Thank god for Peter Crombecq. I'd picked up a copy of his book "Biersmaken" when I moved to Amsterdam in 1988. My main reason for buying it was that it had a complete list of Belgian beers. But it also contained a section on objectively tasting beer. It got me intrigued in trying to describe beer flavour and prompted me to start making tasting notes. Which is why I have the brief descrptions in the text below.
Beers
The beers are all bottom-fermented, though the Schmitt brewery in the village of Singen produces a pale top-fermenting beer. Most are unpasteurised and the bottled beer will develop a sediment after 6 to 7 days. They fall into the following general categories:
| Hell | pale and fairly thin |
| Pils | with a bit more body, often quite bitter |
| Pilsator | a bit darker and more like a true Czech Pils |
| Spezial | a premium Pils, the bottled equivalent of Pilsator |
| Bock | a winter beer (available November to January) of about 16% Balling - can vary in colour from amber to black |
| Schwarz | as the name suggests, a dark lager, similar in style to Czech Tmavé Pivo |
The Reinheitsgebot has never been enforced in the DDR, originally due to raw material shortages in the 1950's. Currently, the ordinary pils and hell beers are brewed using about 70% malt and the spezial and bock beers using about 80%. Both use about 10% sugar. Despite this, some of the beers, especially the pilsators, are very characterful and compare favourably with some of the rather inoffensive pils-style beers of the Federal Republic. In fact, with their bitter emphasis, the DDR beers are often more reminiscent of the pale Czech lagers. With the availability of W. German beers in the DDR it is now possible to directly compare the products of the two nations' breweries. In Muhlhausen, for example, beer from Eschwege (about 30km away over the border) is on sale. After a couple of glasses of the excellent local Turmquell Pilsator I tried Eschweger Pils which, although as it proudly proclaimed brewed to the Reinheitsgebot, seemed thin and almost tasteless in comparison.
Breweries
The specific beers, by brewery, in the towns described are as follows:
| Vereinsbrauerei Apolda | |
| Classic | malty with a strong bitter finish |
| Eisenacher Brauerei | |
| Hell | a bit thin and watery |
| Wartburg Pils | sweetish flavour with a bitterish aftertaste |
| Bock | amber coloured, pleasantly malty |
| Braugold Erfurt | |
| Pils | a good, clean, very bitter beer |
| Angerbrau | well-balanced and bitter |
| J. Andreas Klosterbrauerei, Eschwege, Federal Republic | |
| Eschweger Pils | neutral flavour with a slight bitter aftertaste |
| Brauerei Gotha | |
| Pils | thin and bitter |
| Diabetiker | malty aroma and bitter, slightly strange, taste |
| Spezial | bitter aroma and bitter taste |
| Brauerei Jena | |
| Pils | light with a bitter aftertaste |
| Kostritzer Schwarzbierbrauerei, Bad Kostritz | |
| Schwarzbier | Black, fairly sweet and malty |
| Muhlhausen Turmquell (bottled) | |
| Pils | light, rounded malt aroma and bitter taste |
| Spezial | hoppy, slightly acidic flavour, with a bitterish finish |
| Bock | slightly sweet, malty flavour with bitter finish |
| Muhlhausen Turmquell (draught) | |
| Pils | pale and quite bitter |
| Pilsator | malty/fruity aroma with strong bitter finish |
| Brauerei Neunspringe, Worbis | |
| Hell | thin with a slight bitter taste |
| Pils | a bit more body and a bitter finish |
| Pilsator | slight malty/fruity aroma with a hop finish |
| Sternquellbrauerei, Plauen | |
| Pils | thinish but bitter |
| Plaunator | bitter beer with a malty aroma and bitter/buttery finish |
| Pilsator | bitter taste with a full spicy, hoppy finish |
| Bock | sweet and dark with a slight caramel finish |
| Konsum-Brauerei Weimar-Ehringsdorf | |
| Ehringsdorfer Pils | thin but pleasantly bitter |
| Exportbier-Brauerei Wernesgrun | |
| Wernesgruner Pils | malty aroma and bitter aftertaste |
The companies listed above are all VEB (Volkseigener Betrieb) or nationalised firms (apart from the Eschwege brewery, of course), but, especially in the south, there are still several very small private breweries operating. Examples of these are the Brauerei Göpfert in Jüchsen, Brauerei Geßner in Steinach and Brauerei Schmitt in Singen (the smallest brewery in the DDR). The best bet for finding the beers from these breweries is probably to visit their home village.
Wasn't that, er, completely useless? While most of the larger breweries have closed, I was delighted to discover that the three small private breweries mentioned in the last paragraph are all still open:
Brauerei "Zur Goldenen Henne"
Queckgasse 17,
98631 Jüchsen.
Tel: 0170/ 6018260
Fax: 036947/ 50903
Email: webmaster@brauerei-juechsen.de
http://www.brauerei-juechsen.de
Privatbrauerei Gessner
Am Lindenbach 27,
96515 Sonneberg.
Email: info@privatbrauerei-gessner.de
Telefon: 03675/4079-0
Fax: 03675/4079-40
http://www.privatbrauerei-gessner.de/
Brauerei Schmitt
Brauereiweg 1,
99326 Ilmtal OT Singen
Tel: 03629-802556
Email: info @ brauerei-schmitt.de
http://www.brauerei-schmitt.de
If you'd like to try the Schmitt beer, the fasmily runs a pub in the village:
Gasthaus Zum Singer Berg
Friedrich Schönheit Str. 4,
99326 Ilmtal.
Tel: 03629-802244
Fax: 03629-8379127
http://www.gasthaus-singerberg.de/
Nice to see that my writings are still useful after all this years ;).
ReplyDeleteFor old times sake: http://users.telenet.be/PeterCrombecq/Bier%20Stek/beer.htm#topvanpagina
Kostritzer schwarzbier is available here in Montana. A very nice schwarzbier.
ReplyDeletePeter,
ReplyDeleteyou had a huge influence on my thinking about beer. Bier Smaken is a seminal book for me.
Fascinating stuff aigan!
ReplyDeleteAnd the Gessner beers today are really good, their dark Bock as well aus their Dunkles are as good as their franconian cousins in my opinion.
Any idea how their beers were back in the day? Was the range as big and diverse as today? I somehow highly doubt it..
In general I'd say the range highly widened, seeing what the Apoldaer brewery for instance is offering now.
Elektrolurch,
ReplyDeleteby the 1980's their range was probably no more than 3 or 4 beers. Though back in the 1950's it might have been wider. With the low-alcohol Malzbier, Einfachbier and the like. They turn up a lot in the older DDR labels.