Advent Calendar #5 – Everybody must get to Stone

The beer scene in Berlin has been developing fast over the last few years, with micro breweries, contract breweries and beer bars popping up all over the city. I’ll get back to that.

Today I’ll just mention the one factor that will really change the European beer scene, the Stone Berlin brewery.

I hope to get back to presenting the brewery itself later. Today I’ll just recommend vising the bar and restaurant. This is an old brick building converted in a grand manner, with space for hundreds of people. When the outside space is developed, this will also be an splendid place on summer evenings.

You don’t have to splurge on a meal, just sit down at the bar and sample some of the beers. Some are exclusives brewed here, some are barrel aged rarities from the Stone catalog. Some are guest brews from across Europe.

A total of about 65 beers on tap, if I remember correctly, so it could easily turn into a long evening.

A gift shop with their canned beers and various merch, too.

It’s in southern Berlin, some distance from the nearest U-bahn stop, but there are buses. Google maps will help you find the way.

The really good news for everyone, if we are lucky to get to Berlin or not, is that we get fresh beer from the Berlin canning line across Europe. Right now there is a Christmas stout available.

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Advent Calendar # 4 -Don’t forget your local

I found this sign in Berlin – a Kietzkneipe is a local pub in Berlin slang. Sometimes that’s what you need. With your standard beer, some local heroes to hang out with. And if you ask them politely, you might convince them to order some bottles of your favorite brews. Ask some brewery reps to deliver a few samples.

I’m afraid I don’t have any local pubs in the neighborhood. But there  is one close to work I should step by more often. With a fine range of bottled beers and sidewalk seating in the summer.

That’s a new year’s resolution for me.

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The 30 liter beer glass in the treasury

We had decided that Oranienburg was a promising destination for a day out from Berlin. A shining renovated palace, hopefully a picturesque town, too. And I had a lunchtime spot penciled in.

It’s about an hour’s train ride from central Berlin by the rather slow S-bahn, with nothing spectacular to watch along the way. Some of this is rather drab DDR suburbia, probably better to be seen in midsummer.

The town of Orianienburg is not much to write home about, either. Seems like half of the shops and cafes on the main street at named Am Schloss, showing where the focus is.

The palace goes back to the 17the century, and our guide took us through the centuries, starting with prince electors who were pretentious enough to make themselves kings of Prussia. Beautiful tapestries and paintings have survived burning, looting and warfare, while there is not much original of the building itself.

Photographs are not rnormally allowed, but when we were shown the beautiful 30 liter beer glass (with a small tap on the side for cheaters), I asked in my best German if they could make an exception. Permission granted.

I bought a booklet in the souvernir shop on the way out – Beer and winemaking in Brandenburg. The man behind the counter gave me a piece of advice:

-Frankly, the wines of the state of Brandenburg are not up to much. But there is some really good beer here, I would recommend the Schwarzbier.

Time for lunch at the Alte Fleischerei, as the name implies, the old butcher’s shop. Very good food, I had a slow boiled shoulder of mutton – Lammhaxe. With this a glass of Oranier, a local beer from a brewery as yet undocumented on Ratebeer. But  frankly, the beer was not up too much. So I wouldn’t make an excursion just for that!.

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Back to Berlin

I have visited Berlin repeatedly over the last decade, and there has been interesting beers to seek out, particularly among the brewpubs scattered around the city. At the same time, the industrial brews generally available are not all that interesting, and there are juste echoes of the old brewing heritage of the city. The Berliner Weisse that the waiter poured over syrup in your glass now comes pre-blended in bottles. But while the old is not very present, the new is moving in, and things are happening fast.

Sometimes I travel primarily for beer (and beer writing), sometimes it’s business or family holidays. This time it was the latter, meaning limited time to seek out new bars and new breweries. But I still have a few nuggets to share with you, and even a suggestion for a day out.

While Berlin has not yet seen the staggering number of breweries you can find in London, the number has been growing fast. Ratebeer lists a bewildering number of contract breweries, but there are still a few dozen bricks and mortar operations scattered around the city. Some of them have their won brewery taps, others are to be found in specialist beer bars and shops – or just in restaurants  and shops where they have managed to get in. The most concrete example of small scale – well, they call it craft in German as well, they are surprisingly eager to adapt English words – beer finding new markets is in the restaurant and bar of one of the Berlin landmarks – the TV Tower at Alexanderplatz. Three beers from contract brewery BrewfactuM are not only listed, but they are given a whole page of descriptions in the menu, a bit inaccurately identified as a Berlin brewery, but you can’t get it all right the first time. Pity I was there having breakfast…

One place close to Alexanderplatz to have a beer is Kaschk.  I’m pretty sure there is Norwegian ownership here, they have a strong selection of Scandinavian beer, and the name is a phonetic spelling of the nickname of the staple drink of Norwegians – coffee, sugar and home distilled alcohol. Never mind, they are open at lunchtime, and there are always some local beers on tap, too. Very studenty at midday, taking advantage of free wifi and decently priced coffee.

