European Brewing Tour - Week 1 Thursday

Our first stop of the day is one that craft beer enthusiasts in the states will recognize for their delicious wheat beers. Schneider Weisse! Back in the day, wheat beer was only allowed to be produced for royalty. That changed, obviously, and Schneider took advantage. They do most of their brewing with modern systems in place but they do use open fermentation which has an increased risk associated with it but also contributes to the classic flavor they want in their beers.


Above is one of the classic open fermentation vessels used by Schneider which prevents any head pressure from the CO2 during fermentation allowing for a specific estery character (think bananas). While it is not the most appetizing thing to look at, it is how all beer is made so it must be appreciated! The picture above is from a fermentation that is starting to slow down it seems.


Those are bubbles which signify a vigorous fermentation is going on.


I think that the shapes and forms that these yeast cakes take is quite interesting. It may just be me though.


So during our course we have developed a couple of inside jokes. One of them is about "mix proof valves" which we had a day long talk about in Chicago. None of us are in the market for these things as they are extremely expensive. They have become a whipping boy of sorts for more than a fair share of jokes and jibes. While they are incredibly useful, it never gets old to mock them. Above is Kyle mocking 24 of these puppies.


Thats a lot of Schneider Weisse bottles to be filled (no one would stack filled bottles outside because of temperature changes and sunlight).


After getting a tour of their facility, they took us to their amazing beer garden (you have to take the bridge over the river that runs through the middle of the brewery).


It was one of the best beer gardens we visited and we were treated like kings. We got to sample a handful of their beers including a Hopfweissen which was like a wheat IPA. All of the American contingency found this delightful as we hadn't had a very bitter beer in awhile.


Best of those is on the far right in my opinion! We were also brought an amazing meat and cheese plate that I didn't get a picture of because we finished it too fast.

Next stop we visited the craziest brewery I have ever been to in my life. There is nothing bad about it by any means. It is truly crazy and I can't really describe it without pictures.


Seems pretty normal so far, classic old kettle with a state of the art Shoko from Kaspar Schulz. From here the dwarfs take over...


Weird blue lights in the fermentation room. It is going to get more bizarre from here.


The basement of a tower on the brewery site which is the main attraction. It is like brewing meets Gaudi.


The tower!


A picture of the gardens below with the brewery in the top part. Taken from the top of the tour which stands barely below the church steeple (you cannot build a building taller than the church steeple).


The inside of the top of the tower. It was quite bizarre.

After returning to Munich because of easter weekend, we packed our rental car and headed to Nice. Maybe it was a little on the crazy side to leave at 9 PM and drive all night, but hey, we are in brewing school.


Right before we left.


And the sunrise in Nice. Thanks to Viet and Greg for driving!

Location:On the way back to Munich