Arnhem Openlucht Museum

And the day started so badly. With Lexie closing himself in his room, protesting "I'm not going." "Brilliant", I thought. The day was barely started and already spoiled.

Dolores eventually talked him around. I'd already got past the "I'll smash all your toys with a hammer" phase. There's nowhere really to go after that.

For once the NS is doing something I applaud: upgrading Amsterdam Zuid station. Many trains now avoid overcrowded Centraal and call at Zuid instead. That's brilliant for us. Bus 15 to Zuid (when it turns up) only takes 10 minutes. The 2 tram to Central takes half an hour.

Here I am getting ahead of myself. I forgot to mention why we were travelling. Cheap train tickets from Blokker. They sell them a few times a year. You can travel anywhere in Holland (at the weekend) for just 10 euros. But they're only valid for a limited time. We'd only got this weekend or next to use them up. ("I'll take the 30 euros off your account", that was another futile threat I'd made to Lexie.)

There are direct trains from Zuid to Arnhem. It only takes an hour, despite Arnhem almost being in Germany. Very handy. The Dutch train system still isn't bad. The service runs every half hour.

What did we talk about on the train? Whether Stalin was in heaven, that came up. And The Crusades. The age of the earth. I'm sure I was right. It is 7,000 years, isn't it? Andrew came up with the ridiculous figure of 2 billion years.

Lexie had forgotten his opposition to the trip even before we got on the train. By the time we reached Arnhem there was just one thing on his mind: bacon. The ready availability of bacon sandwiches is the root of Lexie's love for Britain. "Let's go to the Albert Heijn." He's noticed they sell bacon and egg sandwiches.

On the number 3 bus to the museum we sat behind a group of weird South Africans. (Tattoos and purple-died hair don't really work for women over 50.) But at least we'd know when to get off. They were clearly headed the same place as us.

Before we go any further, I really hadn't looked this up before leaving home. I remembered reading something in the PINT magazine about them brewing in the Openlucht Museum. So the first thing I looked for on the map was a brewery. My god, there it was: brouwerij. "Let's get on the tram." It's never difficult to get the kids onto a tram. The brewery was just one stop down line.

I'd expected a few old tubs where maybe they did a bit of home-brewing now and again. The shiny new kit was a bit of a shock. What with the little lab and the sacks of malt, it was clearly a serious brewery. They were giving out free samples. Of quite a nice Witbier. "That's nice." Can't get higher praise than that from Dolores.

There was an old brewery, too. That wasn't for brewing in. You know what it reminded me of? The communal brewery in Windischeschenbach. The one they still brew Zoigl in.

Dolores asked the nice man giving out the samples "Do any of the cafes in the museum sell your beer?" "Yes, the one over the road. Just ask for beer." What were we waiting for. I felt like Digby Chicken-Caesar. "To the café!"

I haven't explained what an open-air museum is, have I? I'm doing this all in the wrong order. It's where they take historical buildings that would otherwise have been demolished and move them to a park. That's about it really. They like them in Sweden.

The café was very pleasant. Nice garden. And, doing the museum bit 100%, only sold period drinks. A bit rough on the kids, who wanted to rot their teeth with cola, great for me. There was a single beer tap selling a pils-like sort of beer. From the brewery, of course. It wasn't bad. Especially when Dolores wandered off with the kids and I had time for a second beer in peace.

After that we went around the rest of the museum. Then got the train home. I've truncated the last few hours. You're not really interested in textile workers cottages, are you?

I almost forget one of the most important pieces of information. The name of the brewery:

’t Goeye Goet
Schelmseweg 89,
6816 SJ Arnhem.
Tel: 026-3576111
Fax: 026-3576147
info@openluchtmuseum.nl
http://www.openluchtmuseum.nl

Another sure sign it's summer. I've started writing about travels with my kids.

New pub guide

I've written a new pub guide this week. Not that you'll get to see it. It's a private guide to Fränkische Schweiz.

I've probably bored you with hundreds of times before. That's how most of my guides started out. As my own personal guides. Having them as web pages was a good way of making sure they didn't get lost. And that I could see them from anywhere in the world.

As it's really is just for me (and Mike, I suppose) it includes some rather specific bits of information. Like weekend bus timetables. And maps of the places I plan visiting (Pretzfeld, Ebermannstadt, Muggendorf and Gößweinstein.

One pleasant surpise as I planned. I can get to Hohenschwärz for Sunday dinner. At the wonderful Brauerei Hofmann. One of my favourite places on the planet. Pork, dumplings and a gallon or so of Hofmann Export sure sounds like heaven to me.