Ten minutes away is a charming second hand bookshop, dedicated to cookery books and related items. Bibliotheca Culinaria, but it is far more gemütlich than its pretentious name. It’s an Aladdin’s cave of food books,  including publications from the DDR. Some shelves of beer and brewery books, too, well worth browsing into.

And a piece of advice if you want to open a pub: Instead of buying the interior from someone who makes replicas of English or Oirish pubs, go here and buy their selection of original beer mugs. There were at least fifty different ones on display, including a number of fine ones with pewter lids on sale for ten Euro a piece. I am sure this is a good place if you are looking for more rare beer books, too. Thanks a lot to Micromaid for the tip!

That’s all for to today. But stay tuned. There is a side street beer shop with friendly natives, Stone Berlin – and a 30 liter beer glass coming up.

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No stones unturned

These two cans sort of followed me home the other night, or, as they used to say when there was a sale of contraband in Oxford Street: “Fell off a truck, mate!”

The beers are fresh off the canning line in Berlin, where Stone have set up their European operation.

The IPA has intense hoppiness – grass and pine. A fresh, in-your-face IPA. If that’s what your’re looking for, look no further!

The Arrogant Bastand Ale is one notch up. Deep red, full malty body. PAcked With fresh hop aroma and a punch of bitterness.

Both cans show that they are part of both the Norwegian and the Swedish recycling scheme with a deposit. Should mean that they will be widely available soon.

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Bierhaupstadt Berlin Beer Guide

I was very happy to receive a book in the mail just a few days before Christmas, a bit too late for a review to help the holiday sales.

The Berlin beer scene has seen much the same as in London, an explosion in the number of micro breweries, beer bars with an interesting range of brews and beer shops.

I have tried to document some of this on my blog over the last decade, but a comprehensive guide was really needed. And that is what we’ve got.

Markus Raupach and Bastian Böttner has written a bilingual guide to breweries, beer gardens, brew pubs and beer culture in Berlin. The German text is longer, but the information in English is likely to be what you need to navigate.

There are 24 breweries in Berlin (including Potsdam) now, so a weekend is not enough to cover them all. At least you have a tool to do your planning.

Lots of nice color photos. Published by GuideMedia Verlag Bamberg. Be sure to get one before you go!

You can order from their web site.

Meieri im Neuen Garten, Potsdam

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How to market a beer when you’re not allowed to

There might be some minor adjustments to the Norwegian ban on ads for alcoholic beverages. This means  that breweries and cider makers may give some very basic information about their products. There will be now advertising as such, in printed or online media. It is really tough for a new brewery to promote their products to establish a brand name on the regional or national level.

But we are, to the dismay of some regulators, not totally North Korea. We are allowed to watch some sports on television. And these sporting events have sponsors.

Some of these sports events are unsignificant outside the Nordic countries. (Come to think of it, I don’t think the Danes care, either). We’re taking variations over cross-country skiing here.

Funny that  the Veltins brewery is a major sponsor of skiing. Their beers are not for sale in Norway.

I’d say the chances are good for finding Veltins in Norwegian shops during 2015.

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Blumentöpfe und Bier – A German lesson

A cute little story today. I found it in my son’s German textbook, but it is floating around the interweb, too, I do not really know its origin.  If you want a sound file to help you understand, there is one here.  And please don’t dispair. There is a link to an English translation at the bottom!

Ein Professor stand vor seinen Philosophiestudenten. Er hatte einen großen Blumentopf vor sich und begann, diesen mit Golfbällen zu füllen.  Als er fertig war, fragte er seine Studenten, ob der Blumentopf voll sei – sie bejahten dies.

Jetzt nahm der Professor eine Tüte mit Kieselsteinen und schüttete diese in den Topf. Er bewegte den Blumentopf etwas und die Kieselsteine füllten die Leerräume zwischen den Golfbällen. Dann fragte er die Studenten wieder, ob der Topf voll sei. Sie stimmten zu.

Der Professor nahm als nächstes eine Dose mit Sand und schüttete diesen in den Topf. Natürlich füllte der Sand die kleinsten verbliebenen Freiräume. Auf die erneute Frage, ob der Topf nun voll sei, antworteten die Studenten einstimmig mit „ja“.

