Matthias Trum, Brewmaster at Shlenkerla brewery in Bamberg, Germany joins me this week to discuss smoked beer history, styles and brewing Rauchbier.
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Topics in This Week’s Episode (43:17)
- This week I welcome back Matthias Trum. Matthias is a sixth generation Brewmaster at Shlenkerla brewery in Bamberg, Germany. This is one of only two breweries in Germany that produce smoked Rauchbier styles in the traditional German way. Matthias studied brewing science at Weihenstephan University and did his Master’s thesis on the history of brewing.
- We discuss first a bit about Schlenkerla brewery, including its size and yearly production.
- Matthias goes into some depth on the history of brewing smoked beers including how malt was traditionally dried over a wood fire. This means most beers prior to the 1700’s likely had a smoked flavor to them.
- We talk about the specific history of his brewery, and also how smoked malt is made in the traditional way by malting and drying over a fire within his own brewery.
- Matthias describes the smoked beer style and also its many variations.
- We talk about balance in a smoked beer and how he achieves it with 100% smoked malt.
- We briefly discuss brewing the beers and some of the ingredients that go into a traditional smoked beer.
- Matthias closes by telling us where people can find his beer, and shares his closing thoughts as a 6th generation brewer.
Sponsors
- Thank you to our sponsor Craft Beer and Brewing Magazine for sponsoring this episode. I encourage you to subscribe to their great magazine!
- And also Anvil Brewing Equipment. Anvil is a new line of kettles, burners and accessories from John Blichmann at Blichmann Engineering. They make top quality brewing equipment built to last a lifetime.
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Thanks to Matthias Trum for appearing on the show and also to you for listening!
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