The Session #19 Deutsches Bier

Those wacky Germans.

You probably already know my feelings on the German Purity Law, Rob even linked to it. So I won't go back into it, EXCEPT...

My favorite style of German beer is Weizen, or wheat beer. I really like weizens, hefe- kristal- berliner- dunkel-... I dig them all, but just plain old everyday hefeweizens are my favorite Germanic Beer.

One of my favorites is Hacker Pschorr. My buddy Jim's newest favorite beer is Konig Ludwig. He discovered he liked weizens at Elevator Brewery in Columbus, Ohio. He never really noticed the light banana flavor before, and fell in love with their Heifer-wiezen. The last time we were in C-bus, we went to a bar named Bodega that had Konig Ludwig on draft, so he had one of those and fell in love. He hasn't been able to find that one near his home, so he's been traveling nearly a 100 mile round trip to Springfield, Il to purchase 6 packs of it. That's love. I remember back when Billy Barooz in C-U had Konig Ludwig on draft... then it got replaced by Blue Moon, I cried.

Since there's a lot of love going on, let me say I hate having these great beers fruited. The essence of the beer is in the nose, these beers have clove, banana, and other spices in the smell, that when a lemon or orange wedge is put down turns the beer into orange juice (it also kills the head). Most people around here, wouldn't know that there's banana or clove in them, as it's all been killed by the fruit. (But I digress into pet peeves; more on why I hate the reinheitsgebot!)

Wheat beer (my favorite style of German beer) doesn't really fit into the law. Barley, Hops, Water (yeast) no where is wheat allowed. Except... the reinheitsgebot's 4 ingredients only cover lagers; wheat beers are normally ales. So there you go.

The Session is a monthly event for the beer blogging community which was started by Stan Hieronymus at Appellation Beer. On the first Friday of each month, all participating bloggers write about a predetermined topic. Each month a different blog is chosen to host The Session, choose the topic, and post a roundup of all the responses received. For more info on The Session, check out the Brookston Beer Bulletin’s nice archive page.

Days of the Beer, June 13

The beer for today is Konig Ludwig Weissbier, Kaltenberg brewery (Schlossbrauerei).

On June 13, 1886, King Ludwig II of Bavaria is found dead in Lake Starnberg south of Munich. Granted this isn't the beer named for that guy, but it's for his grandfather, Ludwig I.

Ludwig I is the guy who founded Oktoberfest. Wouldn't it be great if you could claim your grandfather was the guy who came up with one of the worlds largest parties?

The guy we are commemorating today is the guy who had several castles in Germany built, including Neuschwanstein castle, Linderhof castle, and the Herrenchiemsee.

Ludwig 2 spent a lot of time with Richard Wagner, and called him "the friend".

As for the beer (not named for him, but his grandfather... the guy who started Oktoberfest) here's a set of tasting notes from the interwebs.

König Ludwig is golden in colour and has a naturally cloudy appearance derived from the special Bavarian Brewers yeast. It has a nice balanced flavour, with malty overtones and an aroma reminiscent of apples and bananas. The stimulating fruity experiences leave you with an unmistakably fruity tingle in the mouth.

Apples and bananas??? So have a beer with fruity aroma, in honor of a fruity king.

(Note: this was one of my favorite beers back when I switched off Miller Lite and Billy Barooz stopped carrying Bells Amber. Then they stopped carrying it on draft and I had to switch to other beers. This beer is great in either Bottle or Draft. DON'T RUIN IT BY PUTTING FRUIT IN IT!!!)