Continental quality

Roger Protz visits some of Europe's finest breweries

Belgium · France · French Flanders · Bavaria

The Schloss Kaltenberg Brewery (see below) produces König Ludwig Dunkel. Check out our tasting panel's reviews.

In the southern region of Germany, wheat beers had fallen into an obscurity almost as deep as the ales of northern France. Once the beers of the nobility, by the 1970s they were derided as old fashioned and fit for consumption only by elderly women. Then, suddenly, they were taken up with enthusiasm by the young "green generation." Wheat beer now accounts for 30 percent of the Bavarian beer market.

One of the oldest wheat beer brewers, Schneider of Kelheim, in the heart of the great Hallertau hop region, brews the classic beers of the style. It was the Schneider family that was given the first license to brew wheat beer in 1850 by the Bavarian royal family. Georg Schneider brewed first in the renowned HofbrŠuhaus (royal court brew house) in Munich before moving to bigger premises in Kelheim. The brewery is still run by the family.

The impressively tiled and sparkling brewery includes open fermenters, a rare site in Germany. Schneider makes 300,000 hectoliters a year, and 90 percent of that production is accounted for by the 5.4 percent Weisse; the remainder goes to an 8 percent doppelbock, Aventinus, and a new, lighter beer called Weizen Hell. For Weisse, malted barley and wheat are blended in the proportion of 60 percent wheat malt and 40 percent barley. Some Vienna and darker malts are added to give the beer its appealing bronze-copper color. HersbrŸcker hops give 14 to 15 units of bitterness: they are used primarily for their preservative power, as too much bitterness would destroy the spicy, fruity character of the beer.

A double decoction mash takes place in modern stainless steel vessels. After being boiled with hops, the wort is cooled and pumped to the cool fermentation hall containing 16 square vats. The atmosphere is ripe with superb fruity aromas, including banana and apple, typical products of wheat beer fermentation. Primary fermentation lasts from between three to five days. The green beer is bottled and stored at a warm temperature while fresh yeast and some unfermented wort are added to start a second fermentation. The beer is matured at 70 degrees F for a week, during which a lively carbonation occurs. The beer then has 14 days of cold conditioning to stabilize it.

The Schneiders stress that both primary and bottle fermentations are with a top-working yeast culture: they abhor the tendency of many wheat beer producers to switch to lager yeast in bottle, which gives greater stability but impairs the true flavor of the style.

Schneider Weisse has a pronounced banana, cloves ad nutmeg aroma, with a tart and slightly acidic flavor in the mouth, and a creamy, fruity finish. The magnificent Aventinus, the perfect nightcap, is bronze-red in color, thanks to a generous use of caramel malt, has a rich spices and chocolate aroma and palate, and more spices, fruit and cloves in the finish.

There is an even more aristocratic connection at the Schloss Kaltenberg Brewery southwest of Munich, for the owner is Crown Prince Luitpold, a member of the deposed Bavarian royal family. When he took over the family brewery in 1976, he decided to turn its Dunkel (dark lager) into its main brand. In doing so, he has restored pride and interest in a style that predates the golden lager produced in Pilsen, Bohemia, in the middle of the last century.

The first commercial lagers fashioned in neighboring Bavaria were dark brown in color, using malts still cured over wood fires. All malt is made in coke or gas-fired kilns these days, and dark lagers such as König Ludwig Dunkel (named after one of Luitpoldâs ancestors, King Ludwig) uses a rich, chestnut- colored malt made in Belgium, which is blended with pale malt. Hops are HersbrŸcker and Tettnanger, creating 26 bitterness units.

Mashing is a thorough triple decoction and the beer is well attenuated, with most of the brewing sugars turned to alcohol. It is krŠusened during the lagering stage, meaning that some partially fermented wort is blended into the beer to encourage a second fermentation and a lively carbonation. Most unusually, the beer is "dry hopped" in the English style, with a handful of hops added to each cask. The beer is lagered in the castle cellars in pitch-lined wooden vessels. At 5.6 percent volume, Kaltenbergâs Dunkel has a pronounced bitter, hoppy character from aroma to finish, balanced by dark malt, coffee and bitter fruit.

It was a good day for beer lovers when His Royal Highness Crown Prince Luitpold decided to give up his day job and concentrate on brewing.

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This story originally appeared in All About Beer Magazine in May 1997.