I made a visit to Eisgrub-Brau in Mainz, Germany, and tried their house brew. They were serving two beers, the Helles Märzen and Schwarzbier.
The Schwarzbier (dark beer) was really good, malty and creamy, but that can be found elsewhere. The Helles Märzen was special and deserved some (several), uh, extended trials and analytical tastings over a course of two weeks.
Eisgrub-Brau offers a beer-brewing tour, too!
This place is simply amazing. It's built like a Ratskeller, in the basement of a large building nestled into a hillside. The basement is surprisingly huge with lots of adjoining dining and party rooms through a labyrinth of tunnels. Interspersed are the fermenters and ageing tanks. They use single-pot stills as their boilers. They rest the temperature at 60°C and 80°C then boil for 90 minutes.
But the really interesting part is the open-air primaries with big, puffy clouds of krausen. The beer ferments open-air for 1 week. These have water jackets and cool to 6-10°C for cold crash. Then it's moved to the storage tanks for 4 weeks at 3°C and served unfiltered at 8°C. The whole process is 5 weeks from boiler-to-beerstein. Unfortunately, I didn't get any details about their yeast strain, but it must be very unique.
The Helle Märzen was amazing. It was very unusual. Crystal clear. Hugely mouthy and meaty. Nutty and buttery, like almonds. Bread. Lots of bread. Very Czech-like bready and malty with Czech hop spiciness. Fantastic with food. Now that I'm back home, it's hard to go on without it. I'm at a loss of how to clone it. It's that unique and that good.
After two weeks in Mainz and sampling all of the local beers, Eisgrub-Brau is a mandatory visit. Take the brewing tour if possible. If anyone gets lucky enough to talk to a knowledgeable brewer about the yeast and hops, share!
The Schwarzbier (dark beer) was really good, malty and creamy, but that can be found elsewhere. The Helles Märzen was special and deserved some (several), uh, extended trials and analytical tastings over a course of two weeks.
Eisgrub-Brau offers a beer-brewing tour, too!
This place is simply amazing. It's built like a Ratskeller, in the basement of a large building nestled into a hillside. The basement is surprisingly huge with lots of adjoining dining and party rooms through a labyrinth of tunnels. Interspersed are the fermenters and ageing tanks. They use single-pot stills as their boilers. They rest the temperature at 60°C and 80°C then boil for 90 minutes.
But the really interesting part is the open-air primaries with big, puffy clouds of krausen. The beer ferments open-air for 1 week. These have water jackets and cool to 6-10°C for cold crash. Then it's moved to the storage tanks for 4 weeks at 3°C and served unfiltered at 8°C. The whole process is 5 weeks from boiler-to-beerstein. Unfortunately, I didn't get any details about their yeast strain, but it must be very unique.
The Helle Märzen was amazing. It was very unusual. Crystal clear. Hugely mouthy and meaty. Nutty and buttery, like almonds. Bread. Lots of bread. Very Czech-like bready and malty with Czech hop spiciness. Fantastic with food. Now that I'm back home, it's hard to go on without it. I'm at a loss of how to clone it. It's that unique and that good.
After two weeks in Mainz and sampling all of the local beers, Eisgrub-Brau is a mandatory visit. Take the brewing tour if possible. If anyone gets lucky enough to talk to a knowledgeable brewer about the yeast and hops, share!