Jetzt holte der Professor zwei Dosen Bier unter dem Tisch hervor, goss sie in den Blumentopf und füllte so den letzten Raum zwischen den Sandkörnern aus. Die Studenten lachten.

„Nun“, sagte der Professor, als das Lachen verklang, „ich möchte, dass Sie diesen Topf als die Repräsentation Ihres Lebens betrachten:

„Die Golfbälle – sind die wichtigen Dinge in Ihrem Leben. Ihre Familie, Ihre Kinder, Ihre Gesundheit, Ihre Freunde, Ihre Leidenschaften – die Dinge, die Ihr Leben auch dann noch ausfüllen würden – wenn alles andere den Bach herunter ginge.

Die Kieselsteine symbolisieren die anderen Dinge in Ihrem Leben, wie Ihre Arbeit, Ihr Haus, Ihr Auto.

Der Sand sind die vielen täglichen Kleinigkeiten.

Würden Sie den Sand zuerst in den Topf schütten, bliebe weder Platz für die Kieselsteine, geschweige denn für die Golfbälle. Dasselbe gilt für Ihr Leben: Wenn Sie all Ihre Zeit und Energie für die täglichen Kleinigkeiten aufwenden, werden Sie nie Platz haben für das, was wirklich wichtig ist.

Deshalb: achten Sie zuerst auf die Golfbälle!
Spielen Sie mit Ihren Kindern.
Laden Sie Ihren Partner zum Essen ein.
Ernähren Sie sich ordentlich.
Reisen Sie – oder treiben Sie Sport.
Pflegen Sie Ihre Leidenschaften. Träumen Sie Ihren Traum.

Es wird immer noch Zeit bleiben, um das Haus zu reinigen oder Pflichten zu erledigen. Nehmen Sie sich Zeit für die Dinge, die Ihnen wirklich wichtig sind.
Der Rest ist nur noch Sand.“

Einige Studenten hoben die Hand und wollten wissen, was es mit dem Bier auf sich habe.

Der Professor schmunzelte. “Damit wollte ich Ihnen zeigen – egal, wie schwierig Ihr Leben auch sein mag, es ist immer noch Platz für ein oder zwei Bierchen.”

There is an English translation available, too.

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Craft beer – a tricky term in Germany, too

  Following my stay in Munich this summer, I have written a fair bit about small, but encouranging signs of innovation. I´m happy to say that there is a growing debate about key concepts, not entirely unrelated to the discussion in the English (English as in language, not as an geographical entity) beer blogs recently. There are two separate issues, both centered around Craft Bier (Yes, the Germans aren´t shy about borrowing English words these days.). One is about hijacking the term, the other about trying to ridicule it. The first story comes from the newly established Brew Berlin. They tell about the Ratsherrn Brauerei, who have tried to register Craft Beer as a protected trade name in Germany. There have been strong protests that one of the big players in the beverage sector tries to monopolize the concept. Even more important is the issue raised by two Bavarian beer bloggers, following the publication of an article in Fine, a wine magazine. The article tries to ridicule the merging craft beer scene in Germany, using labels like technology fetichists. It states that the craft beers fail to do what the classical pils achieves, to produce elegance and intensity without any fuss. All those double and triple beers, IPAs and AIPAs, do not, with their double or even triple fermentation with high levels of alcohol, match the charm of an elegant pils. The reaction to this was started by Mareike in feinerhopfen.wordpress.com, and followed up by Daniel at usox.org. Mareike points out that the micro, craft and cuckoo brewers make beers that fit into a gourmet setting. Quality is about something else than punching a few buttons on a production computer and then getting beer out at the other end in a few hours. If one wants to look for technology fetichists, it is more linked to the Reinheitsgebot culture, though it does not have much to do with enjoyment. In a letter to the editor of the magazine, Daniel questions the use of the concept quality in the article. He points out that the macro breweries of Germany, who are recommended as having a consistent quality, often cheat by using ingredients like hop extract or malt extract. If there is one thing the craft breweries have in common, it is their committment to prime ingredients. Go ahead, read their blogs. Google translate is there to help you. And cheer them on !

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Weißenoher Bonator – a beer for the colder days ahead

From the Klosterbrauerei Weißenohe, a bottle of Bonator. The name gives it away, a Doppelbock. Brewed somewhere deep in Franconia. Brought home from Munich this summer, enjoyed after a brisk walk in the autumn air in the Norwegian mountains.

Pours a very dark red, with soft carbonation. Creamy mouth feel. Cereals, biscuits, malt, a hint of redcurrants, some burned sugar. Not too sweet, a very impressive strong Bock.  As the leaves are falling, it is time to turn to beers like this.

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