Annafest guide

I know I've already told most of you this, but for the newcomers: I'm going o the Annafest this year. The best sentence since "You've been accepted for Czech summer school".

Compulsive behaviour. My speciality. [Why do English(US) spell checkers think it can't be a noun?] You read this blog. You must have twigged where I'm going. Especially if you've bothered to read the title.

I had to write a guide. The first in many years. One reason I started my blog was to tart my website (http://www.europeanbeerguide.net/) Website neglect was the real outcome. I used to bang out a new guide every month.

God. I'm getting dull. Shouldn't I be reminding you that the next hymn is number 289. "For those in Peril on the Sea"? Am I totally fwoppeled?

Going to the Annafest? You should be. At least for the next couple of years. Then I'll start moaning about all you bloody tourists ruining it. Learn to love lager. I did.

If you are woman/man/person enough to go to the Annafest, you might find this handy. Pub guides to Bamberg and Forchheim, stuff about the local breweries, and a bit about the Kellerberg. Just look at that glass of Neder Export. That's what I want to call breakfast in my retirement.

And it's free. [The guide, not Neder Export. That costs 2 euros or more for a half litre. Those robbing bastards.]

You can get it [the guide) here:

http://www.europeanbeerguide.net/Annafest_Guide.pdf

Yet more C Ale

Reader Geoff Ikin has very kindly sent me some label images of various C Ales. They don't help much about the meaning and origin of C Ale, but they look pretty. I'm a sucker for old labels.

Of course, C could just be a random letter, like Worthington's "E". There were basically three systems of brewhouse code.

1. The "normal" system: X, XX. XXX, PA, KK, KKK, P, S, SS, SSS.
2. The Bass system: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, P2, P3, P4 with 1 being the strongest, 6 the weakest and a P prefix designating a Porter/Stout.
3. The Worthington system: A, M, S, J, E

Maybe Boddingtons can provide a clue. They used these codes for their beers:

A Pale Ale
BB Mild Ale
CC Strong Ale

The JW Lees C Ale is also billed as a Strong Ale. That might explain what it is, if not where the hell the name came from.

There are a couple of other pieces of evidence that point to a Strong Ale. Groves & Whitnall discontinued theirs during the war and brought it back in 1950. Many strong beers disappeared during the war. Also, theirs was bottle-conditioned. Lower-strength beers were usually artificially carbonated.

Any other ideas are very welcome. I don't think I've come up with a very robust theory yet. I wonder if the brewing records still exist for any of these breweries? As Lees are still in business, there's a good chance they might have kept their old logs. Anyone have a good contact within the brewery?

Finding a brewing record would at least settle the nature of the beer, if not its origin.

Shameless self-promotion

There's nothing worse than a purportedly independent beer writer using his work to promote his own financial interests. Shameless self-promoting bastards. Pardon my French.

Integrity is my greatest asset. How could I compromise that for money? I'd be crzay. Your trust in my impartiality underpins this blog. I dare to back up my words with hard, cold facts. Can you say that Mr. XXXX [original letters blanked out]?

That's why I'm delighted to announce my own line of Tacky Merchandise. Designed to enrich the left hand side of the Pattinson family. It's a long story. And my daily ration of St. Bernardus Abt is drunk. A bit like me.

This is what people are saying about Shut up about Barclay Perkins Tacky Merchandise:

"Low-quality, expensive, poorly-designed, exploitative crap."
"Like Stalin - but worse."
"Have these bloggers no shame?"
"Offensive in a totally charmless way."
"******* ** ******* ******* *** ********* ***** shite"
"Life is no longer worth living."

You could experience the same ecstasy (my products contain no illegal substances of any kind) by purchasing Shut up about Barclay Perkins Tacky Merchandise.

It must be summer

I put a bottle of Guinness Special Export in the fridge yesterday. A sure sign that the summer is here. It was so warm, I added ice to my Hummel Räucherator. ("Urgh, that smells funny," was Dolores's reaction when I suggested she try it "like ham.")

That's about my only concession to Summer. Icing my beer when I get home from work, tired and sweaty after being squeezed into a number 15 bus. (The summer tram and bus schedule has just started. It means one thing: fewer trams and buses. Great. There aren't enough 15's in the normal schedule.) Other than upping my Guinness Special Export consumption when it's really hot, the passing seasons have no effect on my drinking habits. I still survive on a diet of St. Bernardus 6, 8 and 12.

