Issue Two

Doppelbock is here!

It's Christmas time in Bavaria and the fifth season is just about to start. This fifth season, "Starkbierzeit" (strong beer time), or bock beer, historically lasts until Easter Sunday.

Originally, this strong lager beer was mentioned in the chronicles of the benedictine monks in the late 9th century. The monks vowed that during the fasting time (Ash Wednesday through Easter Sunday) they would not eat any solid food for 40 days. Instead, they brewed a very special strong beer that had enough nutrients to enable them to maintain their health and good spirits. In those days, and all the way through the Middle Ages, the monasteries were the only brewers that were able to keep written records in Latin and they were also the first ones to do systematic research about the art of brewing beer. Because the monasteries could brew more beer than they were able to consume, they became the first commercial brewers.

In the early 1200s, there were other commercial brewers, mainly in northern Germany, especially the City of Einbeck (which was famous for its beer). In Einbeck's breweries, there was a beer produced that was similar to the Bavarian "strong beer" of the monasteries. This beer was called "Einbecker" and was somewhat darker and wasn't as sweet as the Bavarian "strong beer". When merchants introduced this "Einbecker" in Bavaria, it was well-received by the people in Bavaria and soon there was great demand for this beer form the north.

The brewers in Bavaria were always very proud of their brewing craftsmanship and it bothered them that the northerners had such a popular beer. The Bavarian brewers, still mainly monks, decided to change the recipe of their traditional dark brown "strong beer",(later called mai-bock), into a very dark, even stronger and hoppier beer called "oan bock", which was similar to how Bavarians, in their dialect, pronounced Einbeck before.

Bavaria's bock-beer soon became famous all over the country. People began to forget its northern roots. Bock also means "buck" in Bavarian dialect. The male goat, with the long, curved horns, became the symbol of this type of beer.

The Bavarian "bock beer" remains unchanged until today. When King Wilhelm IV decreed the Law of Purity in 1516, which not only determined that beer could only be brewed with malted barley, water, hops and yeast, but also determined the taxation of beer by beer style and strength, bock beer was defined and taxed as strong beer, with a starting gravity of 16% Plato and an alcohol content of >6/3% vol. The beer brewed by various monasteries was even stronger than the regular bock beer, with 16% Plato. Their beer often exceeded 18% Plato with an alcohol content of <7.5% alc. vol. King Wilhelm then declared that bock beer stronger than 18% Plato would have its own category and be taxed accordingly.

Bock beers stronger than 18% Plato were then called Doppelbock (double bock), and were allowed to carry the ending, "-ator", behind their name (Salvator - Paulaner Brau, Optimator- Spaten Brau, Munich, etc.). Bayern Brewing is proud to release original Doppelbock on December 15 to its customers throughout Montana. For the first time, it will be available through February.

This Doppelbock is brewed in the same manner as Bayern's Brewmaster, Jürgen Knöller, brewed it in Germany at the Rosenbrauerei in Kaufbeuren. The Rosenbrauerei was founded in 1635 and has won gold medals for their Doppelbock, "Buronator" for years. Because Montana state law allows strong beer like Doppelbock, Bayern's Doppelbock is probably the only original of its kind you can find in this hemisphere. Bayern Brewing is the only micro-brewery that has a German Masterbrewer, with the education and 17 years experience brewing dark Doppelbock. So come and enjoy the Christmas season with an original dark Doppelbock, as dark and as strong as it ever has been. Please, when you enjoy this beer, be extremely careful and remember that Doppelbock and driving don't mix at all. Even the monks of the 9th century wouldn't ride their horses after drinking this tasty but powerful beer!

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