Spring arrived and the Bayern team proudly announced that on May 1, our Maibock would be released. We were punctual and it was released that day. Unfortunately, the May issue of our newsletter was nor dine when the Maibock was released and I apologize for that delay.

I hope that you will forgive me and still enjoy the history of this old-style Bavarian beer that has been brewed since the 9th century. Fortunately, the history of Maibock ties in quite well with the origins of our next Bavarian classic - Weizen beer and Hefeweizen. Both beers are inseparably intertwined with the rise of the royal Wittelsbacher family in Bavaria, one of the most powerful dynasties in European history. As I mentioned in our January issue, commercial brewing started with the Benedictine monks in the 9th century. Thru invented the strong "Braunbier" that was to be called Maibock 800 years later. The Benedictine monks and other monasteries sold their small excess production to royalty, who paid goof money for this celestial delicacy.

In the 13th century, big port cities of northern Germany were already brewing industrially for the export of beer to countries all over the known world, as well as to Bavaria. Brewing on a large scale also meant that their beer was a lot cheaper than the relatively small quantities of beer being produced by monasteries in Bavaria. One beer that became especially popular in Bavaria was Einbecker, a strong, dark beer from the City of Einbeck. Royalty now also bought their beer from the north and soon, the monasteries were back to brewing their expensive, but exquisite, beer just for themselves. For awhile, the monasteries tried to compete with the dark Einbecker and also created an even darker, stronger beer, with more alcohol and more hops, that they called "oan bock" or bock beer. This attempt to compete with the cheaper, mass-produced Einbecker wasn't successful then. Later, this beer became the famous dark Doppelbock in 1565 that Bavaria still produced today.

Between the 13th and 15th centuries, beer became very popular in general and consumption steadily increased. The royal Wittelsbacher family financed their empire, a few wars and other expenses mainly through beer taxes. They also started building up their own brewing industry. By the year 1500, the Wittelsbacher family owned most of Bavaria's breweries and they were called hofbräu houses, the biggest one being the famous one in Munich. These bräuhauses produced, for the most part, the traditional Braunbier and, since 1565, Doppelbock in the winter.

Hefe-Weizenbier, (wheat beer with yeast), is not documented until the year 1573 at one of the royal hofbräuhauses run by the Manhart family in Munich. At those bräuhauses, Wheatbeer was only allowed to be brewed at night, while the standard Braunbier was brewed during the day. Wheatbeer was allowed to be brewed during the day in the summer only. Additionally during the summer, only Wheatbeer was allowed to be brewed and Braunbier could not be brewed until late fall. The reason for this rule was based on the natures of these two beers. Braunbier was a lager that was cold-fermented at 42 ° F with bottom-fermenting yeast and at that time, this process used up most of the cooling capacity of the ice cellar. Weizenbier was a top-fermenting beer that actually needed higher temperatures of about 70-72° F. During the night, this could be done by air- cooling the hot wort rather than air and ice water cooling required for lager. The beer was then transferred into the upper cellar of the brewery, where the ice from the winter was almost gone. By the end of March, Braunbier was usually not brewed, (depending on how much ice, which was cut from frozen lakes, was left over from the winter), and as the cellar got warmer and the Braunbier was sold, the Weizenbier filled up the cellar until fall came and the brew schedule changed. This summer beer soon became extremely popular, mainly because of its crisp, light flavor and its thirst quenching character.

Duke Maximilian I (1597-1651) noticed within a few years that consumption in his castle went from 120 barrels of imported Einbecker per year to only 20 barrels per year, not counting the traditional Braunbier, and that the difference was replaced with Weizenbier. In 1607, Duke Maximilian I finally built the first "all white" meaning "all wheat" brewery and also outlawed all the other Wheatbeer breweries that were not owned by him. Thus he created the so-called Wheatbeer monopoly and together, with his already established salt monopoly, he was able to take care of his enormous debts and pay for most of his expenses during the Thirty Years War (1618-1648).

Monasteries are still brewing today, but have never really established a significant market share. However, they still produce a significant amount of Maibock and Doppelbock. By the 1750s, a light version of the Braunbier became the new standard. This beer was called Märzenbier, (amber lager), and the old braunbier became Maibock, a seasonal specialty beer for the month of May - the last lager until late fall.

Today, Maibock is the traditional Bavarian spring opener for the biergarten season and people all over Bavaria celebrate the coming of the warmer season. Maibock is the strongest "not dark" or "least light" beer around, depending from which angle you want to look at it. Maibock is moderately hopped; just enough to balance the rich maltiness and the color is golden brown, due to more than 50% Munich-style malt. The alcohol content of 7.0% alc./vol. is only surpassed by its cousin, the dark Doppelbock, which can exceed 8% alc.vol. A higher alcohol content in beer is not possible due to self-intoxication of the yeast. Beers with a higher alcohol content have either some of their water content removed (like in Eisbock in Bavaria or the not as strong ice beer now produced in the U.S.) or have not been brewed according to the Law of Purity of 1516 (malted barley, yeast, hops & water). Bayern Brewing brews its Maibock according to the same standards as the Rosenbrauerei on Kaufbeuren, Germany, did. In this brewery, which was founded in 1630, I spent my journeyman years between 1981-1985 and brewed Maibock in the same manner as they did for more than 350 years. Hopefully, by the time you read this, there will still be a bar in your area where they still have some left on tap because it won't be back until nest May. Thank God that I am at least in time to tell you about the upcoming Wheatbeer, which will be released June 10. I can promise you that the Wheatbeer will be available until late July or early August so take your time!

As I've mentioned before, Wheatbeer or Weizenbier has been around since 1573 and because of the monasteries lack of involvement in this beer style, they also were not involved in the record-keeping process. As a result, the amount of data available on Bavarian Wheatbeer is only a fraction of what or available on bottom-fermenting lager beer. Thus, there are many different styles of Weizenbier and almost every old brewery has their own way of brewing it. Wheatbeer, according to German law, has to have at least a 50% wheat content; the rest can be malted barley. The usage of wheat malt was incorporated into the Law of Purity by Dike Maximilian I, so beer can be brewed with wheat and still satisfy the Law of Purity. Bavarian Wheatbeer is moderately hopped (<20 EBU) to accentuate the wheatmalt and yeast flavors. Traditional Bavarian Wheatbeers have a distinct clove-like note and have a higher CO2 content than lagers or ales. This contributes to its crispness. Bayern brews two styles of summer wheat beer: filtered light wheat & unfiltered light wheat or "Hefeweizen". Both originate in the same mothertank and as the name indicates, the clear wheat is filtered while the Hefeweizen remains naturally unfiltered. The only lightness about Bayern Wheat is its beautiful color; the light wheat is golden blond and crystal clear and the Hefeweizen is creamy blond but not too yeasty. The alcohol content is close to 6%/ vol. (final alc. content is not yet determined because the wheat beer is not quite done).

Bayern Brewing is the only brewery in the northwest offering, (to my knowledge), a filtered wheat beer that is crystal clear and if you try the Hefeweizen, you will be able to tell that a 350+ year-old tradition is still alive. We even brew it only in the summertime and mostly at night, too. So please enjoy your summer and try a traditional summer wheat beer.