I don't understand why people swap to pale, light, lagery beers as soon as the temperature rises over 20º C. I just don't get it. My taste buds don't change. My personal preferences are unaltered. Why should I suddenly abandon my favourite beers? Crisp, cool, refreshing. Is lager really that? Or have we all just been brainwashed by the marketing men at the Megabrewery Corporation?

A lightly-chilled bottle of export-strength Stout. What could be more summery than that?

Barclay Perkins 1936 KKKK water treatment & caramel

I've finally got around to looking up the water treatment for yesterday's Let's Brew recipe. The same as KK, it said in the log.

A page at the front of the log lists all the different treatments. There were five different ones in total. Here's the KK entry:

Company's liquor. Treated cold 3 ozs salt & 3 ozs gypsum per barrel in HLB (hot liquor back). Boiled overnight. Half hour before mashing add 1/8 pint per barrel BiSulphate of lime.
Salt in coppers - 1oz per barrel.

Fascinating stuff, eh? If you look at the image you'll see that the treatments varied considerably between the different beers. Looking just now, it struck me that the Brown Ale (DB) had the same water treatment as the Bitters (PA, IPA, XLK). With considerable amounts of gypsum being added.

As for the caramel, I've found details in an earlier brewing book (1925). That gives the caramel as 22,000º Lovibond (one inch cell). 1.5 pounds of caramel was added per 100 barrels to raise the colour of the beer by 1º.

It's from a decade earlier, but I imagine the procedure was much the same in 1936.

I think that's all the outstanding questions answered on KK. Isn't it?

C Ale again

Right, I've had a proper look in "Manchester Breweries of Times Gone By, Vol 2". Here's what little it has to say on the subject of C Ale.

The printed bill (from 1898) on which I saw the codes C and CBB was from the Cornbrook Brewery. According to the text, their beers included City Bitter and CPA. The latter I would guess really stands for Cornbrook Pale Ale. City, well that could be a possibility.

Here's a quote from page 12 of "Manchester Breweries of Times Gone By, Vol 2":

"The brewery's [Openshaw] included best mild and bitter, Grade A pale ale, Openshaw Stout and also a "C" Ale. "C" Ale seems to have been a local brew, the origin of which is uncertain. Groves and Whitnall of Salford became well known for their version of "C" Ale in the 1890s; it was discontinued during the last war but reintroduced in 1950. John Henry Lees of Moss Side also brewed a "C" Ale, as did Wilsons Brewery."

I've tried searching the interweb, but something like C Ale is a bastard to find. Any help would be much appreciated. Someone must still remember C Ale. It was still being brewed in the 1950's. That's easily within living memory.

Let's Brew Wednesday - 1936 Barclay Perkins KKKK

Today it's the turn of a beer I'm dying to try myself. A powerful, seasonal Strong Ale from my favourites Barclay Perkins.

Between the wars, Barclay Perkins brewed a massive range of beers. 22, if you include the darkened versions of X and XX. Many were produced in tiny quantities, as you can see from the tables below. This was possible because they had a small batch brewhouse. In the main brewery, each brew was 500 to 1,000 barrels. Way too much for a beer like Russian Stout, even though it was only brewed once a year. Some beers were brewed in batches as small as 18 barrels.




Where did KKKK fit in? This was a Strong Ale sold in the winter. Judging by Barclay Perkins adverts, it seems to have been a draught beer. My guess is that it was sold from a pin on the bar. Much like some Old Ales still are today. For the period, it was unusually strong. Few beers had gravities higher than 1055 or so.

That short introduction over, it's time to hand you over to Kristen . . . . (I think he likes it, BTW) . . .


Almost forgot. This beer is perfect for your christmas pudding . . . . . now really over to Kristen . . . .


Barclay Perkins (BP) 1936 KKKK

Big ass brown mame a jamma. Huge beer with a ton of hops. Something very unique and not seen anymore in any place. Think turbo charge brown IPA. If you are on the fence about any beer. MAKE THIS ONE!!!!




Grist and such
Tons of No2 invert syrup and crystal really put the focus on this beer to the dark fruits and deep caramel tones. 80% of the grist is malt with a VERY heavy dose of the californian 6-row at nearly 1/3 of the total grain bill. This brewery is quite different in that they use a number of different 'caramel' colorants. Most use just one...that standard dark. This beer uses a much lighter caramel. Not sure why. Maybe it was giving a touch of flavor as well as the color!? All in all not a really different type of grain bill for standard brown ale. The difference lies in the quantities per barrel. This beer weighs in at 1.078. A big beer in any light!


