A nice little hefeweizen..

I wouldn't go that far. There are a lot of lager breweries in the Midwest, mid-Atlantic and Northeast.

Tease. Who are you thinking of?

I've yet to have anything brewed in the States that I would consider to be an accurate alt.

-Steve

Credit when credit due: didn't Burt Grant open the first brewery in the state of Washington? Or was it that Grant's pub was the first modern brewpub opened in the US after prohibition?

I can only aspire to defend the Northwest beer scene so thoroughly. Nyeah.

fr0glet

Haven't had that one.

-Steve

Good, straightforward Bavarian-style wheat beer from Franconia's most Bavarian-oriented brewery, the "One Kulbmach Brewery,"aka Kulmbacher Brauerei, the only one left in Kulmbach after the other ones either shut down or were absorbed. Kulmbacher Brauerei markets four brands: Kulmbacher, EKU, Moenchshof, and Kapuziner. Schweizerhof and Sandler, two other former Kulmbach beer brands, didn't make the final cut.

There are numerous southern-Bavarian-style wheat beers produced in Franconia these days, many of them quite good. The one of most interest to me is the hybrid of old Bamberg style and Bavarian wheat beer flavor, Schlenkerla Weizen. There was a good limited-edition wheat beer produced at Straub's Drei Kronen in Memmelsdorf, but it's not mentioned much any more. It was FG.

BTW, Bill, if you ever get your hands on some Edelweiss, I think you'll like it. It's brewed at BBAG's Kaltenhausen brewery near Hallein, not far from Salzburg. Yes, Austria.

Dunno why they don't bottle-condition, but the TC in bottles I've had has been fine et dandy.

It rocks at the brewery. But...I've had good bottles, too. I'm not kissing their ass, just relating my experience. How old is the shit you're buying? Did you buy it from Andy?

Oh, I'm quite certain their product is G-FG in bottled form from the palates of people whom I respect. Plus, of course, now I can add you.

The shit I bought was actually considerably closer to the source; I rejoiced when I found it (this was months before NYC got a distro for it), but most of the ImPaled was undrinkable, though there were a couple of bottles, strangely, that suffered from very minimal diacetyl problems. Andy can verify.

The TC was bad in a different way. Again, I think Andy could verify, if he weren't so busy unpacking.

Next time I try it will likely be on draft, to reaffirm my faith in the brewery. Only 90 minutes from oft-visited relations.

Witzel

Long Trail Double Bag?

Ah, then you need to get down to San Diego and try On Tap! (their punctuation). Went there again today. I still think their Alt is about as close as you can get to Dusseldorf without hopping on a plane. They also make a decent immitation Koelsh, far close to style than say Ballast Point's. And they brew a clovey Hefeweizen.

--Dan E

Then I speak from ignorance. I haven't seen many in the stores down here. Its usually a sea of ales, which ain't a bad thing, but I like variety and sometimes nothing cuts the mustard or the bratwurst grease like a nice pils.

--Dan E

Wow. I remember New Albion. I had some way back when....my *actual* first step into the world of microbreweries.(Even before I tried Anchor Steam or Sierra Nevada Pale)

Like Yuengling, for instance? I'm sooo glad we have that brewery going strong today(what, since 1829?) despite the fact that if I want some, I have to buy it on line and pay them shippin costs. Truth be told, I'm proud of them sons of guns.

I knew that.

But 1982

Red Hook....their ESB, when it first came out, was quite tasty. I just *know* they dummied it up to attract a larger portion of the American beer drinkers, who know....ummm...exactgly what *do* they know?

The

The Boston Lager, when I first had access to it way back when was a very tasty product. Nice malty/hoppy flavour. I thought it was very well balanced. The stuff now....a mere shadow of it's former self though...I'm glad that whomever was responsible for the Tumwater Washington version is no longer in business.

You lost me there. But....One of my greatest pleasures(beer wise) is finding a shipment of Victory beers at my place of employment. Them and Stones. There, both coasts covered quite nicely.

Best regards, Bill

That's because neither the East nor the PNW can hold the Midwest's jock when it comes to brewing.

-- Joel Plutchak Boneyard Union of Zymurgical Zealots

"Resorting to personal harassment is a tactic of desperation."

The stuff Dave brought from upstate NY was off, for sure. Some more than others.

The TC was simultaneously dull and very nasty -- fusels, butter, alcohol, thin, astringent. Terrible stuff. The cask at RAF 2 months later was far better, but still a long way from rocking my world.

Andy Ager Middle of feckin' New Hampshire a underscore ager at yahoo dot com

Dunno about accurate, but up here in Northern New England, alt-alikes litter the beer aisles. You got Otter Creek Copper Ale, which is barely alt-y (although frankly, a step up from Frankenheim), and even moreso Long Trail Ale and Double Bag (both of which are so widely available I can buy the shit at effing KMART), an alt and sticke, respectively. Heavyweight's Stickenjab is a tribute to Sticke. Southampton Secret Ale is a pretty damned close sticke, according to those who know. There are more.

Andy Ager Middle of fecking New Hampshire a undersore ager at yahoo dot com

The yeast isn't added, it's already there. Hefeweizen is fermented with a low floculating yeast that remains in suspension better than most strains.

I had a great alt at Victory a couple years ago..tap only, no bottles.

--------->Denny

Interesting,so it isn't made the same way as Belgian clones like Blanche de Chambly or other Unibroue efforts(which all add yeast after fermentation)?I stand corrected.

Actually he is sometimes half right -- most of the large German breweries filter out the weizen yeast and add a low floculating lager yeast for stability reasons. It makes for an interesting problem because the lager yeast must be grown in an all barley wort, but when that is added to the finished beer it cannot lower the percentage of wheat below 50% (IIRC) that must be there for it to be called a weizen.

Schneider is one that I remember bottling with the fermentation yeast. I am sure there are others.

Fred Waltman