Privatbrauerei Hoepfner

Postby **ajk** » Wed Jun 07, 2017 1:45 am

I'm currently in Baden-Wüttermburg as part of a ten-week trip through Europe. Last weekend, I attended Hoepfner Burgfest, a festival that's always held on Pentecost weekend. Entry was free, beer and food were good, and prices were quite reasonable. We tried their Doppelbock, Helles, Pils, and Porter. All were good, especially the lighter beers. The Pils has a rich, grainy malt profile and is firmly bitter but not as bitter as, say, Jever. Elsewhere, I've had their Weißbier (both hell and dunkel). The hell is excellent — their best beer in my opinion.

The tour was all in German, but the guides were kind enough to answer a few of my questions in English. I learned that they do double decoctions (with rests at 62°C and 72°C) and use open fermentations for all their beers. They said they use their own proprietary yeast but it was unclear to me whether that was for their lagers, their Weißbiers, or both.

On the tour, they served us some young (three-week lagered) Pilsner as well as some of their non-alcoholic hopped lemonade.

Unlike in Bayern, Pilsner is more common than Helles in this region. Weißbier is quite popular, though. Hoepfner's Pils and Weiß are available at most restaurants in the Karlsruhe area.

Postby **lupulus** » Wed Jun 07, 2017 5:03 am

Thanks for sharing. Nice summary.

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Postby **Ancient Abbey** » Wed Jun 07, 2017 8:01 am

Fantastic post! Thank you for sharing. Did they offer any tips on process or recipe development?

Postby **wobdee** » Fri Jun 23, 2017 6:50 pm

Very cool! Thanks

Postby **ajk** » Tue Jun 27, 2017 7:47 am

Ancient Abbey wrote:Fantastic post! Thank you for sharing. Did they offer any tips on process or recipe development?

They may have in German, but my German isn't that good yet. I only had time for a couple of questions in English before being ushered on to rejoin the rest of the tour group.

Postby **Crunk** » Tue Jun 27, 2017 11:31 am

Awesome summary AJ thank you for posting that if by chance you run into Stuttgart haufbrau Pilsner I know by law you can carry as much back to the United States as possible I just don't know if you live in the US or not if you do I'll pay handsomely to get some

Postby **ajk** » Wed Jun 28, 2017 12:46 pm

Crunk wrote:Awesome summary AJ thank you for posting that if by chance you run into Stuttgart haufbrau Pilsner I know by law you can carry as much back to the United States as possible I just don't know if you live in the US or not if you do I'll pay handsomely to get some

I looked for it for you, but I didn't find it in the bottle shops I visited. I did see ads for it in some places.
I don't have room to carry back much beer, and I'm not sure how to ship it from here. But if I find the beer, I will look into that. I'm in Denmark now — next opportunity will be when I'm in Bavaria next month.
Word of warning: even the bottles HERE from most breweries are on the path to oxidation. I noticed it in particular with Augustiner and Tegernsee Helles. I had these beers in Munich three years ago and took notes. But bottles that had traveled only the short distance to Baden-Württemburg were muted and starting to develop hints of honey-like oxidation. You may find the same with bottles of Stuttgart.

Postby **Weizenberg** » Wed Jun 28, 2017 2:46 pm

ajk wrote:Word of warning: even the bottles HERE from most breweries are on the path to oxidation. I noticed it in particular with Augustiner and Tegernsee Helles. I had these beers in Munich three years ago and took notes. But bottles that had traveled only the short distance to Baden-Württemburg were muted and starting to develop hints of honey-like oxidation.

In the contrary, honey-like isn't a sign of oxidation. Inert mashing (aka LODO) actually develops these flavours with certain grain bills.

All beers from Augustiner and HB Teegernsee are superbly made.

Postby **Ancient Abbey** » Wed Jun 28, 2017 5:56 pm

I get a a lot of honey during the cold fermentation, and if I'm lucky it persists for the first 4-6 weeks of lagering. This is one of the VDK's, pentanedione (butanedione is diacetyl), and is a byproduct of fermentation. Oxidized honey in aged beer isn't the same, and is reminds me more of crystalized or old honey. I notice that poorly handled beers that use a lot of carahell can develop this note. Just depends on what "honey" people are talking about.

Postby **Weizenberg** » Wed Jun 28, 2017 7:41 pm

True.

Unfortunately the only way to know for sure objectively, would be to go by analysis (not economic for us).