Friday’s ad is for the German brewery Spaten from either 1924 of 1933 (accounts differ). It’s by the famous German poster artist Ludwig Hohlwein. I love the stylized server and just the timeless quality of the art.
As far as beer is concerned, Hohlwein is probably best know for creating the artwork of the monk used in the label for Franziskaner Weissbier.
Our 42nd Session is hosted by Derrick Peterman, from Ramblings of a Beer Runner. He’s chosen “A Special Place, A Special Beer” as his topic, which Derrick describes geographically, as follows:
The Session provides a unique opportunity to explore this connection between the beer in our glasses and the place it comes from with perspectives from all over the world.
So I ask for this 42nd Session that you write about a special place in your life, and a beer or brewery that connects you to that place. It can be the beer from your childhood home, a place you once lived, your current hometown, a memorable vacation you once took, or a place you’ve always wanted to go to but never had the chance. Please take a few moments to think about the how the beer connects you to this place, and share this with us. Of course, the definition of “place” is rather open ended, and in some cases, highly debatable, so it will be interesting to see the responses on what constitutes a place.
This was actually a simpler question than I expected, once I stopped to think about it. For me, I believe the most special place to have a beer, any beer, is at the source. The place where it was created — the brewery — I always find is my favorite place to try their beer, especially for the first time. Plus, in certain places the brewery has beers available that can’t be found anywhere else.
A number of years ago, for example, I visited the Radeberger Brauerei just outside Dresden, Germany. Their pilsner is one of the best in the world, at least in my opinion. But even better is the unfiltered zwickel version that they have only at the brewery. To be fair, they also used to sell it at one bar in downtown Dresden but last I heard a flood had closed it.
I love drinking beer at home, at the bar, at the restaurant — okay, anywhere — but not quite as much as in the brewery itself. That’s hallowed ground, in a sense. I’m not really a “ticker,” so I have no idea how many breweries I’ve visited over the years but it’s certainly a fair number. And they’re almost always where I’ve had the most memorable experiences. I don’t know if it’s the setting — I do love the feeling of being in a brewery — or being with the brewer, or some other intangible, but I inevitably get the sense that that’s the beer’s home. And things just always taste better when they’re home.
Monday’s ad is for an unknown beer, created by Paul Gusset in 1956. Since today is the summer solstice, the poster reminded me of summer itself. Happy summer.
Monday’s ad is for Lowenbrau, a Munich brewery. Today is the day Munich was founded in 1158. It could be from the 1960s or 70s, but my money’s on the Seventies. Showing both kinds — country and western, alright light and dark — the ad features the tagline. “Now that you’ve seen the light …. try the dark.” But really, they’re actually trying to sell the glasses.
Wednesday’s ad is for a German brewery, Berliner Schlossbrauerei, and their brand Bärenbier, or Bear Beer. The slogan, “bringt gute Laúne!,” translates as “brings a good mood.” Ah, I miss the days when you could use a teddy bear in an …. what, there never was such a time in America, was there?
After Samuel Adams’ Utopias and the 31% Schorschbräu, the folks at BrewDog beat them both last fall when they came out with Tactical Nuclear Penguin, at 32%. Then Schorschbräu answered back with a 40% version. In February, BrewDog launched Sink the Bismark, again over-taking their German rivals with the 41% hop bomb.
Schorschbräu has now created a 43% Version, and is again — at least for now — the world’s strongest beer. Gizmag has a nice recap of the whole story.
Today’s work of art is by one the most famous artists to ever paint: Peter Paul Rubens. Rubens “was a prolific seventeenth-century Flemish Baroque painter, and a proponent of an extravagant Baroque style that emphasized movement, color, and sensuality. He is well-known for his Counter-Reformation altarpieces, portraits, landscapes, and history paintings of mythological and allegorical subjects.” Today’s painting was done toward the end of his life, around 1635-38, though others believe he may have started it much earlier in 1620, but then returned to it later. It’s known as the Village Fête, and sometimes as the Village Wedding.
The paintings hangs in the Louvre, which describes it as follows:
The picture, painted late in the artist’s life, around 1635-38, is manifestly neo-Bruegelian in inspiration. The pig’s snout poking out of the sty on the right is an ancient symbol of gluttony (gula). According to those who date the picture in the 1620s, the landscape was painted before the figures, which are in Rubens’ late lyrical style.
This monumental picture, also called the Village Wedding, is in the northern tradition of depictions of village fêtes. Pioneered by Pieter Bruegel, the enormous popularity of this genre contributed to the renown of the Flemish School. These compositions often had a moral message, denouncing the baseness of the human condition by showing it in all its excesses. However, even though a pig’s snout — a symbol of gluttony — can be seen poking out of the sty in the foreground, denouncing vices was not Rubens’ main preoccupation.
