Traditional North German Beers

We're still with Narziss's article on the Reinheitsgebot, but this time looking at top-fermenting beers rather than Lagers.

I'll let Narziss speak first:

"3.1.2. Sugar is permitted in North Germany for the traditional top fermented 'Malt Beers'. Today these beers are brewed with 100% malt to a gravity of 8% and fortified after a limited fermentation and filtration by sugar to 12% gravity. The dark colour is adjusted or corrected by sugar caramel (roasted sugar without ammonia). They are not allowed to be sold in Bavaria as 'Beers', only as 'malt-beverages with sugar". Originally they had to be filled into bottles which could be clearly distinguished from beer bottles. After the Eurobottle was used for softdnnks and even wine (the Vichy bottle as well), this issue has been weakened, it is quite obvious, that even in Germany, there are different regulations, varying from country to country, according to tradition. The addition of sugar to the 'Malt-Beers' (Sucrose, Invertsugar, Sugar Caramel) has to be declared on the label. The sales figures are in ihe region of 1.5%. but they decrease each year. Sugar and saccharine are used in certain areas of North West Germany to fortify the taste of the 'plain beers' (Einfachbiere). They are called 'Sweet' or 'Caramel'; the colour is dark and the gravity in the range of 2.0-5.5% P. They follow an old tradition in this part of the country and are not allowed to be distributed to other areas. The content of sugar and of saccharine must be displayed on the labels. The production of 'beers' containing sugar is supervised by excise officers and controlled by government laboratories as well. The same regulations apply to weak beers which are sweetened with sugar and saccharine. The demand for these beverages is also declining (below 0.03%).

Table II gives a survey on Traditional North German beers which had been on sale before 1914. between the wars and which are available in some areas still today."

TABLE II. Traditional North German Beers
	Name	Strength	Alcohol	Notes
l.	Malt	12% Plato	1.5% w/w	30% sugar plus caramel limited fermentation
2	Fresh or young	Various	_	'Green' beer finished in the household
3	Spontaneous fermentation beers	Strong	Various	Contained some unboiled worts acidic stored like wine before consumption
4	Plain beers (dark)	2-0-5-5% plato	Limited fermentation	Sugar and saccharine added
5	Berliner Weissbier	7-0-8-0% plato	Lactic acid and yeast fermentation +-2% w/w	50% Malted barley 50% Malted Wheat
Today only 5 have survived the sales of 1 are approximately 1.5% of total volume and Ihe others have practically vanished.

Journal of the Institute of Brewing, Volume 90, Issue 6, November-December 1984, page 353.

I'd best re-translate the names back to German before we go any further.

Malt Beer = Malzbier
Plain Beer = Einfachbier

You may notice a similarity between the beer styles mentioned above and those in Dörfel's 1947 manuscript:

Groterjan top-fermenting beer types
beer type	real extract	ABV	OG	special features
Malzvollbier	7-10	1.2-1.8	11-11.5	Includes sugar colouring and sugar
Caramel Einnfachbier	1-2.4	0.7-0.9	4	Includes sugar colouring and Dulcin sweetener
Jung Braunbier	1.8-2.3	0.7-1.2	2-3	Includes sugar colouring and sweetener
Berliner Weissbier	2.7-3.4	2-3.5	7-8	Barley malt and wheat malt, 0.25-0.4% acidity
Feinbitter Starkbier	12	1.2-1.4	16	Includes sugar colouring, heavily hopped, low degree of attenuation
Porterbier	7-9	5-7	18-22	Includes sugar colouring, heavily hopped, more alcohol
Source:
Die Herstellung obergäriger Biere und die Malzbierbrauerei Groterjan A.G. in Berlin, by Braumeister A. Dörfel, 1948, page 20.

I'd always known that Bavaria had a tighter form of the Reinheitsgebot, but not that some products which could be sold as beer in northern States had to be relabelled for Bavaria. I wonder if that's still the case?