Mash
The mash is actually quite high for this beer at 153F. With all the non-reducing sugars left from the invert and crystal and this high mash temp really will make this beer finish quite 'thick' as can be seen from the finishing gravity of 1.027.


Hops
Lots and I mean LOTS of very fresh goldings hops at 3.64 lbs/ barrel! The nearly 80 bu's these provide will make the sweet finish of this beer seem much drier than it normally would. In addition, 4oz of hops were added per barrel changing the overall aroma of this beer.


Fermentation
Usually beers were kept quite low. I only mention this in that this beer was fermented damn near 72F. At this temp it would completely change the profile! It would no longer have the big fruit of the 60-ish fermentation but would have more of a peppery alcoholic character along
with some of those spicy phenols.


Tasting notes
Dark toffees wrapped in orange rind with a ton of spice. Caramel middle is very rich and grainy but dries out in the finish it a big smack of hop resins. The spice, hop resins and 6-row astringency really extent the finish and keep this beer from being cloying. Quite refreshing for
such a large beast.

How Paulaner got a monopoly of Salvator

Salvator is the name of a brand of Doppelbock brewed by Paulaner (formerly Zacherl). But it wasn't always that way. Once Salvator was like Pilsener, the name of a type of beer. That was until Zacherl trademarked the name. Bastards. A bit like A-B with Budweiser. Their fellow brewers weren't best pleased.

"Gentlemen, you all know the beautiful gift of God that is called Salvatorbier; this beer is brewed by the joint-stock company Schmederer that is the fortunate owner of the Zacherlbrauerei in Munich. This company has recently submitted the trademark "Original Salvator" to the Reich Patent Office, has obtained a registration, and the objections of a whole number of other breweries, who also brew Salvatorbier, were ignored, yes, it has gone so far that the district court in Munich passed an injunction and seized the beer stocks of the other brewers and has started criminal proceedings against the directors of these breweries. Now, everyone who understands the brewing industry knows that the name Salvatorbier in no way implies origin from a specific brewery, but, just like Bockbier, is only a certain type of beer, a stronger type of beer, that is a specific sort. It's certainly reasonable for the Zacherl brewery to call its beer Zacherl-Bräu Salvator; but if officials allow a single brewery to register the name Original-Salvator, if courts punish those who use the designation and seize their stocks, it shows how little expertise the courts possess, and how necessary it is to protect them from such indefinite terms, as those found in the critical words of § l.

Gentlemen, I have information from another brewery in Munich, in which it is shown that in the year 1896 212 Munich publicans obtained their Salvator supplies from the Schwabinger Salvator-brewery, and that in the same year the Zacherlbrauerei only supplied 44 publicans with its Salvator. I have also here a very interesting list of about 30 breweries, which brew Salvator, not only in Munich but also elsewhere in Germany. There are, for instance, the following breweries, which for many years have brewed Salvatorbier and sold under that name: the Hellbrauerei in Passau since 1840, Schmeroldsche the brewery in Passau for 40 years, the Gablersche Brauerei in Nuremberg for 40 years, SSanderbrauerei in Würzburg for 15 years, the brewery of Gebrüder Geismann in Fürth for 12 years, Forsters Dampfbrauerei in Schwabach for 6 years, Pröl Ungers-Brauerei in Schwabach for 6 years, Kaiserslauterner Aktienbrauerei since 1874, Salvatorbrauerei Schrabing in Munich (formerly Petuel) since 1878, the Kronenbrauerei in Augsburg, the Spatenbrauerei, Hackerbrauerei, Thomasbrauerei, Bergbrauerei in Munich, Frankenbrauerei in Bamberg, the Brauerei von Roas in Neuburg near Passau, Gebrüder Lederer in Nuremberg, Evora in Fürth, Aktienbrauerei Meißner Felsenkeüer in Meißen, the Deiningersche Brauerei in Hof, Aachener Exportbrauerei, die Freiherrlich Sternburgsche Brauerei in Leipzig, the Brauerei von F. D. Benders Söhne in Kaiserslautern, the Anklamer Bergschloßbrauerei in Nienstedten, the Modische Brauerei in Lindenhoff etc. All these and many other breweries market a strong beer with the name "Salvatorbier", - and now comes the Zacherlbrauerei, which once, when there were still Zwangs- und Bannrechte, got permission from the Bavarian government to call a particular beer Salvator to call it - the word originally meant Sankt-Vater-Bier - and demands with administrative help a monopoly over a certain beer type. This can happen because the authorities have so little technical insight."
"Die Bekämpfung des unlauteren Wettbewerbs" by Adolf Lobe, 1907, pages 372-374

Nothying new under the sun, is there? The reaction of other brewers was to think up other names with the suffix -ator. WHich is why we have such great names as Triumphator, Bajuvato, Bambergator, Terminator, etc. So I guess Zacherl's shady dealings were neither that successful nor totally bad for the drinker.

