Hoppebrau: A German Craft Beer Available in the US.

 

After all these decades of drinking German beer-in Germany and outside- I have finally tested a German craft beer, which I understand is a growing trend in Germany. In recent years, I have heard many German friends bemoaning the fact that many of the larger breweries have been buying up many of the smaller village breweries in surrounding areas. They use the cute term, "industrial beer", which makes me think of Budweiser, Miller, and other American brands. Perhaps, that is the reason for the growing popularity of craft beers-as here in the US.

Currently, on my forays to Total Wines and More, I have noticed two beers on the shelf with very plain-looking labels. This is Hoppebrau, both in Weisse and Helles. This week, I bought the Helles, which costs about 4 dollars a bottle. I must say, it was quite good, on a par with the brand name German beers I have been buying. Unlike many craft beers in the US, this doesn't feature any particular aftertaste, just crisp and clean. 

The Hoppe brand is part of a family-run brewery restaurant and biergarten located in Waakirchen, Bavaria near the Austrian border. It is advertised as a craft beer. As you can see on their website, they produce many varieties according to your taste.

Weihenstepaner Festbier

 The Bavarian brewery, Weihenstephaner, is the world's oldest brewery (1040). I have been trying several varieties of this brew and having good success. Weihenstephaner is one of the more common German breweries found in the US market. Many German restaurants offer it on tap or in bottles. You can also find it in dark, Helles, pils, hefeweizen, or Vitus (wheat). To be more exact, the brewery's name is Bayerishes Staatsbrauerei Weihenstephan (Freising) near Munich.

Weihenstephan Hill (Freising)

The Festbier version is 5.8% alcohol. It is clean, crisp, and has no aftertaste. To my taste, it is just darn good. I have just tried the bottled version (,5 litter),  which cost me less than 3 dollars per bottle. It also comes in .5 liter cans in a 4-pack.

More on the Eibauer Brewery

 

Recently, I posted an article about a new brew I found in Total Wines and More, a beer called Berliner Geschichte (Berlin History) from a brewery in Eibau, Germany on the border with Poland. It's called Eibauer Privatbrauerei, and the above store has been carrying three varieties. The other two are Das Bock and hefeweizen. I am not a hefeweizen drinker, but I subsequently picked up a bottle of Das Bock and found it even more to my taste than the Berliner Geschichte.

The alcohol content is 6.7%, which is stretching the limits for my taste, but even though I haven't had much experience with bock beer, I liked it.

But whatever your taste may be, if you come across any products from this brewery, you should give it a try. They have many varieties of beer, so you should find something to your taste.

Berliner Geschichte by Eibauer Privatbrauerei

 I found something new this week at my local Total Wines and More store in Orange County. It was a .5 liter bottle of a beer called Berliner Geschichte, an odd name for a beer (It literally means "History of Berlin". The brewery is Privatbrauerei Eibauer. The location is this brewery is the town of Eibau in Saxony, a town of about 5,000 close to the Polish border.

Actually, the Privatbrauerei Eibauer puts out several varieties of beer; bock, pils, dunkles, hefeweizen etc, and Berliner Geschichte is just one of them. Aside from this variety, the store also had .5 liter bottles of bock and Hefeweizen.

All I can say is that it was good. I plan to buy more. (It's about $3.50 for a .5 liter bottle.)

Hacker-Pschorrbrau Oktoberfest Beer

Recently, I wrote about how I was pleasantly surprised by my purchase of a 6-pack of Hacker-Pschorrbrau (bottles).

Well now, I am even happier with my purchase of 12-pack box (bottles) of their Oktoberfest Maerzen. At 5.8% alcohol, it has an amber color and a rich, smooth taste-with no aftertaste. Nothing fancy-just good taste.

As I always note, German imported beer has historically suffered in comparison to that drunk in Germany, but that situation has improved considerably. Again, I have been away since 2013, and that may affect what I consider authentic, but I am very happy with the improvements in German beer imports. That includes Hacker-Pschorrbrau. 

Bavarian Festbier

 

It's approaching that time of the year again, and to celebrate in advance, I picked up a 4-pack of cans of Paulaner Oktoberfest beer and a 6-pack of bottles of Weihenstephaner Fest Bier. They are both very good, though likely a tad better in Bavaria.

Paulaner is a Munich brewery,  and thus, its "Fest" period is the world-famous Oktoberfest in Munich.

Weihenstephaner is the world's oldest brewery and is located near Munich in the town of Freising. That town has several beer-centered events throughout the year (below).

By the way, this may be a bit sacrilegious, but I am in the habit of drinking my German beers at home in a frosted mug. There is nothing wrong with really cold German beer. It also helps build up that big creamy head that is a must with German beer. 

Looking for German Beer in Big Bear

 

This past week, we headed up to Big Bear Lake in the San Bernardino mountains for three days, also spending some time in Lake Arrowhead with relatives. Over the years, Big Bear has acquired a reputation for German food and beer not only by having a couple of German restaurants, but also by having a very popular Oktoberfest celebration (which I have yet to experience).

At any rate, we rented a cabin-style house for three days and set out to find any German restaurants still remaining. It appears that at the moment, there is only one German place in town, the German Deli on Big Bear Blvd. It is currently only open to 3 pm, so dinner was out of the question. We dropped in for lunch. The menu has no schnitzels, basically just various types of sausages. (There is also a deli counter).

Cutting to the chase, I first ordered a bottle of Flensburger, which is marketed in the US with the old-style flip tops. After that, it was a Weltenburger Fest Bier, Maerzen (can). Both were quite good. 

For you German history buffs, Flensburger comes from the town of Flensburg on the Danish border. Flensburg was the site of the Doenitz post-Hitler government for several days after Hitler's suicide in Berlin. Several of the Nazi leaders convened in Flensburg where they negotiated the final surrender of Germany to the allies.