Biergartenwetter
Biergartenwetter Lager brewed by Spotty Dog Brewers in Hobart, Tasmania.
Don’t be deterred by the 16 letters of the name, Biergartenwetter is more approachable than it lets on. A lager that’s perfect for hot Aussie summers, a reward for a long day, or a little bit of hydration along the way. Styled after a Munich Helles, Biergartenwetter is best enjoyed in a big, frosty mug in a Beer Garden in the sun (do you get the name yet?!) Helles is all about drinkability - not too malty, not too hoppy, just very, very thirst quenching.
If you’ve read our blog post on the first lager in our series, Export, you’ll know we step mash all of our lagers to really lean out that finish and get it nice and crispy. Well, full disclosure, I was withholding last time. We do step mash, but there’s more to it than that: we also have a decoction step. That’s right traditional fanboys, I said it. All of our lagers are decoction mashed, meaning part of the mash is heated up to boiling for a time. For the Helles, that step is short, only about 5 minutes, to avoid adding too much colour, but that heat and mixing serve two purposes: they lean out the finish more than step mashing ever could and also lock in some bready, malty, and grassy aromas from the malt that you just can’t get any other way. A crispy finish with malt flavour, what’s not to love?
German is famous for putting whole sentences in to one word. Beer Garden Weather - Bier Garten Wetter = Biergartenwetter!
That’s the malt side of things, but what about hops? With such a mellow bitterness you’d never guess this beer uses about the same amount of hops by weight as one of our IPAs, would you? Almost 10 kilos of Hallertau Mittelfrüh and Tettnang Tettnanger make up the bittering and aroma addition (no dry hops here!) which is about as traditional as you can get with hops for a Helles. Yep, this time we leaned fully into my pretend German heritage and used imported hops, just to see if we could taste the difference to something like Export, with its Aussie hops. What do you think, can you tell the German from the Aussie?
Yeast is the same as Export - Bluestone Pilsner, which, despite its name, actually comes from the Augustiner brewery in Munich - arguably the brewery for Munich Helles. As expected, it’s perfect for this style. Fermenting cleanly, finishing dry, accentuating malt and adding just the barest whiff of sulphur, it’s everything Helles is about….you just need to provide the frosty mug and the beer garden!
Cheers,
Rhyley
Head Brewer
