Part 5: Wöllnitz

I haven't written about our Germany trip in months, and I'm determined to finish this bad boy. Let's do this.

After our evening in Leipzig at the Ohne Bedenken, we trekked out to find packing material for transporting our beers. The plan was to buy a box, tape, lots of bubble wrap & packing peanuts, and check the box as luggage. After a lot of searching in a big mall, we finally found a box, but no packing materials. Batting and fake-snow fluffy stuff from the Christmas decoration section would have to do. We also found some cheap-ass cherry mead (€3 for a 750ml bottle - and it was actually pretty good!) and entertained ourselves with the flat escalators in the mall.

Despite the best engineering intentions, shopping carts are difficult to hold in place on these things.

With our purchases in tow, we headed toward Wöllnitz, which John had read about on Ron Pattinson's blog. Incidentally, on the way to Germany, we also read Stan Hieronymous' "Brewing with Wheat" where he  mentions this city's unique style of beer. Gasthausbrauerei Talschänke brews a sour wheat beer there, called Wöllnitzer Weißbier. Beer Advocate & Rate Beer list this as a Berliner Weisse, but it's actually a derivative of an old style called Lichtenhainer - a sour wheat beer made partially with smoked malt.

Smoky sour wheat beer in Germany

The aroma was bready and very citrusy, like a lemon sherbet, with a very faint floral hop aroma at the finish.  The flavor was also citrusy, but not so much as the aroma was. The finish was smoky and bready; the wheat in the grist contributed to a light graininess that complemented the citrus character well. We both thoroughly enjoyed it, but I have to admit...

... I liked the Jever better. A very bitter German pils, Jever on tap is something to behold. You can get something sort of close to Jever at Grünauer by ordering a glass of Czechvar, but it won't be nearly as bitter or delicious.

And speaking of delicous? Hackepeter! Take raw pork, add some fresh onion, a raw egg and some spices, toss it on a plate, and voila - deliciousness on a plate. My mother would die knowing we were dining on a plate of raw pork & raw egg, but I am starting to believe that cooking meat ruins it.

A bit of Jever next to some Hackepeter, a pickle, and a giant wedge of butter

It's a regional specialty, and we ran into a variant of the raw pork delicacy in other cities... but first? Dortmund.

And Speaking of Firkins in Kansas City...

A couple of weeks ago, I was whining about Kansas City’s poor state of affairs when it comes to beers in a firkin around town. I was pretty damn happy to, soon-after, read on the KC Beer Blog that Blanc is considering doing cask beer from time to time (sounds pretty tentative, but at least they’re actively considering it).

So I’m excited to hear that the next Rare Beer Night at Flying Saucer (Aug 4th) will feature a firkin of Tallgrass’ “Dream Warrior” - Halcyon with strawberries & vanilla. If you haven’t tried regular Halcyon yet, you’re missing out on a fantastic summer beer that’s light, citrusy, and far less embarrassing to order than a similarly-refreshing radler. I can’t guarantee that asking for a glass of strawberry-vanilla beer won’t be embarrassing, but maybe that’s why they named it Dream Warrior (am I the only one picturing Game of Thrones imagery?). It sounds delicious.

Bourbon Cerise

I love Founders and nearly everything they distribute to Missouri. I also love quality-made fruit beers like BBQ, WI Belgian Red, or Sam Smith strawberry ale. A couple of years ago, I had the opportunity to try Cerise, and I found it a bit over-fruity and sweet, even though I'm a fan of super-sweet fruit beers like Belgian Red. I haven't had it since, mostly because it was just too... fruity.

A couple of months ago, I decided on a whim to get into bourbon. I bought a couple bottles of bourbons I read about online and absolutely fell in love with Eagle Rare 10. Fast forward a month or so, and I'm in Royal liquor looking around for something to drink. I picked up some saisons from Jolly Pumpkin and Stillwater, as well as a 4-pack of Founders Cerise (hoping that perhaps my memory had failed me). When I got home, I drank half a bottle of Cerise and wasn't that impressed.

So, I added about a quarter-ounce of bourbon to that last half of a bottle... and loved it.

Founders needs to barrel-age Cerise. While I'm happy to add an ounce of bourbon to a bottle of Cerise, the oak and bourbon would add significant depth. Without a doubt, cherries, oak, and bourbon are a match made in polyamorous heaven.

So if you find yourself with a chance to drink a bottle or glass of Cerise - or if you are interested in trying the beer with some complexity - get a shot of bourbon to go with it. You won't regret it.

Engine & Cask

We took a trip to Chicago earlier this year for a homebrewing competition as well as a long weekend getaway. Among some of the typical places we wanted to hit (Map Room, Publican, Goose Island Clybourn), we had our sights set on Owen & Engine. We wouldn't have known about this place had it not been for Elliot (from Waldo Pizza) moving to Chicago and getting a gig there as the Beer Manager. We ran into him last fall and he mentioned the place to us. We couldn't wait to check it out.

