Märican Biere Bought and Drunk...

Discussion in 'Germany' started by Gutes_Bier, Jan 2, 2014.

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  1. Gutes_Bier

    Gutes_Bier Maven (1,339) Jul 31, 2011 Germany

    ...or One Man's Loving Recap of His Trip Back to the US, After Drinking Almost Exclusively German Beer for Three Years.

    As I was based near Boston, I searched out Jack's Abby. As I said before, they get lots of love in these parts and so I wanted to check them out. I've discussed them already in other threads, but I'll repeat here.

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    Jabby Brau. This one encapsulated the "Germany vs. USA" debate more or less in it's entirety. While I thought it tasted fine, I was put off because it was not "to-style" as I have come to define it in my own way. Whereas die Frau didn't care that it wasn't to some idea of a style, she thought it tasted great. In fact, she was mad that Germany would never brew this sort of beer. We were completely divided on this beer. My objection was over the use of wheat, which is a decision I still don't "get". It turned what might have been an honest-to-goodness American Lager into something that was neither hide nor hare. An American Wheat Lager? A Pale Lager with distracting amounts of wheat (percentage of wheat to be determined hopefully)? Argh! Die Frau drank most of these. Originally I intended to go back for Smoke & Dagger but decided against it after my experience with this one and...

    Lashes Lager. Turns out I did not take a photo...? Thought I had. Ah well, it looks more or less like the Jabby Brau label. What you get here is an IPA made with lager yeast. No more, no less. Another decision I don't fully understand. If you want to make an IPA, just make an IPA. Again, tasted fine, but not nearly as good, as say....

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    DFH 90 Minute. Super delicious. America makes good IPAs. No arguments here.

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    Founders Breakfast Stout. Tasted like coffee. Every sip, coffee upon coffee upon coffee. People love this beer, but it's not for me. Drank one, die Frau drank one, two were given away at a Christmas party. One person liked it, one did not.

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    Spaten Optimator. Can't get this one in Germany, at least not my part of Germany, so I bought it. Love the cheeky double-spade label. It was very good. For $1.80, not a bad investment at all. Also purchased in part so that I could put the following beer in full context...

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    Troeg's Troegenator. This was surprisingly good. A very legit dopplebock that hits all the right notes. My only quibble being that it had a bit of a sharp alcohol edge to it. At +8% ABV I guess that is to be expected. Thanks to @JackHorzempa for the recommendation. Still, could not hold up to...

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    Ayinger's Celebrator. Wow, this beer is the real deal. I had secretly hoped that I would walk away saying to myself that Andechs made the better dopplebock but that isn't so. This is a great, great dopplebock. The darkest of the three dopplebocks (IIRC), it just looked so great and that depth of color seemed to translate to a depth of flavor and that wonderful molasses character. Man-o-man this is the one to watch. And coming in at 6,7% ABV, by the way. Ho ho ho.


    Otherwise I can only tell you what you already know - shopping in America is better than shopping in Germany. The first shop I went to had a limited import selection but lots of interesting American craft available. The second one had a back room (it was not "hidden" in any way, and in fact has a "More Craft Beer This Way!" sign over the entryway. Nevertheless, I missed it the first time around). The back room had lots of imports and available singles of American craft beers (Craft American Singles?:confused:). Lots of interesting German beers to choose from (including Uerige by the way, which I decided against at ~$6.50 per 12 oz. bottle). I got only the dopplebocks so I could compare them with the Troegs. I decided against a trip to Jacks Abby (~30 mins away) and decided against a trip to an actual abbey (the new Trappist brewery in Spencer, Mass, ~1.25 hr away), so call me boring. All in all, there were hits and misses, but it was a fun visit.

    Cheers, all. Thanks for reading!
     
  2. JackHorzempa

    JackHorzempa Grand Pooh-Bah (3,181) Dec 15, 2005 Pennsylvania
    Pooh-Bah Society

    MJT, thanks for that thorough report!

    I had a Troegs Troegenator earlier this evening and I thoroughly enjoyed drinking it. I personally did not perceive any alcohol in that beer but everybody has a different palate.

