There's more to it than Molson Canadian and Moosehead

I just set foot in my Munich apartment and I'm ready to sober up. After a week and a half in eastern Ontario, my hangover is reminding me of the 37 plus new beers I have tried. Two weddings, two dirty 30s, a retirement party and a bachelor party will do that to ya'.



Upon my first trip to the LCBO just outside Ottawa, I filled my cart with nothing but local stuff, a Mill Street mixer pack, an 8$ Beau's Patio Season, a couple of Amsterdam (ON) tall boys, a Cassel (finally bottled) Golden Rail and a pair of Great Lakes Brews from Toronto.


I'm surprised that Mill Street still doesn't offer a "discovery pack" type sixer with only seasonal or new brews, I'm not complaining about the tankhouse, stock, wit or organic included in the current 6 pack but I bet a lot of people would pay a little more for 6 brews they've never tasted. Just like the BC craft beer sampler pack I found containing one beer from six different craft breweries out west, that's variety!



I was stoked to try anything new by Beau's they are my favorite people/brewers right now and even though their seasonal beers are normally priced around 8$ they are usually worth it. The Patio Season confirmed my previous statement but I went nuts over the nicely wrapped Ashnan Wheat Wine Aged in chardonnay barrels (9.8%). For wine and beer lovers this is the one, if a tasty smooth white wine had a baby with a full bodied german style wheat beer the Ashnan would be the result. I had to try the Gilgamesh Old Ale aged in rum barrels even though rum barrel aged beer is not really my type and Beau's came through with a well balanced strong dark yet sweet almost dessert type beer. At 8.9% it's definitely a knockout.




Another local was Cassel Brewery's Golden Rail, growing up 20 minutes away from the town of Casselman, Ontario we were all stoked to hear about a brewery opening in this mostly french community, our language, our region, our beer. The first few versions I tried were in growlers or from the tap at beer festivals over the past two years and the consistency just wasn't there. The Caboose IPA was the one that stood out for me and in my opinion should've been the flagship beer for Cassel Brewery. The current flagship beer is the Golden Rail Honey Brown and the crowd seems to be happy when they managed to find it in store. It's a great start and I wish them all the best in the future.

The German Beer Consumer

I always get that look when I show up at the counter of a new Getränke Shop with 12 different individual beers. Like I'm some sort of weirdo who can't make up his mind about what he likes to drink. Maybe it's because they have to scan 12 bottles instead of 1. Some specialized beer shops are more than happy to see customers leave with a variety of beers and I think these will be more and more popular as the craft beer scene expands.

That's the way I do it, not how our local Bavarian friends do it.

From what I gather they find a favorite and stick to it. After speaking with family and friends who are German natives it seems there's a two step process to finding "your" favorite beer.

Step one: find the type of beer you like, most choice will be covered by Hell, Weiss or Pils. If you're from Köln you'll swear by Kölsch and I've heard that Düsseldorf's choice would be their homebrew "Altbier". Dopplebocks are rarely the "go to" beer and mostly viewed as seasonal.

Step two: find the brand you like the most and the next two alternate brands you will opt for if the first one is not offered.

Tasting anything other than their type of beer will make them cringe, I've seen it. A different brand will be "not as good as the one brand I like". The brand they choose will greatly depend on the availability in the specific region and the price.

There's "construction worker's beer" which is very cheap and also very horse piss-like. You have the beers which are exported all over the world such as Löwenbräu, Becks, Warsteiner, etc. which you'll get for a very decent price and they have a steady quality but are all very generic. Then you get into the interesting beers which are mostly local, here in Munich you have Augustiner, Hofbräu, Andechs, Chiemseer and Tegernsee.

The younger generations seem very open to try other beers but I still hear some individuals who will refuse to drink Weissbier even if I give them 10 different brands to try. I hear things like "I know this one is good, why would I try anything else." No one here is ready for a double IPA, especially if it comes in a 0,5L bottle!