Trips! (West)

It's that time again. Another of my Mini Series Books has escaped. Volume VIII, it's entitled "Trips! (West)"

What does the title mean? Er, well, it's a guide for those wanting to make boozing trips in the West of Germany. All the Big names are there. Düsseldorgf, Cologne, Ratingen. And plenty of others, too. Dortmund, Osnabrück, Münster, Duisburg, Kaiserslautern. Everything you need for an international piss up is included. Pub details, maps, brewery guide, beer details.

"Trips! (West)" is the essential companion for any trip to the West of Germany. If you like your beer. And you wouldn't be reading this blog if you didn't.

But what if we want to go somewhere else in Germany. Don't worry. "Trips! (South)" and "Trips! (East)" will be volumes IX and X. Collect the set and you'll have the most comprehensive guide to central European beer ever compiled.

Buy "Trips! (West)" now!


http://www.lulu.com/content/paperback-book/trips-(west)/7182011

C Ale

I took the boys to the swimming baths yesterday. We've been having muggy, overcast days for what seems like weeks. It was pleasant to set and read while the kids cavorted in the outdoor pool.

Naturally, it wasn't just the paper or the latest Jilly Cooper novel I was reading. I actually had two books with me. "Brewing" and "Manchester Breweries of Times Gone By, Vol 2". Nice light reading for a Sunday morning.

I realise that I read this stuff a little differently from most. My attention was immediately drawn by the image of a bill from some brewery in Ardwick. It had the beer names printed on it. Or rather beer codes. I', used to these things, so I could work out most of them:

X
XX
PA
P
ES
C
S
CBB

Let's see, that's Mild, Best Mild, Bitter, Porter, Extra Stout, C??? - what the hell is that, Stout, C Best Bitter?

Then there was a mention in the text of a thing called C Ale, which seems to have been peculiar to Manchester. At least half a dozen breweries made one. There was even a label image. The only clue as to what it could have stood for was a beer called City.

I thought I'd been making progress with these letter codes. I'm pretty confident what the X's and K's mean. T as well. Now here's another bloody cryptic letter. Anyone any idea what the hell it stood for? Or what type of beer it was?

Now I've found a label for C Ale, I see something intriguing. The words "naturally mature in bottle". I wonder if that has anything to do with the identity of C Ale?

The spread of pale lager

I've warned you before about assuming Pilsener brewing quickly spread across Europe after 1842. In Bavaria in particular brewers were reluctant to abandon their dark lagers and follow the new fad for pale lager.

This article documents the eventual adoption of light beer by the Bavarians.

"Notes on Bavarian Light Beer.

The dark, so-called Bavarian beer, which was brewed according to methods originating in Bavaria at a low temperature with bottom fermenting yeast, was well known at the beginning of the 19th Century, when large quantities of this beer were consumed, not only in Bavaria, but also in North Germany, Austria, and even in France.

"Pilsner beer" first attracted general notice during the World Exposition at Paris in 1867, after which it became a serious rival to the dark Bavarian beer. The first Bavarian brewer to make a beer of the Pilsner variety was Karl Michel, at that time owner of a brewery at Augsburg, and now director of the Michel Brewing Academy in Munich. Michel brewed light beers of different strengths and sold them both in and out of Bavaria; he had an especially good trade in Munich. Such was the good reputation of Michel's beer that it occupied a prominent place at the royal feast when Princess Grisela was betrothed to Prince Leopold of Bavaria. At this time no other German brewer was brewing light beer and it was several years before brewers generally began to produce it. The Berliner bohmische Brauhaus took it up and soon all North German brewers were making Pilsner beer.

The Bavarian brewers, particularly those of Munich and Augsburg, for a long time held aloof from the light beer, and even now the world famed Brauerei des Münchener Koniglichen Hofbrauhauses brews only dark beer. The brewers of Niirnberg and Culmbach followed the North Germans. The demand for Pilsner beer became greater, even in Munich. To meet this demand and the competition of outsiders the Munich brewers had to brew light beers.

The Brauerei zum Thomasbrau was the first to undertake to imitate Pilsner beer; next followed the Spatenbrauerei and gradually all the other Munich breweries except the Hofbrauhaus. Some of these brewers, as the Thomas brewery, succeeded in imitating Pilsner beer, but most of the others do not hop their worts as strongly as do the Bohemian brewers; this they do in deference to the taste of the Munich public, which is not very fond of bitter beer. The Munich light beers are generally stronger than the genuine Pilsner.