    My favorite Doppelbock is Ayinger Celebrator but at 13 bucks a four pack I do not buy too many of these beers (I do buy Ayinger on draft when I find it).

    Cheers!
     
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  3. Domingo

    Domingo Grand Pooh-Bah (4,206) Apr 23, 2005 Colorado
    Pooh-Bah Society

    Cool write-up, thanks for posting!
    With the upper echelon doppelbocks, I think it comes down to personal preference. Celebrator, Korbinian, Andechser, Weltenberger, etc. are all well made and just accentuate different nuances.
     
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  4. boddhitree

    boddhitree Pooh-Bah (1,765) Apr 13, 2008 Germany
    Pooh-Bah

    Wish I could double LIKE just for the inclusion of the snowman in each pic.
     
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  5. pixieskid

    pixieskid Initiate (0) Jun 4, 2009 Germany

    I was very surprised to see what you chose to purchase while visiting the states/your thoughts on some of the beers. Regardless, hope you had a nice visit back and I too like the snowman in each pic.

    P.S. You should have made the 30 minute trip to visit Jacks Abbey, I've heard great things and half an hour is nothing in the grand scheme of things...
     
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  6. Gutes_Bier

    Gutes_Bier Maven (1,339) Jul 31, 2011 Germany

    Could you elaborate on the first sentence? In the meantime, I will explain my thought process: Jabby Brau was listed on the bottle (or six pack carton?) as being 20 IBU's and 4.5% ABV. Thus I figured it was going to be the closest thing to a Münchner Helles that they offered. After that, it came down to Hoponius Union, Smoke & Dagger, or Lashes Lager. I went with the Lashes Lager more or less on a whim. Founders Breakfast Stout was mostly a purchase for die Frau. She likes coffee and she likes stouts, so I figured she'd like that one. I was worried that I wouldn't like it when I bought it, but mostly it wasn't purchased for me. 90 Minute was because I wanted an American IPA and was 90% sure (er, no pun intended) that I'd like this one. Troeg's Troegenator was based on JackH's recommendation and the two German beers were purchased so I could compare/contrast with the Troeg's.

    Re. Jack's Abby: Yeah, I was boring. Thirty minutes would have been easy for me to do, but I laid very low on this trip and did not venture out much. Heck, Redbones was only a few T stops away and I didn't even do that. To be honest, though, I was most intrigued by the new Trappist brewery. If I do that trip again, that might be the place I choose to visit.
     
  7. pixieskid

    pixieskid Initiate (0) Jun 4, 2009 Germany

    Mainly, I was just surprised to see that you opted for (mostly) German styles and/or German beers while in the US. Guessing that those are your preference in general... I can see wanting to compare German classics to US interpretations, but I would have just brought a bottle or two of the US stuff back to Germany and compared them here. In the meantime, taking advantage of beers that aren't usually available. Granted, I've learned very quickly that dist. in Germany is incredibly minimal, so many times, it's easier to find things like Ayinger's doppelbock in the US vs DE...

    For me, any time in the states I tend to overload on IPA, Stouts, Barrel aged beers, etc. If I had lived in France for a full three years without a trip back to the states, the last thing I would do would be to drink biere de garde while I was in the US for the holidays...

    I hear you in terms of laying low on trips, sometimes it's nice. But, I can't help but want to visit breweries/beer spots while traveling.
     
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  8. boddhitree

    boddhitree Pooh-Bah (1,765) Apr 13, 2008 Germany
    Pooh-Bah

    I think MJ & I think alike here. We've lived long term in Germany, delved deep into the best of German beers, so while we're back in the States, we were curious to compare if the Märikaans could come close on German style brews. And of course load up on IPAs, at least I did BOTH.
     
  9. JackHorzempa

    JackHorzempa Grand Pooh-Bah (3,181) Dec 15, 2005 Pennsylvania
    Pooh-Bah Society

    " ...at least I did BOTH." That is the correct answer right there!

    Cheers!
     
  10. Gutes_Bier

    Gutes_Bier Maven (1,339) Jul 31, 2011 Germany

    I suppose I was in Compare-and-Contrast mode. I could have loaded up on more IPA's, but what would that have told me? That America makes good IPA's? I know this already!
     
