I had read, years ago, in a magazine, about a German beer that was chocolate and fruit flavored.?!
I had read, years ago, in a magazine, about a German beer that was chocolate and fruit flavored.?
Can anyone tell me what it is? It was in PARENTS magazine, no less, and it was about what beers u can try when travelling abroad.
Answers: Here are a few German Beers that have a chocolaty flavor:
Spaten Optimator
Brewer: Spaten-Franziskaner Brau
City: Munich
Country: Germany
Description: The dark lager has hints of chocolate and lots of malts in the aroma. It is very full bodied and can be considered liquid bread. It is strong and full of malt flavors with some sweetness as expected. Nice dopple bock.
Paulaner Salvator
Brewer: Paulaner Brewery
City: Munich
Country: Germany
Description: Dark lager with a malty aroma and plate with a dry finish; high alcohol content. All dopplebocks end in -ator to commemorate this Salvator.
Kostritzer
Brewer: Koestritzer Brewery
City: Kostritz
Country: Germany
Description: A truly "Swarz Beer"; uniquely different from any other beer combining the enhancement of a malty dark beer with the smooth elegance of a refreshing lager; appealing bounty of aromatic nuances.
Hacker-Pshorr-Dunkel
Brewer: Hacker Pshorr Brewery
City: Munich
Country: Germany
Description: Brewed with more barley malt, giving a darker color and a smoother, richer mouthfeel. Source(s):
Work at a Draught Emporium eeeeeeewww................i must be good chocolate flavor but i would NEVER drink any beer, do you know how mutch carbs.. are in beer?? frulii is a strawberry beer, (it's pink) I enjoy it, you could try that! Well, having a beer with flavor profile with hints of chocolate and fruit is very possible. But, a Fruit beer or a beer with Chocolate is strictly forbidden by German Brewing law within Germany until quite recently
Reinheitsgebot
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The Reinheitsgebot (literally "cleanliness or purity law"), sometimes called the "German purity law" or the "Bavarian purity law" in English, is a regulation that originated in the city of Ingolstadt in the duchy of Bavaria on April 23, 1516, although first put forward in 1487,[1] concerning standards for the sale and composition of beer.
Contents [hide]
1 The text
2 History
3 Criticism
4 Note
5 External links
[edit] The text
In the original text, the only ingredients that could be used in the production of beer were water, barley, and hops. The law also set the price of beer at 1-2 Pfennig per Ma?. The Reinheitsgebot is no longer part of German law: it has been replaced by the Provisional German Beer Law (Vorl?ufiges Deutsches Biergesetz (Provisional German Beer-law of 1993)), which allows constituent components prohibited in the Reinheitsgebot, such as wheat malt and cane sugar, but which no longer allows unmalted barley.
Note that no yeast was mentioned in the original text. It was not until the 1800s that Louis Pasteur discovered the role of microorganisms in the process of fermentation, therefore yeast was not known to be an ingredient of beer. Brewers generally took some sediment from the previous fermentation and added it to the next, the sediment generally containing the necessary organisms to perform fermentation. If none were available, they would just set up a number of vats, and usually yeast would "appear by itself."
Hops are added to beer as a preservative, and their mention in the Reinheitsgebot meant to prevent inferior methods of preserving beer that had been used before the introduction of hops. Medieval brewers had used many problematic ingredients to preserve beers, including, for example, soot and fly agaric mushrooms. More commonly, other herbs had been used, such as stinging nettles, which are related to hops.
The penalty for making impure beer was also set in the Reinheitsgebot: a brewer using other ingredients for his beer could have questionable barrels confiscated with no compensation.
German breweries are very proud of the Reinheitsgebot, and many (even brewers of wheat beer[2]) claim to still abide by it.
[edit] History
The Reinheitsgebot was introduced in part to prevent price competition with bakers for wheat and rye. The restriction of grains to barley was meant to ensure the availability of sufficient amounts of affordable bread, as the more valuable wheat and rye were reserved for use by bakers. Today many Bavarian beers are again brewed using wheat and are thus no longer compliant with the Reinheitsgebot.
The Reinheitsgebot formed the basis of legislation that spread slowly throughout Bavaria and Germany. Bavaria insisted on its application throughout Germany as a precondition of German unification in 1871, to prevent competition from beers brewed elsewhere with a wider range of ingredients. The move encountered strong resistance from brewers outside Bavaria. By restricting the allowable ingredients, it led to the extinction of many brewing traditions and local beer specialties, such as North German spiced beer and cherry beer, and led to the domination of the German beer market by pilsener style beers. Only a few regional beer varieties, such as Düsseldorfer Altbier, survived its implementation.
Regulations similar to those of the Reinheitsgebot were incorporated into various guild regulations and local laws all over Germany, and in 1952, they were incorporated into the West German Biersteuergesetz (Beer Taxation Law) and vorl?ufiges Biergesetz (Provisional Beer Law). Many brewers objected to the law at the time, disagreeing more with the amount of the tax than the ingredient requirements. The law initially applied only to bottom-fermented ("lager") beers, but brewers of other types of beer soon accepted the law as well.
In May 1987, a European Court of Justice ruling led to the Reinheitsgebot being lifted, allowing ingredients beyond what is listed in the Biergesetz; this meant that anything allowed in other foods was thus also allowed in beer. The ingredient requirements have since been moved from the Biersteuergesetz into the regular food additives laws, though beer brewed according to the Reinheitsgebot receive special treatment as a protected, "traditional" food.