The differences in character which subsist between the light Pilsner and the dark Bavarian beers are due to differences in the method of preparation of the malt. While for dark beer the brewer requires a sweet, roasted malt with aromatic taste and dark color, for light beer he requires a malt with the brightest possible color without the aroma of roasted malt, and with a mealy, almond like taste. These two types of beer differ also in their concentration and in the amount of hops used. Light beers, taking Pilsner beer as a model, have a lower concentration (original wort) and more hop extract, than the Bavarian; further, the light beers are higher fermented than the dark beers.

As to the composition of the light Bavarian beer in comparison with the dark, it may be remarked that according to German law only malt and hops can be used in the manufacture of beer.

Below are given the average results of the analysis of 20 light and 20 dark Munich beers as given by the Munich Scientific Station for Brewing:

	Light beer	Dark beer
Original Wort	12.33%	13.68%
Degree of fermentation	58.61%	51.95%
Alcohol	3.76%	3.70%
Extract	5.09%	6.55%

Pilsner beer brewed in Bohemia has the following composition:

Original Wort	11.50%
Degree of fermentation	53.20%
Alcohol	3.30%
Extract	5%

The light beers now enjoy great popularity in Munich as well as outside of Germany. The production increases from year to year; in Munich it constitutes about 30 per cent, of the total."
"Pure products" published by The Scientific Station for Pure Products, 1909, pages 255-256.

Looks like it's becoming a summer of lager. Maybe I should just give it to it and accept it as my ineluctable summer theme.

Salvator Beer

Having obsessions is great fun. If you're a blogger. You never run out of things to write about. I hadn't mentioned Salvator for far too long. Perhaps a week or two. Time to revisit it.

The following is a potted history of Salvator taken from the rather odd magazine "Pure Products", published in New York.

"Salvator Beer.

The most celebrated beer specialty of Munich, which enjoys great popularity not only in the place of origin but also throughout the world, is the Salvator beer brewed at the Salvatorbiere brewery of the A.-G. Paulanerbrau.

As the origin of the name, "Salvator," and the history of the brewery which brews this beer are very interesting they deserve a little notice.

In 1651 the Paulist friars, for whom the Elector Maximillian of Bavaria had built a cloister near Munich in 1623, received from the Elector Ferdinand Maria permission to erect a brewery near the cloister and to brew beer for their own use. Later on they were given permission to sell their product during the feast of the Holy Father (Franz von Paula, April 2). This feast lasted 8 days; the populace of Munich used to go out to the cloister and drink the brew specially prepared for the occasion. This special beer was called '' Holy Father beer " or " Sankt Vaterbier,'' and was highly celebrated on account of its strength and fine flavor; the name "Sanakt Vaterbier" was later corrupted in popular speech to '' Salvatorbiere.'' It was customary for the Electoral Court to attend the feast, which in time came to be a national holiday. After the celebration of the feast in the church the brew was tapped and the first draught presented to the Elector; this custom survived down to recent times and even now the first draught of Salvator beer is sent to the Court.

When the cloisters were secularized in 1799, the Paulist cloister was discontinued; the brewery was taken over and operated by the State. The brewery, which was in a building separate from the cloister (which was first used as a field hospital and later as a penitentiary) was granted in 1803 to the Order of St. John, by which it was operated for a while. Later the brewer Zacherl leased and afterward acquired it by purchase; he also obtained the right to brew the Salvator beer and to sell it for a higher price than ordinary beer.

In the thirties of the last century Salvator beer was sold throughout Germany and exported to foreign countries, and was the first Bavarian beer to enter international commerce.

In 1849 the brewery was sold to the brothers Schmederer, and in 1886 became the property of a stock company. Of the old cloister brewery but little remains now, as the present brewery is thoroughly modern and up to date. It is interesting to note that Zacherl, who recently died, was the first to boil worts with steam.

The difference in composition between Salvator beer and the ordinary dark Bavarian beer consists chiefly in the more concentrated original wort (about 19 per cent.).. It is a low fermented beer, containing unfermented sugar and other carbohydrates; for this reason it has a sweeter taste. The ordinary Bavarian dark high kilned malts are used in its preparation; the process used at the Paulaner brewery is kept secret and other brewers find it difficult to produce beer of similar character. The trade in Salvator beer lasts only a few days, and forms but a small part of the business of the Paulaner Company.

