Dusseldorf German Alt Bier: a Taste of Class in a Glass

by Shawn Burgy

Northern Dusseldorf German Alt Bier is a very tasty and satisfying beer. a loose translation of Alt Bier would be Old Beer. It is said to be one of the oldest styles in Germany. Rumored to be a beer before Germany had access to Lager yeast. It is a lot like a big malty English Bitter. It tends to have much more hop bitterness than does an English Bitter. It's big on malt and how it is brewed. Very few examples of Dusseldorf Alt Bier can be found in the US.

The only way that I have had Alt Bier is by brewing it myself. It is a very tasty and easy beer for the homebrewer to make. Normally this beer would be brewed using a decotion mash. However you can make a very good Alt Bier by using single infusion mashing.

Gravity for Alt Bier is between 1.046 - 1.056 original gravity. Most are hopped between 25-40 IBU's, All dependent upon the gravity.Always hopped with German noble hops. These usually being Spalt, Hallertau Mittelfrau and sometimes Tettnanger.

Typically made with a Pils base and colored with roasted malt or dark crystal. May include small amounts of Munich or Vienna malt. Noble hops. usually made with an attenuating ale yeast.

This is one beer that you don't want to steer wrong yeast wise. My suggestion is Wyeast 1007 German Dusseldorf Ale. It gives it the perfect big creamy head. Also the perfect degree of malt flavour.

Subtle malty, sometimes grainy aroma. Low to no noble hop aroma. Clean, lager character with very restrained ester profile. No diacetyl.

Fairly bitter yet balanced by a smooth and sometimes sweet malt character that may have a rich, biscuity and/or lightly caramelized flavor. Dry finish often with lingering bitterness. Clean, lager character sometimes with slight sulfur notes and very low to no esters. Very low to medium noble hop flavor. No diacetyl.

Most Alt biers produced outside of Dusseldorf are of the Northern German style. Most are simply moderately bitter brown lagers. Ironically "alt" refers to the old style of brewing (i.e. making ales), which makes the term "Alt Bier" somewhat inaccurate and inappropriate. Those that are made as ales are fermented at cool ale temperatures and lagered at cold temperatures (as with Dusseldorf Alt).

If you can find them, commercial examples would be, DAB Traditional, Hannen Alt, Grolsch Amber, Alaskan Amber, St. Stan's Amber, Schmaltz' Alt

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I have been brewing since the craze in the 90's, I stuck to it. Now I'm sharing what I know with you. So give the site below a visit today. It will be evolving and growing with many resources for the new and old brewer alike. The Brewmeister, "Where it's a pleasure to Brew" -Shawn Burgy

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Roxy's Bottle Shop has Alaskan Amber in stock if you want to sample an alt beer.

English Bitter - the Style

by Shawn Burgy

English Bitter is one of the most satisfying of styles. To the homebrewer this can be one of the easiest styles of beer to make. Bitter as a style has many different tastes and surprises. Most are usually bittersweet and hoppy. English Bitter gets this from generous supply's of British noble hops.

The hops of which I speak are Challenger, Wye Target, Fuggles and the most prestigious of them all East Kent Golding's. There are many regional takes on this style as well. One of the more famous was Boddingtons Bitter. This beer was once a staple of the Greater Manchester area before Inbev bought them out. Sadly, the Strangways Brewery in Manchester has since been shut down.

This was a very good example of an English Bitter that was once respected by me. Another example of this style was Mansfield Bitter. Again sadly the brewery in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire has since closed. It's no longer a staple of Mansfield where it's adored across the Midlands. Very few examples of true English Bitter are available in the states.

There however are many examples of Pale Ale across the board. English Bitter is included in the Pale Ale family. There are actually three category's for English Bitter.

There's Ordinary Bitter with a gravity between 1.035 - 1.040. I like my Ordinary Bitter between 1.038 and 1.040. Usually hopped with 25-35 IBU's. Then there's Special/Best Bitter with gravity's between 1.040 - 1.048. Hop IBU's around 25-40. Also there is Extra Special Bitter or ESB for short. Gravity's usually between 1.048 - 1.060. This usually gets generous IBU's around 30-50+.