Read Part 1: A first glance at the Munich craft beer scene

A first glance at the craft beer scene... in Munich

This is likely going to be the first part of a few articles as I venture into the endless beer culture of Bavaria. I have been a fortunate Canadian living in Ottawa for the most part of my legal drinking days and a part of me was reluctant to leave the expanding craft beer scene behind and move to Munich. What we have in Canada is nowhere near the boom that is happening in the United States but it is much closer than the baby steps taken by a handful of Germans who want to stay in the beer game. After all, if they want to keep their title they must find a way to merge culture and craft in order to compete with the new wave of expanding micro breweries worldwide.

This is an interesting point in time where the German brewers want to have the Reinheitsgebot inscribed in of the UNESCO's World Heritage list and also where other brewers are trying to get away from the traditional brewing methods and break through the conservative German palate with new flavors and ingredients that are being shamed by the purists.

Why would one dare brew some American Pale Ale when we have perfectly good Helles? Who needs a Belgian Wit when we have our Weissbier? Porters and stouts are nothing compared to our Dopplebock. The simple answer is variety.

That simple answer leads to the first problem craft brewers will encounter, the customer.

A good read:

Germany Wants World Heritage Status for Its Beer

Part 2: The German Beer Consumer

Pub Review: Tap-House (Munich)

I've been eyeing this place for a couple of months now and finally got the chance to head out on Saturday to the Tap-House in Munich. I had already lined-up a few beers I wanted to try from a large selection of beers. I was a bit worried that showing up on a Saturday evening around 9 pm, the place would be packed and we'd have to squeeze in at the bar and wait for a table but to my surprise the place was almost empty.

Right on the corner of Rosenheimstr. and Orleansstr. and walking distance from Ostbahnof is nowhere near the "hip" and current local hangouts but still very accessible.

The Menu

You can see for yourself there's a lot of beer both on tap (vom Fass) and bottles, you can spot the fridge when you walk in. You get a variety of German local craft beers and a few from bigger breweries. It's peppered with Belgian, Italian but most interestingly American beers. Among them were Allagash, Sly Fox, Firestone and Sierra Nevada.

The Service

I thought I'd go for the beer of the week, in a very bad Deutsch I requested the Kürzer Alt and asked if it was good. To this question the waiter replied that it was an alt beer. Ok... thanks for the elaborate response. In general I don't expect much from the wait staff in Germany, they don't get much tips and are usually not so enthusiastic about "tourists" and/or speaking English. In this case, I'm going off the beaten path and paying top dollars for craft beers which are trying to pierce the very stable and present beer market of Bavaria, I'm expecting a bit of shared knowledge.

I was recommended an Austrian beer from Freistädter which was apparently better, also pricier than the beer of the week. I was  then offered a Camba Amber Ale, which was delicious. I'm not fully aware of the affiliation that Camba has with the Tap-House but Camba seems to be their "house brew" so I'm gonna go with Camba owns Tap-House.

The Vibe

Very new, clean, pub atmosphere featuring huge barrels stacked up in the middle of the bar. As I said to my surprise the bar was almost empty but still had a steady flow of walk-ins throughout the evening. This place would definitely be a go to bar in North-America simply for their menu. But the layout is very open, there's a lot of sitting and standing room and could also host bands. I will definitely go back and attempt to get a little more out of the staff because I'm certain they enjoy talking about their product as much as I enjoyed tasting them. 

A Crew for You

I've been looking around town (Munich that is) for some local craft beer and if you're not from here it get's a bit tricky. After being here for three months or so I've realized that stores and businesses don't realize the impact of online presence. After asking around on reddit and cruising facebook and translating many German websites I finally found what seems to be one of Munich's hidden gem.

Getränke Oase

They have a facebook page and my first impression was, WOW! They have a lot of beers in that small shop. Belgian, American but most importantly German Craft Beers. 

The first two I tried were from the highly recommended Crew Brewery.

The Detox and The Escalation. I personally preferred the Escalation, I was looking for something bitter and hoppy and the Detox had a great citrusy aroma but lacked a bit of IPA grit. Both very well balanced beers they come in 0,33cl bottles and are a little more expensive but someone's gotta pay for those cool labels!

Check out their other beers.