During the feast of the Holy Father the chief place where Salvator beer is consumed is the so-called Salvatorkeller on the Nockerberg. On one day in 1906 18,000 persons visited the Salvatorkeller and consumed 19,200 liters of the beverage; on one day in 1908 the attendance was 7000 and 12,000 liters were consumed."
"Pure products" published by The Scientific Station for Pure Products, 1909, pages 326-327.

As an extra bonus, here's a selection of Munich Bocks from the last 150 years:

Loving learning lager

My lager education continues. I'll be doing a summer school in its appreciation in a few weeks. (Translation: I've five days on the lash in Franconia at Annafest time.)

Mike's months of badgering have finally borne fruit. And I've managed to get the time off work. We'll be in Franconia 30th July to 3rd August. The first two days at the Annafest before heading into the wilds of Fränkische Schweiz. Feel free to come up and force beer on me if you spot me. I can already feel a thirst coming on.

While we're on the subject of lager, I should perhaps mention that's what I've picked as my summer theme. More accurately, it's selected me. I just keep finding myself writing about it. Must be something subliminal. Prepare yourselves for non-stop fun. Lots about Salvator, table after table of 19th-century lager analyses, Franconia travel reports and much, much more.

I hope you're as excited as I am.

Let's Brew Wednesday - 1936 Barclay Perkins DB

Is it Wednesday already? Seems more like Monday. What a treat we have in store today. A classic Southern Brown Ale from the 1930's.

Like everyone else, Barclay Perkins jumped on the Brown Ale bandwagon in the late 1920's. Like Whitbread, it called it's beer DB, though the initials stood for something quite different. Whitbread's was "Double Brown", Barclay Perkins "Doctor Brown" after Doctor Johnson. The 18th-century literary giant had been mates with Mr. and Mrs. Thrale, owners of the Park Street brewery before Barclay and Perkins. In the 20th century, an image of Doctor Johnson was the brewery's trademark.

Each brewery seems to have its own ideas about what constituted a Brown Ale. Not surprising, as the style was still very young. Barclay Perkins was one of the weaker ones. (Whitbread's DB was 1055). Neither beer bore any resemblance to the brewery's Milds.

I'll now let Kristen do his stuff . . . . .


Barclay Perkins (BP) 1936 DB

Grist and such
Nothing really jumps out at first with this beer. Lower in gravity, finishes like a normal ale at around 1.011. This one has quite a bit of hopping compared to the others of its gravity and 'color'. When you look closer you will see again that there is a ass load of adjuncts. Nearly 25%! Nearly equal parts of maize and sugars. As we discussed before, this era was ripe with its use of California 6-row as it was thought to lighten the flavor and add a touch of grainyness that the
British malts didn't have. It was also about 1/3rd cheaper than the standard Brit malts. Any two pale malts will do very well. I'd suggest probably Maris Otter and Halcyon as they work very well together. 6-row is very important but if you can't find it, use a lower quality 2-row. 75L crystal is right in the middle of traditional crystal colors. The sugars are very important so if you can't find the inverts, make them yourself (see past posts on this topic).





Mash
Standard mash for the era. Barley Perkins was really big on using underletting to raise their mash temperature. This mash was actually quite quick proabably taking about 3 hours to complete which when compared with Whitbreads 9 hour mashes really allows them many more in a day.

Hops
For a lighter brown ale this beer has quite a nice kick of hops to it. BP's middle/east kent hops are all rather fresh. The majority being less than a year and a bit nearly 2 years.


Tasting notes
Grainy sweet malt. No chocolate but more of a dark caramel and stone fruits. Corny, grainy middle with a good dose of herbaceous hops. Lots of flavor but quite thin on the end. Moderately bitter finish barely keeps this from being a 'brown liquid'.

Loving lager

Wondered why I've been quiet this last week? No, I didn't think you had. But I'm going to tell you anyway. Volume IX of my Mini Book Series has been occupying most of my time. "Trips! (South)" it's called. A guide to the beeriest spots in southern Germany.

While I was at it, I thought I may as well smarten up the brewery section. I originally assembled the book before christmas and didn't do much in the way of extra research. I've been putting that right this week. Which has meant looking up some stuff on RateBeer. Guess what I noticed?

Now, I don't usually pay much attention to how others mark beers. But something struck me when looking at the really good Franconian breweries. My own scores were way out of whack with those on RateBeer. Mine were much, much higher.

Closer inspection revealed a depressing fact. Virtually no average strength lager got a decent score. Not even the heart-stoppingly good ones. And those good ones only scored marginally higher than not very good ones.

