I must have been overwhelmed by the gardening and snoozing and beer sipping this weekend as I failed to mention that our correspondent for central Europe, Evan Rail, had a good piece in The New York Times yesterday on the somewhat elusive local real ales and lagers of Germany. Other than the two obvious answers, why would Evan undertake such a task?
Thus the rub: though Germany is home to some of the greatest beer culture on the planet, local flavor is increasingly elusive. Ever since the rise of lagers like Pilsener and the spread of industrial brewing in the late 19th century, dozens, if not hundreds, of charismatic local beers have disappeared. "It happened very quickly," said Ron Pattinson, whose European Beer Guide lists many obsolete and rare German beers, including broyhan from Hannover, mumme from Braunschweig and keut from Münster. "The older styles were overwhelmed, and what we've got left are just the odd remnants of beers. It's like a landscape that has been swamped, and you can just make out the odd tree and hilltop."Interesting to note that mum and kyet are styles of beer mentioned in Unger's A History of Brewing in Holland 900-1900 back around 1550. The story is accompanied by some great photos by Dave Yoder including one of a kölschkranz, a cropped bit of which is shown above. Ron Pattinson's alarmingly complete guide can be found here. Between Evan's periodic travel tales and Eric Asimov's beer coverage as part of The Pour, the NYT has clearly staked its place as the leading MSM outlet for quality beer coverage.
By the way, I would note for the record that not one of you has sent me a kölschkranz yet.
Comments
tedo - May 21, 2007 11:35 PM
The Kranz is one of my all time favorite souveniers that I brought back from my time in Koln. That and copious amounts of Kolsch glasses from as many of the local brewerys as I could hit up. Its a great city, and Evan's article was full of memories.
Knut Albert - May 22, 2007 4:58 AM
If I am ever in the area, I'll get you one. One of the few things on the planet not currently on eBay...
Stonch - May 22, 2007 1:32 PM
In the UK, things are a bit mixed up in terms of local beer styles.
In terms of styles, we've certainly got a much more diverse scene than Germany today. However, brewers tend not to look to the types of beers associated with their area, and brew whatever takes their fancy. There are exceptions.
Ron Pattinson - May 25, 2007 3:36 AM
My website address has changed and is now:
http://www.europeanbeerguide.net
I had hoped it was reassuringly complete.
Alan - May 25, 2007 9:06 AM
How about staggeringly complete! Amazing depth of information, Ron, and I hope the reference in the NYT gave a great boost to traffic.
Ron Pattinson - May 29, 2007 9:38 AM
Yeah, the NYT links helped boost the hits on my website.
It´s still very much a work in progress. Now it looks like I´m going to be unemployed for a while, maybe I´ll have time to complete some of my historical research.
There will soon be one tangible result of my archive research. I´ve had a recreation of Barclay Perkins KK from 1936 brewed for me at Dutch micro De Schans. It should be ready to drink in about four weeks. Only 300 bottles have been brewed and I´m keeping half for myself.