Most German breweries continued to comply with the Biergesetz, often claiming compliance with the Reinheitsgebot even when it is patently incorrect (for example, for wheat beers, which were prohibited by the Reinheitsgebot), using this compliance as a valuable marketing tool.
Until superseded by the change in EU law, the Reinheitsgebot was also enforced in Greece from the early 19th century due to a law by the first Greek king, Otto (originally a Bavarian prince) that had remained in effect.
[edit] Criticism
The law still causes controversy. After German reunification in 1990 the Neuzeller Kloster Brewery, a former monastery brewery in the East German town of Neuzelle, Brandenburg, was warned to stop selling its traditional black beer, a product possibly older than the Reinheitsgebot itself,[citation needed] as it contained sugar, and thus could not be sold as "beer" under German food-labeling laws based on the Reinheitsgebot. In the end, it was allowed to sell it under the name Schwarzer Abt ("Black Abbot" but not "beer") within Germany.
When it was in effect, the law drew criticism from foreign brewers as a form of protectionism (a trade restriction) that allowed West Germany to prohibit non-compliant imports, even beers from countries such as Belgium and the United Kingdom with their own long brewing traditions.
Doppelbock
Aroma: Very strong maltiness. Darker versions will have significant melanoidins and often some toasty aromas. A light caramel flavor from a long boil is acceptable. Lighter versions will have a strong malt presence with some melanoidins and toasty notes. Virtually no hop aroma, although a light noble hop aroma is acceptable in pale versions. No diacetyl. A moderately low fruity aspect to the aroma often described as prune, plum or grape may be present (but is optional) in dark versions due to reactions between malt, the boil, and aging. A very slight chocolate-like aroma may be present in darker versions, but no roasted or burned aromatics should ever be present. Moderate alcohol aroma may be present.
Appearance: Deep gold to dark brown in color. Darker versions often have ruby highlights. Lagering should provide good clarity. Large, creamy, persistent head (color varies with base style: white for pale versions, off-white for dark varieties). Stronger versions might have impaired head retention, and can display noticeable legs.
Flavor: Very rich and malty. Darker versions will have significant melanoidins and often some toasty flavors. Lighter versions will a strong malt flavor with some melanoidins and toasty notes. A very slight chocolate flavor is optional in darker versions, but should never be perceived as roasty or burnt. Clean lager flavor with no diacetyl. Some fruitiness (prune, plum or grape) is optional in darker versions. Invariably there will be an impression of alcoholic strength, but this should be smooth and warming rather than harsh or burning. Presence of higher alcohols (fusels) should be very low to none. Little to no hop flavor (more is acceptable in pale versions). Hop bitterness varies from moderate to moderately low but always allows malt to dominate the flavor. Most versions are fairly sweet, but should have an impression of attenuation. The sweetness comes from low hopping, not from incomplete fermentation. Paler versions generally have a drier finish.
Mouthfeel: Medium-full to full body. Moderate to moderately-low carbonation. Very smooth without harshness or astringency.
Overall Impression: A very strong and rich lager. A bigger version of either a traditional bock or a helles bock.
History: A Bavarian specialty first brewed in Munich by the monks of St. Francis of Paula. Historical versions were less well attenuated than modern interpretations, with consequently higher sweetness and lower alcohol levels (and hence was considered "liquid bread" by the monks). The term "doppel (double) bock" was coined by Munich consumers. Many doppelbocks have names ending in "-ator," either as a tribute to the prototypical Salvator or to take advantage of the beer's popularity.
Comments: Most versions are dark colored and may display the caramelizing and melanoidin effect of decoction mashing, but excellent pale versions also exist. The pale versions will not have the same richness and darker malt flavors of the dark versions, and may be a bit drier, hoppier and more bitter. While most traditional examples are in the ranges cited, the style can be considered to have no upper limit for gravity, alcohol and bitterness (thus providing a home for very strong lagers). Any fruitiness is due to Munich and other specialty malts, not yeast-derived esters developed during fermentation.
Ingredients: Pils and/or Vienna malt for pale versions (with some Munich), Munich and Vienna malts for darker ones and occasionally a tiny bit of darker color malts (such as Carafa). Noble hops. Water hardness varies from soft to moderately carbonate. Clean lager yeast. Decoction mashing is traditional.
Commercial Examples: Paulaner Salvator, Ayinger Celebrator, Spaten Optimator, Tucher Bajuvator, Augustiner Maximator, Weihenstephaner Korbinian, Weltenburger Kloster Asam-Bock, EKU 28, Eggenberg Urbock 23°, Samichlaus, Bell's Consecrator, Moretti La Rossa not sure about the fruit flavor but Schwarzbier, meaning black beer, is a bottom-fermented lager with a chocolate flavor and dark color. Being a former chef and having travelled and consumed alot of different German and European beers, alot of countrys including Austria, Belguim and the Netherlands brew beers with fruits added when the wort is cooked and they are strained before the yeast is added.
They will use cherrys, raspberrys, apples, blackberries, sloe berries and ctirus peels, even today in the US the beechwood in the Bud is just chips added before the fermentation process and sit in the tanks to add the woody taste the barrels used to.
I had a beer in German that had the malt smoked over juniper fires and cacao bean husks were added to the mix and it had a smoky chocolate flavour, this is common and was done in centurys past to mask the the bitter flavour of the hops sometimes, I like the Trappist Monks beer from Belguim with a hint of raspberry in it, it come in quart bottles, very refeshing in hot weather.
Try all you can in the US you may have to seek out a specialty lqour outlet for a better selection, here in Canada our LCBO outlet have good supply and variety.