Why does no-one else love lager the way I do?

Impatience

Do you know what my biggest fault is? Patience. Joking. You must have seen the title. It's impatience.

I write posts when the mood takes me. But I always try to stay at least two days ahead. (I've got this thing: posting every day is a must. Over the year, my goal is 500 posts.) This system has disadvantages. I'm two days ahead of you in any discussion. In my head. (In my head is where I have most of my discussions. You should meet Lucas. The way he argues with himself out loud matches the inside of my head.)

Apfelstrudel. Schnell, schnell. There's always a WW II film going on somewhere. In my head. The sublimal effect of British war films on my writing is too frightening to think about.

Summer theme. I've written something in the future about it. I'm dying to tell you. But that would spoil all the fun.

Damn my diligence.

Beer tour of Vichy France 1940

There have been times in my travels (Poland 1986 comes to mind) when beer has been hard to find. But I'm sure that was nothing compared to trying to organise a pub crawl in the newly-defeated France of 1940

"An American traveller who made his way from Nice along the coast to Port Vendres then via Spain to this country, relates that he found beer in one district at 10 francs a half-litre bottle - not less than six francs in addition being charged and returned for the bottle - and in another district beer of equally indifferent quality cost 14 francs the half-litre bottle, and 13 francs for the half-litre draught in a cardboard cup. And there the hotel or inn in question was proud of possessing cardboard containers at all. He found beer in Marseilles, but had to search for it a good deal, paying eventually 10 francs for a 250 centilitre glass at a bar counter."
"The Brewers' Journal 1940", page 882.

Random WW I and WW II stories. Maybe that should be my theme. Now what could I call it? "Summer of War"? That could just work . . . .

Summer theme - update

If you're like me, you probably don't always read all the comments on a blog. So for you lazy twats, here's an overview of the comments on my "What should I have as a summer theme?". Or my answer to them. Stop quibbling.

(In case you're thick, the bit before the dash is the theme suggestion, the portion after it, my response.)


IPA - I don't have access to the enough information, in particular brewing records from Burton.

Spontaneous fermentation - that's not a bad idea. I've got stuff on British methods of spontaneous fermentation. But I've already published some of it.

Conditioning methods - Mmm. Again, it's a question of getting hold of the material. There's definitely a lot to write about. The Czech air-pressure system, for example. And Germany - how were they serving beer 100 years ago?

British pubs 1830 to 2005 - excellent idea. What's more summery than a pub? I could throw in a bit on Irish pubs, too.

Milk Stout, Boys' Bitter and AK - now that's a thought. Any excuse to discuss AK. I'd throw in XK, too.

The 1960s beer keller fad in the UK - fun idea, but no.

Mock Tudor pubs - outside my personally imposed limit of interest. I have to draw the line somewhere.

Tropical Stout - good one. It's the forgotten export. Weird, isn't it, how IPA, which disappeared decades ago is seen as the classic tropical export beer. While Stout both preceded and outlived it.

Whether brewers made any money from selling yeast to bakers or spent grain to farmers - that's too obsessive even for me. Now the trade between breweries in bottom-fermenting yeast strains. That's more promising. Where did all the yeast come from when everyone swapped to lager?

Did German/Czech/Belgian brewers in wartime resort to odd mashes of whatever malt was available as the British did? - If anything, I would expect it to be more extreme. And then a grinding halt. Though, according to my statistics book, the Belgian and Czechs brewed all the way through. But I don't have access to the material I'd need.

Seasonal October / March brewing Stock ales - not bad. But not very summery. On the other hand, I've got some cracking Truman K Ale recipes.

U.K. lager-brewing - very good. Summery and something I've been looking at. But I did a summer of lager last year.

Benelux brewing - a very reasonable idea. Except, I have virtually no decent material for Belgium and don't really know bugger all about Belgian beer, except that I like drinking it. I've got a book on Luxembourg beer. Which is something. And I've quite a few books. And I've some brewing records. Would Nelux be good enough?


Suggestions. They were certainly that. Thank you. For so massively overestimating my levels and areas of expertise. What sort of library do you think I have here? There is still room to walk two by two between the bookshelves. Just.

In my naive early blogging days, I'd have given you a choice of all of the above. That's how I ended up (honest idiot) writing on a couple of topics I would have preferred to avoid. Or that I waffled about or evaded.

What do you reckon? I pluck out the themes I'm comfortable with and put them to the vote. Fair enough, isn't it?



If you disagree, tell me now. I'm already setting up the poll.