We made the journey to Brauhaus Spandau where they gave us a tour of the brew house and gave us samples of beer. It was interesting how their brewing equipment was still made of cooper. In the begging, the brew master gave us barley grain (pilsner and kilned) to try. I quite enjoyed eating the pilsner grain and imagined that it could be used in a trail mix, yet I could not enjoy eating the kilned grain since it starched my throat like an espresso grain. I was cool how the fermenting room had windows so that the public could experience the open fermenting process. They only brew two beers at a time so the choice was between the light beer and the dark, which made it easy to choose. We all chose the dark beer, which apparently had an ABV of 12. The high alcohol content did not come from the dark barley (since the kilning/browning of the barley kills the starches). We presumed that 10% of the barley used was the dark kind and the rest was the light pilsner. The dark, sweet brew complimented the meal well. The meal was a pile of hardy, fried potatoes and two little meatloaf patties… yum.
Nice post Josie - I like how you brought out some important insights, like how the kilned malt doesn't contribute to the alcohol content, and the difference in the open fermenters. Keep emphasizing those types of connections between what we're talking about in class. I'd also really like to see you reflect on cultural differences you observe, between the US and Germany, and then between Berlin and Munich, and ultimately between Germany, Belgium and the US!
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