Due to Covid, the Bergkirchweih in Erlangen has been canceled for the second straight year. Next year's beer fest is scheduled for June2-13, 2022.
Of course, Erlangen is not the only city that has had to cancel its beer fest, but Erlangen is special to me. It's where I served in the US Army from 1966-1968. That aside, Erlangen has one of the best beer fests in Germany, second in popularity in Bavaria only to Munich.
While putting up a post about Hofbrauhaus Wolters black beer of Braunschweig, I came across this entry from Beer Advocate.com.
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/21505/238551/
"Best before 10/24/2021 - poured from a tall-boy can into my Ayinger Celebrator pokal.
Clear caput mortuum body supports a thin wheat head. Fine lacing, faint tears, average retention.
Brown bread, faint toast, and a hint of ceylon tea in the nose.
Sweet, malty palate entry. Mild grassy/grainy bitterness. Dry, vaguely metallic finish.
Light bodied, moderately carbonated, with low ABV.
Easy drinking, albeit somewhat mediocre overall".
This week I picked up a tall can of Wolters Black and tried it out. I am not normally a dark beer drinker, but I wanted to try it anyway. Without going into all the above rigamarole, I found it to have a nice, clean taste. I did not detect any ceylon tea. I'll stop right there.
Of course, you don't have to be a connoisseur to know that the glass is important. For example, I tried pouring a Grevensteiner Landbier (Veltins Brewery) from the can into a German Weissbier glass (Paulaner) I bought this week. The results were not as good as when I use my plastic half-liter Steeler mug which I keep in the fridge.
As always, I add that these are imported German beers. In this case, I purchased them at Total Wines and More.
No, this is not a liverwurst flavored beer. Hofbrauhaus Wolters is a brewery in Braunschweig, Germany (English name, Brunswick). It is a city I have never visited in Germany, and so I cannot testify to the quality of their beer there as compared to other regions in the country. However, the Hofbrauhaus Wolters brewery, which produces many varieties of beer, is exporting their products to the US. The chain Total Wines and More has several of their products-in cans. Up until recently, I have always turned up my nose at canned beer, but I have had good success lately in finding imported German beers in cans that are quite superior to what I had been spending decades trying in the US in bottles or draft.
If you go to their website, you will see that they produce virtually every variety of beer popular in Germany, Pils, Dunkles, Hefeweizen, Lager, Maibock-you name it. Total Wines and More has the first three available-in cans. I have tried the pils, and its not bad. As always, I add that it's probably much better in Germany.
As I write this, I am drinking another one of their canned products. It's called Brunonia Lager. It's 4.8% alcohol and good, with a smooth taste and no after taste. I am not a professional beer expert, so I won't go into the "floral hops", "hints of biscuit" talk. It's just a nice beer.
When I was stationed in Erlangen from 1966-1968 with the US Army, the town had three breweries in operation, Erichbrau, Kitzmann, and Henniger-Reifbrau. Eventually, Henniger and Erichbrau were bought out by a larger brewery (I think it was Tucher of Nuremberg), and Kitzmann was bought out in 2018 by Kulmbacher, a major brewery in Kulmbach. Erlangen, a town which in the early 20th century, had earned a reputation as a "Bierstadt" (beer city) has been struggling in recent years to maintain that tradition. The re-establishment of an old brewery (Steinbach) has helped, and a few years ago, another former Erlangen brewery, Weller Bier, was re-established. And today, I read in the Erlanger Nachrichten that a new brewery is being opened in Erlangen, Entlas Brau.
The owner of Entlas Brau, Vincenz Schiller, is the son of Thomas Engelhardt, owner of the Entlas Keller located on the grounds of Erlangen's annual Bergkirchweih. I had the pleasure of meeting Mr Engelhardt several years back when I was writing my book on Erlangen. During the warmer months of the year (April-September), the Entlas Keller is open and features a limited daily menu, often with duck, as the name Entlas Keller implies (Ente=duck).
Hopefully, if I ever get back to Erlangen, I can sample the new brew.
