With late summer vacations still being enjoyed by the Brew
and Chew guys, we just could not get together for our monthly lunch
visit. However the homebrewer of our
team, Charlie, vacationed in Germany making a stop at the Oktoberfest Beer
Festival in Munich as well as visiting the “Technische Universität München” (Technical
University of Munich) research brewery so
this month’s post is about his visit.
This year was the 184th Oktoberfest that
ran for 18 days in September and October.
It was attended by an estimated 6.2 million visitors from countries all
over the world who consumed an estimated 7.5 million liters of beer that was
served in beer tents (actually freestanding buildings). There were 14 large tents and 20 small
tents. The mood was very festive and
friendly with many attendees dressed in traditional German outfits
There were 6 beers from Munich area breweries served
in the tents. Decorative horse drawn wagons
could be seen throughout the grounds delivering beer stored in wooden barrels. All festival beers must be brewed according to the “Reinheitsgebot” (German Beer Purity Law), which
permits only water, hops, and malt as ingredients. Other non-barley-malt beer styles such as
wheat beers are permitted, but must be top-fermented.
We found seating in the large
Spatenbrau tent and enjoyed a liter or two of the traditional Oktoberfest beer
delivered to our table by frauleins who amazed us with the number of steins
they were able to carry! The beer, gold
in color with medium body and bitterness had a slight malt aroma and was tasty
and refreshing. All this with live music
provided by a traditional German band located in the center if the tent.
Oktoberfest is not just a
beer festival, it is also a full-fledged amusement park complete with roller
coasters and other thrill rides.
Numerous vendors pitching their wares lined the walking areas between
tents.
On to the
university for a tour of their research brewery. TUM as it is known is located at the site of
the Weihenstephan Brewery in Freising Germany, just north of Munich. The brewery was founded in the year 1040 so
they know just a little bit about making beer! The research brewery is where students learn
the art and science of brewing beer starting with the basic brewing process
(wort creation, fermentation, bottling and aging) and can attain advanced brewmaster
degrees in a variety of disciplines up to the PhD level!
My host was Max, who is employed at TUM and a
family member of the couple we traveled to Germany with. Max holds a PhD from
the University with his doctoral thesis in advanced yeast strains and cultures. I believe the term brilliant applies here!
Additionally, TUM is the location where German
breweries take their beers to be tested for quality. Not in the sense of how good tastes, but
where or not it meets the national brewing requirements required to be awarded the
seal of “Geschützte Geografische Angabe” (loosely translated as
Protected Geographical Specification).
This is a round seal that is displayed on the beer label informing the
consumer that the beer has passed the bar!
TUM also is the initial source for the
Weihenstephan Brewery to trouble shoots any brewing irregularities that may
occur.
We closed my visit and said good bye to Max with
lunch at the Bräu-Stüberl beer garden located on the TUM grounds. We dined on
beef goulash, potato dumplings, red cabbage and of course a Weihenstephan Hefeweizen. Both the food and the
brew were outstanding!
A day to remember!