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  11. JackHorzempa

    JackHorzempa Grand Pooh-Bah (3,181) Dec 15, 2005 Pennsylvania
    Pooh-Bah Society

    “I could have loaded up on more IPA's, but what would that have told me?”

    Permit me to ‘answer’ that question from a different angle: it would have made you happy!

    Maybe I am a ‘weirdo’ but I personally drink to make me happy!

    To mention a quote often attributed to Ben Franklin (I think it is a misquote but anyway): “Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.”

    Cheers!

    P.S. I am drinking a homebrewed Saison and I am happy!:slight_smile:
     
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  12. Stahlsturm

    Stahlsturm Initiate (0) Mar 21, 2005 Germany
    In Memoriam

    Don't say that around the wrong people...
     
  13. Gutes_Bier

    Gutes_Bier Maven (1,339) Jul 31, 2011 Germany

    I was very happy!
     
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  14. danfue

    danfue Initiate (0) Sep 16, 2012 Germany

    One of the few American beers that are readily available in Germany through the Braufactum-coolers in some big markets. I've been to a Globus today and picked up a bottle of Firestone Walker 31. The cooler seemed to be quite empty, many beers missing. Originally, I wanted to grab that Italian craft-beer they're offering. I wonder if it's just maintained badly or if they sell so well.
    Anyway, I had the FW31 before, it's just a perfect one. Beautiful color, nice smell and most importantly, a convincing taste. The taste of the hops is just awesome, yet not too much. I'd always prefer a Pale Ale like this to a strongly hopped IPA.

    [​IMG]

    And looking at the nice snowman in each of above's pictures, I really have to work on my photo-settings.
     
  15. einhorn

    einhorn Savant (1,141) Nov 3, 2005 California

    I live about 10 miles from Firestone and the Pale 31 is my favorite FW brew.

    On the Märican note, I picked up a single bottle of Abita Amber, and according to the label it's a "Munich style lager brewed with pale & caramel malts and German Tettnang hops". At 4.5 % ABV a nice example, despite "cheating" with caramel & crystal malts for melanoiden flavor. 3.75/5
     
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  16. CoverMePorkins

    CoverMePorkins Initiate (0) Sep 17, 2012 New Mexico

    I picked this up at the Globus in Kaiserslautern along with the Brooklyn IPA, Parlor and a few others. According to Braufactum they restock the cooler in Kaiserslautern every two weeks.
     
  17. Gutes_Bier

    Gutes_Bier Maven (1,339) Jul 31, 2011 Germany

    Well interestingly enough, Jack's Abby said in a BeerMail that they have "recently" not used wheat in Jabby Brau, but when they do it's at less than 5% of the grain bill. That threw me for a loop. So therefore I am officially unsure of what it was that so lept out at me with this beer, but I wanted to clarify the record for those of you who care about the stuff I post on here. Hopefully by this point it's not many of you.
     
  18. Domingo

    Domingo Grand Pooh-Bah (4,206) Apr 23, 2005 Colorado
    Pooh-Bah Society

    I think you'll find Firestone Walker is arguably the most respected of the major American craft brewers. Their entire line-up is rock solid. From their pale, IPA, and (amazing) Pivo Pils all the way to their barrel aged blends I don't think they make a bad beer. I don't know if I've ever heard anyone even say anything bad about them either.
    If all American brewers were like them we'd be better off.
     
  19. steveh

    steveh Grand Pooh-Bah (4,030) Oct 8, 2003 Illinois
    Pooh-Bah Society

    See, I found the Pivo as lacking in good bread malt as I did Polestar. I have to (again) question the use of decoction mashing by U.S. micros.
     
  20. JackHorzempa

    JackHorzempa Grand Pooh-Bah (3,181) Dec 15, 2005 Pennsylvania
    Pooh-Bah Society

    It is my understanding that the majority of German breweries no longer conduct decoction mashing due to high energy costs.

    Below is something that Kai Troester published on his blog concerning decoction:

    “It is traditional in many continental European beer styles, especially in Germany and the Czech Republic. But most breweries in these regions have switched to the more economical directly heated step infusion mashing.”

    Cheers!
     
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