Krenglbach Lager

Krenglbach - Lager Series No.3. Brewed by Spotty Dog Brewers in Hobart, Tasmania.

What style is this lager?  Great question! Vienna Lager (also called Märzen (or Maerzen if you can’t Umlaut on your keyboard)) is a problem. In Munich, Märzen is a light coloured, high(ish) strength lager - it’s also called Festbier, and is what you get at Oktoberfest. In Vienna, Märzen is a relatively weak (4.5%), brown and malty lager. Those towns are meant to speak the same language for goodness sake!

We took the best parts of both and made it our own. Our Märzen (or Vienna Lager, or Festbier, or, or, or…) is an amber, 5.6% lager. Kind of like nothing that actually exists, but kind of the best option (if you ask me…)

Now that that’s out of the way…the name. This is just a bit of fun. Our Vienna lager is halfway between a Munich and a Vienna style, and when you look on the map there’s a tiny, insignificant town there at the halfway point called Krenglbach. Suddenly it all makes sense doesn’t it?

Rich, malty, unfiltered amber with a thick yet delicate head - this beer is entirely naturally carbed and as such give you a softer overall carbonation and lighter palate experience. The nose has those esters I so love from Bluestone Pilsner; light banana and spice, but it’s subsumed into the overall caramel and malt experience; toasted sugar and cake. On the palate that’s more restrained than you expect, the beer is malty and rich without being sweet and cloying, balanced by the spicy bitterness it’s like an adult’s desert or a warm hug on a frosty day - perfect as the weather draws in.

Krenglbach striking 500ml can designed by Dom Dinel showcasing our Spotty Dog minimalistic and well-known circular designs.

Details:

Yeast:  Bluestone Pilsner. It ferments like a champ and it’s yum!

Malt/Grain:  Vienna malt makes up the base (slightly more roasted than pale ale malt), with a hint of Munich (slightly more roasted than Viennna malt) and Dark Munich (slightly more roasted than Regular Munich malt…you get the gist) for some nuance and depth.

Hops: Tettnanger Tettnang (that’s Tettnang hop that’s been grown in Tettnang, duh) and Hallertau Mittlefrüh give you that solid Euro spice, Hüll Melon gives you a bit of character. It’s a lovely newish hop from the German breeding programs, so named because it’s meant to have hints of melon…but as is usual with Euro bred hops, any fruit character is a minute hint at best. It’s more euro spice but someone next door is cutting open a melon, maybe. I can’t quite tell. But it is fun!

Production Techniques:  Decocted, brewed as for all our other regular lagers; six weeks in tank, total, so it’s still hazy. You can call it a Kellerbier if you like, that’s the word for an unfiltered lager of any kind.

Cheers, 

Rhyley

Head Brewer