Issue Three

Happy St. Patrick's Day

It may be a little early to say this, but our Killarney beer is already going and we are anxious to introduce it to our customers. In our last two issues, we featured historical backgrounds on two of our most popular seasonal specialty beers; Oktoberfest and Doppelbock. You may be expecting a history for Killarney that dates back to celtic culture. I'm sorry to disappoint you, but the history of Killarney only goes back to 1988; it is my own creation. There is still a story behind this beer and I hope that you'll understand my motives and intentions in honoring the Irish and their spirit in my Bavarian version of an Irish lover's beer.

When I came to Montana in August of 1987, I was hired to brew Bavarian lager beer and I tuned up the brewery accordingly. January of 1988 came around and people told me about St. Patrick's Day and the strong Irish background in this state and asked me what I would be brewing for this special holiday. Believe me, I was totally caught off guard. Yes, I'd heard that St. Patrick's Day is a national holiday in Ireland. I've been in Ireland before, and instantly fell in love with this green island that grows palm trees in the North Atlantic. I enjoyed Irish beer and tours through a couple of Irish whiskey distilleries. But actually brewing an Irish beer in my German lager brewery?! No, I'd never thought of that, not even in my wildest dreams, being the traditional Bavarian brewmaster that I am. But here it was now - the challenge. First, I needed to find out what people would expect in a St Pat's beer. I talked to bartenders across town and local distributors. They told me that they would color the beer green. Green - I thought maybe I didn't hear quite right, after all, I was only in the country for seven months and my English was everything else but good enough to hear all of the "fine" tunes. I figured out that they did mean green, and I was disgusted. Only over my dead body would I allow anyone to put green dye in my beer.

The next alternative was to come up with an Irish ale. There was plenty of data and analysis in my books and I have brewed plenty of top fermenting beers before. The technical problem was how to keep my German bottom fermenting yeast separate from a top fermenting ale yeast in a small brewery without creating a huge microbiological mess with two yeast strains interfering with each other. Back in Germany, we had separate buildings, far apart from each other, and we didn't even wear the same boots in the top fermenting and bottom fermenting cellars! To make a long story short, I created a reddish colored beer, medium hopped with a high gravity, 5 different types of malt, fermented like an ale and still used my own strain of lager yeast. The result was a very smooth, full bodied, strong (5.8% Alc. Vol), reddish colored beer with a distinct "cream-ale" flavor and a medium hoppy finish.

The recipe was good, the beer was already brewed, and I did not have a name for it yet. Finally, right before St. Patrick's Day, Reinhard Schulte, the original owner of the brewery, had the idea: Killarney. He's also been to Ireland before and we both happened to visit the beautiful Irish town of Killarney on our trips. So we decided to dedicate this brew to the people of Killarney. To my surprise, less than a year later, a major brewery came out with another "red" beer and even with a similar name. I know they did not hear about Killarney beer on draft made by a small brewery in Missoula, Montana. It was a very interesting experience for me. To this day, I still claim to have created the first "red" beer in America in 1988. I also believe that none of the other "red" beers that are found on the shelves now can match the potency, body and smoothness of the original Bayern Killarney on tap.

So here it is again, prost to Killarney and a salute to the Irish.

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