Respectively they're almost always malty and bittersweet. Usually the flavours don't change much between the three examples. The higher gravity beers tend to accentuate the flavorful British malt.

Grain wise you want to seek out a very good floor malted British two-row barley. My favorite malts in this case are Thomas Fawcett Marris Otter and Halcyon. This is a family owned malting company in West Yorkshire. Examples of beers made with Thomas Fawcett malts are Theakstons Old Pecuiler, Bass Pale Ale. Just to name a few. Be sure to use good fresh British hops as well.

So try making them and make them your own. I think you will be impressed.

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I have been brewing since the craze in the 90's, I stuck to it. Now I'm sharing what I know with you. So give the site below a visit today. It will be evolving and growing with many resources for the new and old brewer alike. The Brewmeister, "Where it's a pleasure to Brew" -Shawn Burgy

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The Gusto Is Back!

by Crazy Eddie

How many readers are old enough to remember Schlitz Beer? Schlitz has a long history and during both the 1950's and 1960's it was the number one selling beer in America. It was in the 1970's that Budweiser took over the number one spot and the popularity of Schlitz took a nosedive. There are many reasons for this but let me start at the beginning.

In 1850 twenty-year-old German immigrant Joseph Schlitz arrived in Milwaukie and got a job with the small August Krug tavern brewery.In 1856 August Krug died and Joseph Schlitz took over the brewery, renaming it the Joseph Schlitz Brewery. The brewery supplied beer locally in Milwaukie but didn't start expanding until the 1870's after the Great Chicago Fire. The fire had destroyed all of Chicago's breweries and Chicagoans were suddenly without beer. Joseph Schlitz came to the rescue and started hauling beer from Milwaukie down to Chicago. Chicago beer drinkers were so happy with Schlitz beer that they started calling it "the beer that made Milwaukie famous." Expansion continued for the next few decades and in 1902 Schlitz surpassed Pabst as the number one selling beer in America.

In 1912 Schlitz was the first brewery to introduce brown bottles to keep light from spoiling the beer. During the first two decades of the 1900's Schlitz and Pabst were battling it out for the number one position of best-selling beer. But then came Prohibition in 1920. Schlitz Brewing Company became Schlitz Beverage Company, selling non-alcoholic beverages with the slogan, "the NAME that made Milwaukie famous." When Prohibition ended in 1933 Schlitz became Schlitz Brewing Company again and beer production quickly returned to pre-Prohibition levels.

It was in the post-World War II era of the 1950's and 1960's that Schlitz regained the number one best-selling beer position. It was in the 1950's that Schlitz entered the world of television commercials producing a hugely successful marketing campaign centered around the catch phrase, "Go for the gusto." The 1960's was a great time for Schlitz and it far outsold its competition. By the early 1970's Schlitz ran into a problem; the couldn't keep up with demand. So they built what was then the largest brewery in the world on a 34 acre site in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. In 1973 Schlitz beer production peeked at 21.3 million barrels of beer. Despite this, Schlitz was losing its number one position to Budweiser.

1976 was a pivotal year for Schlitz as everything went downhill from there. That was the year they changed their formula. To compete against Budweiser and other beers Schlitz decided to change from a premium beer to a budget beer. They felt they could only compete through pricing. But to keep a low budget price they had to cut costs drastically and this involved created a new formula with cheaper and less ingredients. I happen to remember when this happened. Everyone was saying, "What happened to Schlitz? It tastes watered down!" Consequently, Schlitz sales started going down drastically. In keeping with cost-cutting, they also quit their national advertising campaigns and this further lowered sales. Another factor in the decline was the decision to quit bottling Schlitz, selling it only in cans.

