethylsulfide) should not be perceived. Historic versions were most often bottle conditioned to relatively high carbonation levels.

Original Gravity (ºPlato) 1.028-36 (7-9 ºPlato) ● Apparent Extract/Final Gravity (ºPlato) 1.006-1.010 (1.5-2.5 ºPlato) ● Alcohol by Weight (Volume) 2.1-2.9% (2.6-3.6%) ● Bitterness (IBU) 15-25 ● Color SRM (EBC) 3-6 (6-12 EBC)"

Are they an improvement? Yes. A bit. It's nice that the classic 7.7º Plato version is now included. But unfortunately that's at the expense of the stronger versions brewed in the 1980's and 1990's. I don't seee why the strength range couldn't have been set to include both.

I'm pleased that it says 100% smoked wheat malt, though after all the discussion in the comments, I was starting to come around to the idea of  a percentage of barley malt being acceptable.

Some things are still just plain wrong. "A Kölsch-like ale fermentation and aging process", for example. I'm not even sure what the first half of that means, but Grätzer definitely wasn't lagered like Kölsch. And the classic version was a good bit hoppier than 15-25 IBU, more like 30-40 IBU. And I still don't get what "pre-Reinheitsgebot" means in this context. As Grodzisk/Gratz was only briefly submitted to it, the Reinheitsgebot is pretty irrelevant.

Overall, a slight improvement, but there's still some way to go. At least the Jopen version I was involved with is now just about to style. I can sleep easily.






* I'm using the word Grätzer for reasons of simplicity. It could just as well have been Grodziskie.
** Zafra Whitcomb