Hey peeps:

 My apologies to all five of you who read my posts; I have not provided an update in three long weeks. Those weeks have flown right by–where in hades did April go? Seemed like it was Easter, then whoosh! A giant suckin’ sound!

Anyhoo, I decided to give my most loyal readers a two-fer: a brew review andbrewing news, because bof of ‘em happened today.

Let’s start with the beer, then pick up with the brewing afterwards.

Trader Joe’s is perhaps one of the most innovative concepts we folk have in the wide world of supermarkets today. While other niche grocers, such as Whole Foods, cater to those who believe $9 for an avocado raised by Tibetan monks is an acceptable price, the rest of us have the terrific chain of no-frills stores. In many ways, I equate TJ’s to Southwest airlines. As a brand, I expect fine quality, no frills, a good price, and great service (without all the hoopla). The fact that they actually brew great beer is icing on the cake. The fact that it’s $5.99 for any six-pack, despite an unprecedented hop/barley crisis,  is the butter-cream filling. Damn, now I want some dessert.

I have reviewed some of Trader Joe’s brews in the past. Why, their Doppelbock got me through winter, and their excellent Bavarian Hefeweizen took me through the warmer months. This year, however, they just released a Dunkelweizen. It’s damn good. A slightly darker variety than the traditional hefe, this caters to those you want a slightly fuller-bodied hefeweizen, but still want all the light flavor. Indeed, this beer will soon be flying off the shelves, given the incredibly-well-set price.

The flavor reminds me, almost exactly, of those great times I had with my wife in Munich a couple years back. It was an incredible week, where we could not remember the last time we had a meal which did not include pork (sausage, bacon, ham, pork knuckles, more bacon). Additionally, we rode bicycles everywhere we could to get the exercise, see the city, etc. This lead us to a few beautiful Biergartens, one of which (Hofbrau) perpetually served both a traditional lager anda dunkelweizen.

Now it’s time for the real breakdown of how real Bavarian hefeweizen is different than all the other hefeweizens in the world. Those who have had Weihenstephaner, Paulaner, or either of these hefe’s from JosephsBrau will detect fruity flavors–hints of banana and bubblegum are the most prevalent aromas described. This is most assuredly notdue to crazy old Bavarians dumping Bazooka Joe into a ten-barrel fermenter. It happens to be the characteristic of a particular yeast strain which originated in that area.

Many of you have read my early post about Weihenstephaner, but it’s important to revisit this history: it’s a 1,000 year old brewery. It remains, by a long shot, the oldest still-operating brewery on the planet. It could very well be that the strain of yeast I brewed with today was probably the same strain used by monks in 1056 AD. Think about that for a second. Take this in for a beer or two. As humans, our lives are tragically brief, but this organism which provides us both nutrients to survive and a mild sense of euphoria when consuming its byproduct, has outlived dozens of generations of history and mankind. Despite all of our history and development as a human race: the Moon landing, mass transportation, cell phones, the Internet, global economic development, dozens of world wars–this yeast, this very strain, in fact–is still alive and kickin’.

Indeed, one of the most fun aspects of this blog is showing the readers my illustrious brewing setup. As you can see, I have merely a large pot and a side burner of a gas grill (12,000 BTU’s on that puppy, though). The most annoying aspect? I have to wait a good 45 minutes for the water to finally get boiling. But, it’s a great chance for me to catch up on reading some of my favorite books. This recipe was a cinch–all extract, two ounces of hops, and this wicked strain of yeast (for $5–it was worth it). The pointers I would give to Hefeweizen brewing neophytes-watch out for boilovers, big time. It’s a rather profound amount of head produced on the boil. In this instance, I also tried a new technique to chill my wort: I froze an entire gallon of ice water and dropped the block in before pouring my wort over it. Nearly instantly, I was at pitching temperature. It worked so incredibly well that I needed to pass it along. Just be really careful as you have to cut open a frozen gallon jug ‘o water. This is a pain in the ass, but besides that, it’s perhaps the best technique I have used, short of a wort chiller, to expeditiously chill the wort.

 Have a great week! Time for a new review soon!

General German