Then in 1981 Schlitz was hit by a crippling strike by their workers that left the company in near ruin. In 1982 the company was sold to Stroh's Brewery Company of Detroit. Stroh's, however, had a lot of the same problems and went out of business in 1998, selling the Schlitz label to Pabst. In the ensuing decade Pabst has been working on a reintroduction of Schlitz. But they didn't want to reintroduce the 1976 formula. They wanted to bring back the popular 1960's formula. Unfortunately, this formula had been lost. The job of reconstructing the full-bodied 1960's Schlitz formula fell on Pabst brewmaster Bob Newman, who was named the 2006 and 2007 Brewmaster of the Year at the Great American Beer Festival. His research involved finding and interviewing some of the original Schlitz brewmasters who were still alive. The formula has been reconstructed and tested and on April 2nd it was officially reintroduced in the Chicago area--75 years after Schlitz was reintroduced after Prohibition.

Currently, Schlitz is only available in the Chicago area as well as Minnesota and Florida. Plans call for a gradual expansion into major markets with a full-blown national campaign slated for 2009. The new/old Schlitz will only be available in bottles and will be sold as a premium beer priced comparably with Budweiser and Coors. The advertising campaign will be 1950's and 1960's retro and will feature phrases like, "The gusto is back." Beer drinkers will be urged to remember a time when "the cars were cooler, the athletes didn't cheat, and the beer was better."

It has not yet been determined when Schlitz will become available in Colorado but you can rest assured that when it does become available Roxy's Bottle Shop will carry it. You can stay informed by checking the Roxy's Bottle Shop website or subscribing to the newsletter (right column).

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Crazy Eddie writes for Kitchen Euphoria as well as Blog Salida

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Brewing it Belgium Style: A Guide to Beer in Brussels

by Matthew Pressman

Anyone who knows anything about beer will recognise Belgium as one of the world's most prolific brewers. Perhaps it's Belgium's long history in brewing that has led to the country being such a leader in the amber nectar; indeed, Belgium's beer making origins go back to the Middle Ages, when Trappist monks started experimenting with brewing techniques.

Belgians love their beer, and amazingly the health properties of the drink have even led the government to introducing it into the school lunch menu! A Flemish beer lovers club approached 30 schools and suggested that they could substitute low alcohol beer for sugary fizzy drinks, such as lemonade or cola. According to a pilot scheme in Belgium's Limburg province, 80% of children who took part said they preferred having a beer to a soft drink, and other schools are considering following suit. Pupils even get a choice between bitter and lager, although neither beverage exceeds 2.5% alcohol by volume.

For those who are not lucky enough to attend a Belgian school and get beer for lunch, don't worry - the world of Belgian beer is still open to you. Belgian beers can be roughly split into eleven categories, including Pils, Amber, White, Abbey, Trappis, Geuze/Lambiek, Fruit, Strong Pale, Strong Brown, Red Brown, and regional or town beer.

Each has distinct criteria, for example, Trappist beers are brewed in a Trappist Monastery, and to qualify the entire process must be carried out or supervised by Trappist monks on the site of the monastery. Only seven monasteries currently meet this qualification, six of which are in Belgium - the other is in the Netherlands. Because of this way they are categorised, in terms of flavour and style, one Trappist beer has little in common with another.

The Gueze beers (or Lambic) are unique to Belgium, and are distinguished by their tart tastes. Lambics are brewed via a method of spontaneous fermentation by wild yeast, which are said to be endemic to the vicinity of Brussels and the Senne Valley.

Pilsner-style lager, also called Pils, is a common, bottom fermented lager which are recognized for their light colour and smooth taste. These are by far the most popular style of beer and make up almost 75% of all Belgian beer production. The best known brand on the international market is Stella Artois, whilst within Belgium itself, Juplier tops the sale charts.

With so much great beer around, it's not surprising that many of the hotels in Brussels are full of beer drinkers who come to sample the city's bars. So, if you're a beer lover, make sure you visit Belgium and in particular Brussels, to sample what is renowned for being the world's best beer brewer.

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Matthew Pressman is a freelance writer and frequent flyer. When not travelling, he enjoys golf and fishing.

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