I keep having new surprises in relation to old German top-fermenting styles. Today's is the inclusion of spontaneously fermented beers. I'm trying to think what the hell it could be. I know that Gose was spontaneously fermented in the 18th century, but by the 19th century they'd worked out how to brew it by pitching both yeast and lactobacillus, much in the manner of Berliner Weisse.

These styles have been in decline for a century at least. The biggest surprise is that they have hung around at all. But they have. Here are the figures of sales by type in 2009 - 2010:

Off sales by beer type 2009 - 2010
	market share			quantity in hl
	2009	2010	Change in %	2009	2010	Change in %
PILS	55.2	55.1	-0.2	30,566,810	29,860,950	-2.3
EXPORT	10.1	9.8	-3.3	5,586,580	5,288,690	-5.3
WEIZEN	7.9	7.9	0.5	4,371,480	4,300,890	-1.6
BIERMIX	6.5	6.5	0.7	3,589,820	3,538,490	-1.4
HELL	4.5	4.5	0.2	2,507,100	2,459,470	-1.9
ALKOHOLFREI	3.3	3.7	12.9	1,814,090	2,005,330	10.5
KÖLSCH	1.7	1.7	0.3	929,040	912,740	-1.8
SCHWARZ/DUNKEL	1.6	1.6	-2.3	905,230	865,730	-4.4
MALZ	1.2	1.2	1.7	671,010	668,170	-0.4
ALT	1.3	1.2	-3.9	696,750	655,680	-5.9
LAGER	0.9	1	1.2	522,480	517,950	-0.9
LIGHT	0.6	0.6	-0.7	356,380	346,500	-2.8
BOCK	0.5	0.5	-0.7	286,580	278,550	-2.8
MÄRZEN	0.5	0.5	-1.4	280,790	271,050	-3.5
DIÄT	0.3	0.3	-7.2	157,310	142,900	-9.2
BERLINER WEISSE	0	0	14.8	9,060	10,180	12.4
ALLE ANDEREN	3.7	3.8	1.5	2,054,760	2,042,280	0
Source:
Deutscher Brauer Bund
http://www.brauer-bund.de/download/Archiv/PDF/statistiken/110502%20Marktanteile%20Biersortensorten%202009-2010.pdf

Off sales of top- and bottom-fermenting beer
	market share			quantity in hl
	2009	2010	Change in %	2009	2010	Change in %
bottom	74.44%	73.91%	-0.72%	41,169,260	40,031,790	-2.76%
top	12.07%	12.09%	0.12%	6,677,340	6,547,660	-1.94%
total				55,305,270	54,165,550	-2.06%
Source:
Deutscher Brauer Bund (derived from the other figures)

While I'm going table crazy, I may as well include another table from Dörfel's 1947 manuscript. This one shows production of top-fermenting beer by tax class.

German top-fermenting beer production by tax class 1932 - 1937 in hl
year	Einfachbier 3-6.5º Plato	Schankbier 7-8% Plato	Vollbier 11 - 14% Plato	Starkbier 16º Plato	total output of top-fermenting beer	% of total beer output	total output of bottom-fermenting beer	total output of beer
1932	860,000	123,000	920,000	3,000	1,906,000	5.7	31,532,596	33,438,596
1933	680,000	129,000	955,000	2,000	1,764,000	5.2	32,159,077	33,923,077
1934	752,000	110,000	1,193,000	3,000	2,058,000	5.6	34,692,000	36,750,000
1935	797,000	117,000	1,351,000	3,000	2,268,000	5.7	37,521,474	39,789,474
1936	747,000	101,000	1,490,000	4,000	2,342,000	5.9	37,352,915	39,694,915
1937	919,000	117,000	1,814,000	5,000	2,835,000	6.5	40,780,385	43,615,385
Source:
Die Herstellung obergäriger Biere und die Malzbierbrauerei Groterjan A.G. in Berlin, by Braumeister A. Dörfel, 1948, page 3.

I bet not many of you would have expected that the proportion of top-fermenting beer would have doubled between the 1930's and 2010. It's just one type that's been responsible for that growth: Weissbier. Pre-WW II, it was a rarity, hanging on its finger tips. Now it's the third most popular style in Germany.