Beer of the Week! 08/09/22
Schilling Landbier
Regularly $14.99 / Now on Sale for $13.96
Franconian Spelt Lager
We just love beer. The best stories bubble up out of the beer world.
Okay, two things you have to know at the outset. First, in 1852, in the Franconia region of Bavaria, Germany, its Central Agricultural School relocated to Friesling just north of Munich. In 1919, its brewing school became the University for Agriculture and Brewing, and in 1930, that university became part of the Technical University of Munich (TUM), where it remains today. Second, brewers use different yeasts for different styles of beers. We’re not just talking lager yeasts vs. ale yeasts. We’re talking various yeast strains within the ale and lager classifications that perform differently. Got those two points? Okay …
Going into the 1950s, one of the most popular lager yeast strains in Bavaria was TUM 35, as catalogued by the Technical University. TUM 35 produced smooth, mild lagers without the sulfurous aromas produced by other lager yeasts. However — as one beer blogger/writer tells it — the early 1950s Bavarian weather produced grains that did not perform well with TUM 35. Brewers turned to other yeast strains that could better handle the poor grain. TUM 35 was avoided, neglected, and then all but forgotten. Eventually, it was considered lost. Here’s where things get fun …
In 2019, someone found a lonely box in a TUM storage room with the number “35” written on it. It was a sample of the abandoned yeast! TUM researchers resurrected the sample, brewed with it, and were surprised to meet a mild, delicate, non-sulfur aromaed lager. That’s the yeast strain that Littleton, NH’s Schilling Beer Company uses to brew its Landbier.
Schilling ferments our favorite heritage wheat, spelt with TUM 35 and lagers it with delightful results. You get a restrained breadiness woven into a hop character that is light, yet reminiscent of a Pilsner’s crispness. It’s mild but tasty enough to not be boring — just what you want from a really good lager. This beer is sooo much better than anything that comes out of what we find in the backs of our closets.
Bonus Beer of the Week (‘Cause Holy Empty Glass, Brewman! Bartender Gordon has just lit the Brew Signal! Time for the Diastatic* Duo!)
Wild East No Pretense
Regularly $17.99 / Now on Sale for $16.96
Hazy American Pale Ale
Just when you thought the only thing coming out of Brooklyn was hipster pretense and worse stories of gentrification than we have, out stroll the beers from Wild East Brewing Company. With their first brews going into production in December of 2019, Wild East was ready to open its taproom in March … the following March … March of 2020.
So, with COVID-19 raging through NYC, through the world, and through Wild East’s head brewer, Wild East found itself a new brewery during plague times. Fortunately, due to the relaxation of NYC beer distribution laws and the adoption of canning sooner than they planned, Wild East survived.
The No Pretense American Pale Ale is like a light-bodied NEIPA. Both hazy and juicy, it’s got an unfiltered beer’s smoothness, but a much lighter body than its IPA bigger siblings. The No Pretense features NY State malts hopped with Mosaic hops and dry-hopped with Citra and Cashmere. Just barely off-dry, look for flavors of Mandarin oranges or even passion fruit. (Ah, those Mosaic hops!)
*(When malting grains for brewing, grains are soaked until they start to germinate. As they germinate, they release diastatic enzymes that convert the grains’ starches into sugars that yeasts will eat, during fermentation.)
Remember!
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