I am, I always insist, not a ‘teccie’. People assume that because I run a website I am. I am a fan of technology. I appreciate that, to a large degree, it dictates my agenda. But I still glaze over at the sight of CSS code and can take several hours to make an adjustment to my website that a pro-coder would sort in seconds, probably with one hand and with a can of something cool, like Camden Hells, in the other.
I looked on with childlike awe, therefore, as I sat in front of a big screen at the Driftwood Spars, St Agnes, this weekend, not to see Chelsea implode at Villa Park but to hear a devoted German brewer talk a Cornish audience through his beers live from his brewhouse.
Matthias Trum is one of the sixth generation of his family to oversee the Schlenkerla brewery in Bamberg, southern Germany. Schlenkerla is famous for its smoked malt, most notably in its signature beer Aecht Schlenkera Rauchbier, which we were drinking while watching.
I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised at the wonders of Skype, especially as at last year’s Celebration of Beer at Driftwood Spars proprietor Louise Treseder managed to secure a live tutored tasting with Ken Grossman from the Sierra Nevada brewery in Chico, California.
Matthias is as enthusiastic and evangelical as Ken, talking to us first from the Schlenkerla tavern, where Saturday night was in full swing in typical Bavarian style, before retreating to his office webcam.
Schlenkerla is not just a brewery, it is a maltings, too, so there is complete control over the kilning of the famous malt, the exact process being a company secret. “We don’t sell malt to anyone or give the recipe away,” said Matthias. The kilning takes place at a very high temperature, akin to a locomotive fire.
Schlenkerla dates back to 1405 when the existence of the tavern is first documented. That was before the German purity law, the reinheitsgebot, came into being. Even so, the smoked beer does conform, the slight bacony taste coming from the smoking over beech wood rather than a ham being added to the boil — definitely an urban myth, laughed Matthias. Bamberg is well known for its smoked malt and it’s clearly a popular flavour, with one brewery in the city for every 5,000 residents.
A 5.1% ABV Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier is very drinkable. The smoke on the aroma and palate was far more subdued than I was expecting. Matthias insists that people who drink more than two pints in a session start to forget it’s a rauchbier and drink it like a normal brew. It’s hopped with Hallertau Magnum which adds bitterness without detracting too much from the smokey profile.
The brewery employs seven people and produces fewer than 30,000 brewer’s barrels of beer a year. Twenty-five per cent of the beer is sold in the tavern, with 20% going to export, the Finnish, surprisingly, being the biggest foreign buyer.
Matthias jovially fielded questions from the St Agnes floor as as given a warm round of applause as we supped the last of the beer. Wondering about the brewery name? It goes back fewer generation than the brewery, about three, when one of Matthias’s predecessors had some sort of accident, possibly in the brewery, and developed a funny way of walking and became known as the Schlenkerla, or ‘little dangler’. The name eventually stuck with the brewery.
Driftwood Spars brewer Peter Martin’s hand-crafted beer paddles with third-pint glassses
The talk came during the annual three-day Celebration of Beer at the Driftwood Spars, this year subtitled The Light, The Dark and The Saison. Friday was my, ahem, ‘research’ day when I managed to work through most of what was on offer. Impressing me hugely was Ilkley Brewery’s collaboration with beer writer Melissa Cole, Siberia, a stunning rhubarb saison full of fresh flavour, a hint of sourness and a moreish bittersweet finish. Many people had this pint as their pick of the weekend. I thoroughly enjoyed Bristol Beer Factory Milk Stout, too (I’m a sucker for this style) and Tiny Rebel’s take on black IPA, Loki. Of the session brews available, Mallinson’s single-hop Simcoe was a stand-out, with good citrus notes and a dry finish.
If you couldn’t make it to this one, Driftwood Spars has its other big beer weekend, the Sausage and Ale Festival, coming up over the bank holiday, May 2-5.
• For another view of the Celebration of Beer, read this blog entry from my good friends Boak and Bailey.
