Wortspiele is what you get, when you produce 15 hl of wort; give it to more than 20 brewers who then make beer from it to serve at one event. We here at bierversuche organize this shindig and Number 3 just happened at La Nébuleuse. Mid-February people were treated to 35 completely different and exclusive beers.
As of 1 May, Blackwell announced that it will close down its brewery. As customers, friends and collab-partners we hate that. Here’s why!
Was 2021 the year beer became boring? Or to put it another way, when was the last development in beer that was really exciting?
Craft beer brewers and protagonists of the beer community tell how their 2020 was and what they expect, wish and fear from 2021.
2019 was a challenging year. We all probably didn’t have much time to really get serious about anything other than what was immediately and constantly happening. Never have the answers to our questions been so short and never have so many people written to us that unfortunately they don’t have time to participate this year.
It feels like Craft Beer is at a crossroads. We are doing this review for four years now and never before have the answers been so contradictory and never before has there been as much concern among all the excitement. ➽
«Switzerland, a land of brewers» was the title of an article in the Swiss-German newspaper “Der Bund”. The article was built around the fact that by now more than 1000 breweries are registered at the Swiss customs authority. As in pretty much every newspaper article about this topic it also mentioned that this number means Switzerland has the highest brewery density per capita in the world. Considering each and every person in Switzerland “only” drinks 54 liters of beer a year, this sounds like an awful lot if not too many breweries.
Like every year we asked our friends about their last year and prodded them for some foresight into the next year. Considering how varied this “beer thing” is, it’s no surprise the answers were equally varied. However, looking through the answers, it becomes crystal clear that one topic moved our friends, it itself being rather murky though. So, before we head any deeper into 2018, let’s quickly have a look back.
The other day I learnt what a “boss pour” is. The Craft Beer & Brewing Magazine defines it as «A stylistically improper and aromatically challenged pour whereby the pourer fills a glass to the rim without leaving a head on the beer, in vain hopes of impressing friends on social media.» Having an Instagram account, I immediately knew what it was referring to and it gave a term to what has irritated me for a while. But let’s first take two steps back.
“Pure mountain spring water, the best hops and the finest malt provide the unmistakable taste of our unique beer.” Sound familiar? Must. Because it’s written in similar form on many labels of traditional lagers. But since paper is patient and can’t fight back, the question naturally arises: is what it says on the beer label true? Is it really the case that these three ingredients have a significant influence on the taste of beer?
When you are into beer, you will eventually hear about the Reinheitsgebot. And superficially you’ll be impressed: 500 years of tradition, single handedly saved the German people from starvation and from getting poisoned. Once you read a bit further, you will realize that these heroic tales are more legend than reality. And while it’s okay for a little child to believe Robin Hood and Wilhelm Tell were actual people that lived, as a grown up it’s time to accept the fact that these people are fictional characters, just like the Reinheitsgebot.