While there’s dancing going on on the right half of the painting, the lower left is consumed with drinking beer. You can see it better in the detail of the painting below.
You can see all of Ruben’s works online at the Complete Works or Peter Paul Rubens. There’s also a biography on Wikipedia, and more information at the Web Museum, the Art Archive , ArtCyclopedia and Olga’s Gallery.
Today’s works of art are by a German artist, Eduard Grützner, who was born in 1846 and became well-known for his genre paintings of monks until his death in 1925. I had a hard time choosing from among his monk paintings, so there are a number of them presented here. Few of them are dated, and they would have been throughout his career. Many of them appear to be the same monk used as the model. And some of them can be purchased at Art Prints on Demand. But to me, they’re exactly what I envision when I think of 19th century monastery breweries.
Bruder Braumeister im Bierkeller (a.k.a. Brother Master Brewer in the Beer Cellar from 1902).
Braumeister bei der Brotzeit im Klosterkeller (a.k.a. Master brewer snacking in the Cloister cellar from 1892).
Bier Test (1905).
Mönch auf dem Weg zur Brotzeit (a.k.a. Monk on the Way to Snack).
The Connoisseur (a.k.a. Capuchin monk).
The Klosterbräu with Salvatorhumpen as Well as Radish and Radish (1889).
The Brewmaster’s Break (1885)
Kellermeister (a.k.a. Cellarmaster).
You can read more about Eduard von Grützner at his Wikipedia page, and you can view more of his artwork at Art Prints On Demand and
Ask/Art.
Monday’s ad is an attempt to contrast Friday’s, which you may recall was the Girl in the Moon for Miller High Life. I don’t know much about this ad, though I believe it’s from the 1930s. It appears to be from Germany but looks not at all like a typical ad for a German beer. In this case, instead of the girl being in the moon, she’s instead offering the thirsty moon a drink of beer.
I’m no longer sure what to make of the undoubtedly mock feud between Scotland’s BrewDog and Germany’s Schorschbräu over who can make the world’s strongest beer. I’m sure it’s great publicity for both companies, as each one-ups the other for the title. The latest salvo is BrewDog’s Sink the Bismarck, a clever name given the contestants.
Unlike the last extreme BrewDog beer, Tactical Nuclear Penguin, this one is not a dark beer, but a hoppy one instead. Sink the Bismarck, at 41% abv, bests the latest 40% Schorschbräu beer by one percent.
Sink the Bismarck is a quadruple IPA that contains four times the hops, four times the bitterness and frozen four times to create at a staggering 41% ABV.
This is IPA amplified, the most evocative style of the craft beer resistance with the volume cranked off the scale. Kettle hopped, dry hopped then freeze hopped for a deep fruit, resinous and spicy aroma. A full out attack on your taste-buds ensues as the incredibly smooth liquid delivers a crescendo of malt, sweet honey, hop oils and a torpedo of hop bitterness which lasts and lasts.
As the BrewDogs readily admit, the whole things is somewhat silly, and I’m sure more people will continue to be angered by all of this, in a sense, I think, missing the point. This is great marketing. And while not everyone liked Tactical Nuclear Penguin, so far the reviews I’ve seen for Sink the Bismark have been mostly positive. Michael Ironside, who writes Diary Of A Hop Head, thought it was “wonderful.” Mark Dredge, who writes Pencil & Spoon, had this to say about it:
Maybe the hoppiest beer I’ve ever had, earthy, citrus, floral, imperial. So thick and full bodied, like syrup, like honey. It smells like a hop sack, so fresh, uniquely fresh, like hop resin, hop oil on the finger tips. It’s sweet like candy but hot like bourbon, it’s smooth but jagged, it’s bitter, it’s intense, it’s astonishing. Five months in the making, this is insane US Extreme IPA meets Scottish whisky, an unimaginable blend.
I’ve bought a bottle and I’m glad. Sink the Bismarck, whatever you think about the name and the marketing approach (it’s a bit of fun, nothing more – initially the name is shocking but it’s more of a jovial up yours than a vicious fuck you), is a special beer. It might not be to everyone’s taste – in all senses – but it’s a remarkable achievement.
Mark was over in San Francisco for SF Beer Week and I had a chance to spend some time with him at a couple of events, to the point where I trust his opinions and appreciate his point of view. Mark was also declared “New Media Writer of the Year” by the British Beer Writers Guild, so I don’t think anyone can dismiss his opinions out of hand. This is not just an extreme stunt beer, but a great-tasting one, as well. I hope I can have an opportunity to try it for myself.
Given that Schorschbräu’s website states that they’re at “40% and still going strong,” I’m sure we can expect yet another stronger release from them. What BrewDog has up their sleeve is anybody’s guess, but you can bet it’s something interesting.