Part 1: Bamberg

As I mentioned earlier, Mr Wort Hog and I spent about 10 days in October traveling around Germany and the Czech Republic.We went to cities that have historical significance in beer and were able to try several examples of prominent styles. So, here's the first of several recollections of our trip...

We arrived in Frankfurt on a Thursday morning. It wasn’t long before we were in our rental car and on our way to Bamberg, about 3 hours east of the Frankfurt airport in Northern Bavaria. It was only after booking our trip that we found out Schlenkerla would be releasing their Urbock our first night of arrival. During lunch we learned that tapping would start at 5pm, so we made plans to walk around town until 4:30 or so then head down to the brewery for the tapping.

We ended up arriving around 4pm so we could avoid the crowd rush... As it turns out, all we needed to do was show up some time before 8pm. Before then, the beer garden was relatively empty - entirely different from our experience with brewery special releases in the States. Around 9pm or so, the biergarten was so full, you had to pull your way through the crowd just to move from one place to the next. Bamberg's a university town, and we introduced ourselves to a group of graduate astronomy students who were speaking English... Talking physics and solar flares is quite a feat after about 2 liters of bock.

Biergarten at Schlenkerla

Fresh Schlenkerla urbock is a distant relative of the old stuff we get here. It tasted fresh and smoky without being "meaty"; less like bacon and more like warm campfire. Imagine drinking a lightly sweet bock while hanging out with friends at a bonfire. That's Schlenkerla Urbock.

Fresh Urbock

They tapped keg after keg after keg...

Yeah, he tapped that

October & November mark the release of bock beers throughout Germany. Several months ago, I found a website that listed the dates of dozens of bock releases in the country. I can't find it now, but if you're a Google Master, please send me a link if you find it.

Next up - the other breweries of Bamberg.

Smoke 'em if you got 'em

McCoy's is having a smoked beer & food dinner on Tuesday, Sept 1st and both food & beer look great. If you've never had a smoked beer before, you're in for a treat. I don't know if I've met anyone who was very ambivalent about smoked beer; either you like it or you don't.

Smoked beers originated in Germany, out of the town of Bamberg, where the malt was dried over an open flame instead of in a kiln (where smoke escapes via another route). The smoke is imparted to the grain and - voila - smoke beer.

Alaska Brewing Company basically popularized the style in the US. Stone, Rogue, Spoetzl (Shiner), Goose Island, and several others have followed in suit. I'd recommend trying out the Bamberg originals from both Schlenkerla and Spezial, as well as Rogue's smoke ale and Shiner's Smokehaus. Schlenkerla offers several smoke beers: maerzen, weizen, and urbock (which will be at the McCoy's dinner).

McCoy's will also feature O'Fallon's Smoked Porter which I believe is a fabulous representation of the style. It is everything I love about smoke beers - smokey, smooth, complex, and flavorful - but not so much that you can't finish your beer. If you can't make it to the dinner, the smoked porter is easily available at Gomer's, Lukas, Royal, and various other liquor establishments.

Prost!