Black Techno Beer

Sometimes it feels like we drink nothing but west coast triple IPAs and 750 ml Belgians, doesn’t it? It’s not far from the truth cuz when you’re home cooks and non-paid beer bloggers you tend to gravitate toward what you know you’ll like. One area where we’ve felt particularly deficient is German, and German-style, brews. We’ve definitely discussed the need to get deeper into Deutsche technique — maybe by sipping some warm mai bocks in the back of a black and chrome Audi pumping Kraftwerk or something.

In any case, it’s not that we’re ignorant about German beer — we’ve both traveled there, one of us lived there, we have tasted fresh-out-of-the-tap hefeweizen — we just aren’t nuts for the style. Mediocre, over-malted bland stuff, lots of it anyway. Of course, there’s Spaten Optimator, which is more than pub-worthy, and the bock inspired heavy ales from Avery are some of America’s contributions. Craftsman’s rauch biere (smoked lager) too holds a large part of out hearts. But for the most part, we’ve long wondered why the so-called land of beers seems so unimaginative. Maybe it’s cuz the German mindset demands such traditional precision that any sort of loosey goosey experimentation gets the shaft. Just look at the whole Reinheitsgebot thing (German purity laws on the books since 1516), that are always proudly touted on German beers. That law, of course, dictated that nothing but water, malt and hops could be used to brew beer. Sounds ok right, but there’s no mention of yeast (it hadn’t been discovered yet!). Reason enough to amend the silly thing, or throw it out entirely.
The point is, we’re always looking to challenge our theory, so when we recently spotted a couple staunch black bombers of German-style beers we’d never seen at our local one-stop shop (Galco’s) we sprung for it hoping to get turned on. One was a black Bavarian lager, the other a doppelbock. Doesn’t get more German than that.

The brewery is actually an 80s upstart microbrewery in Wisconsin called Sprecher, started by a former Pabst head brew master who got the itch to brew something more wicked. And the bottle aesthetic is intense: simple and clean, gothic and low budget. To be honest, we got giddy because we thought maybe we had stumbled on some kind of hardcore bathtub beer made by Midwesterner wild men — like the nutso noise band Wolf Eyes only for beer. That comparison was quickly smashed, less screechy basement-performance cassette release and more like mid-career Iron Maiden or early head bangers from Megadeath. Both beers were dark, randy and completely straight forward. Just edgy enough to taste great, but not enough to be considered anything better than standard.
The doppelbock was appropriately malty, well-rounded, sweet and roasty, while a little weak. Nose and mouth both gave off a fresh cracked hazelnut vibe. The head even had a bit of burnt orange rust. We could have let it sit a little longer in the autumn sun to be honest, it almost begged to be consumed at a warmer temperature. All in all, a welcome exchange for the typical Oktoberfest shod.

The Bavarian black lager was a different story, while not a seasonal or a special release it had something special going for it. First off the pour is darker than a succubus rounding second base and blacker than most Danzig album covers. The foam was a perfect mahogany-color, giving it the same glimmer of wood and vinyl you see on a custom-made vintage amp. Also, the stuff went down well cold, almost medicinally elemental, there was only one real taste: black bread malt with a hint of booze, nothing else. According to the bottle, it’s a riff on the black lagers that were created as bread water meant to sustain monks through lent. It’s not what we’d call interesting exactly and it’s certainly not complex, but it is pure and clean. One thing’s for sure, if we ever attempt a vegan version of the liver layered lard spread that German castles serve instead of butter, this will be the pairing. All in all, drinking it felt like a validation of what we think about most German-style beer: that it’s precision is its greatest virtue even though it can get boxed in by its tradition. That said, we absolutely owe Germany another visit.
Dairy Pairy: Epoisses, cow’s milk washed with Marc de Bourgogne.
Soundtrack: Wolf Eyes’ Burned Mind