Owen & Engine
Photo from Metromix Chicago

There were several reasons we wanted to go (one of them being the stellar British-inspired food menu), but the main one was for the beer engines. They've got four of them set up behind the bar, each with carefully-selected beers available. The place also has 20 separate taps at the bar, again all thoughtful and representing a wide variety - everything from Rodenbach Grand Cru to Bitburger, cider, and Cafe Negro. We had a great time trying a bunch of the beers on engine, as well as those on the standard taps and I recommend stopping here any time you're in Chicago.

I'd really like to see more places in Kansas City offer beer on engine (whether cask or keg), or even gravity-fed from a cask. A few bars around town do have engines, but they’re rarely ever in use. And while beer on engine can be kegged with CO2 gas maintained at a low level to keep a blanket over the beer, it’s the beer in a cask that is really something unique (ever try an IIPA on cask? Amazing difference between its kegged counterpart!). But its shelf life is short, and the last time I did have something from cask here in town, it had oxidized beyond salvation. It seems we just don’t have enough interest in beer on engine and/or cask to really make it worth the bar’s time or expense.

However, it looks like St Louis is experiencing a surge of attention to cask beer. iTap introduced its cask program this spring:  they purchased empty casks and now send them off to various breweries to be filled and returned. And STLhops.com just announced that Lohr Distributing recently purchased casks for a similar program catering to multiple bars in the STL area.

If the KC beer scene keeps moving forward as it has in the past 2-3 years, it’s only a matter of time before we start seeing a revival of cask nights and dusting off the ol’ beer engines. I hope.

Great Nebraska Beer Fest 2011

What are you doing the weekend of August 27th? Consider going to Nebraska.

The Great Nebraska Beer Fest 2011 is going on that Saturday from 1-6pm and is held in the parking lot where Nebraska Brewing Co is located. Tickets are $30. Not convinced? Check out the flyer and this (long) list of breweries...

• Nebraska Brewing Co
• Twisted Pine
• Cigar City
• Raccoon River
• Crooked Stave
• Grimm Brothers
• Crow Peak
• Granite City
• Stevens Point
• Great River
• Avery
• Upstream 
• Thunderhead
• Empyrean
• Lucky Bucket
• Gottberg
• Funkwerks
• Spilker
• Schilling Bridge
• Free State
• Crabtree
• Freetail
• Madhouse
• Peace Tree
• Tallgrass
• Summit
• O'Dell
• Sprecher
• Left Hand
• Boulevard
• Boston Beer Co
• Breckenridge
• Tommyknocker
• New Belgium
• Weyerbacher
• Great Divide
• Ska
• Boulder
• Schell's
• Rock Bottom
• Goose Island

There are a lot of phenomenal breweries represented here, many of which don't distribute to our area. Looks like it'll be a good event to attend. And unless you're a New Yorker, you know Nebraska really isn't that far away.

Sour Beer Week at the Saucer

As you can probably tell, I've lost a lot of steam in the world of blogging. Work travel has nearly taken over my life, but I've also become a lot more invested in other hobbies & time-consuming things of late. And with KC Beer Blog doing such a great job at covering all things local these days, they make it hard to come up with unique content. Not a bad thing, of course!

However, I received a press release from Flying Saucer today that I can't ignore. SOUR BEER WEEK will be taking place at the end of this month, and there are some fantastic breweries being represented. Monday starts it off with a Goose Island dinner (about which you can find out more on Facebook).

And, as fate would have it, I'm going to be traveling on business for most of that week. Hopefully there will still be some good beers left on tap when I get into town. I may have to stop in on my way home from the airport Thursday, as I'm not sure how much of the Cantillon will last. Then return Friday for Jolly Pumpkin night.

I've been thinking for a while about voting Jolly Pumpkin one of the best breweries no one in KC seems to be talking about much. If you've never had their beer, you owe it to yourself to make the trek to the Saucer on the 29th. As well as pretty much every other night that week.

Swagger adds Sunday hours & a breakfast menu

Bull E Vard just announced Swagger’s food pairing & beer tasting event tonight with Royal Liquor. Sounds like a great way to do a beer/food pairing without forking over a lot of cash or guaranteeing a food coma.

But what I really came here to post are two other things going on at Swagger. They’re now open on Sundays, AND they’re serving breakfast on weekends! I’ve been waiting for a while for the Sunday hours, as it seems every time I get the urge to go to Swagger, it’s on Sunday. We even walked a mile with some friends one Sunday to go to Swagger for lunch, only to find they were closed (and as we walked away, someone else drove up and tried to go inside.) You'll be able to get your Swagger fix on Sundays from 7am - 9pm.

As for breakfast, it’ll be served both Saturday & Sunday from 7am to noon. No booze served prior to 9am, but I’m not sure anyone will be crying into the biscuits & gravy over that.