Berlin

Alrighty, so in real life I am back home and have completed the Master Brewer Program. However, I am going to finish out this blog for two reasons. First, I would like to have a record of my experiences. Second, it all went by so fast that I want to go back and relive every moment! Starting back up with Berlin! Emilia and I spent three days in Berlin, so included below are the highlights in no particular order.

We were walking around the Tiergarten one day and stumbled on a Soviet War Memorial

By chance, we visited right after the annual VE Day when veterans return to this site to lay wreaths in honor of the Soviet soldiers lost during the Battle for Berlin

 The famous Brandenburg gate!

 We spent the better part of one day at the Berlin Natural History Museum

 Great collection of dinosaur skeletons including this Brachiosaurus

 It has the Guinness World Record for tallest mounted dinosaur skeleton!

Amazing T-Rex skeleton named Tristen. It has a very unique dark color.

Very strange hairy rock...

We visited the Berlin Wall Memorial

They keep some portions of the wall as a reminder of the past

It was crazy to think that the wall still separated Berlin less than 25 years ago

While exploring Museum Island we come across the Berliner Dom

We had to check it out and also why not go to the top?

Great views of the city including The Fernsehturm/Berlin TV Tower

Also got to see some of the sculptures and architecture up close

How could we go to Berlin and not try a Berliner Weisse with authentic Woodruff syrup?

We also decided to check out Stone Brewing Berlin. It is very controversial in Germany and it will be interesting to see how it is received once they open. One of the managers was happy to give us a tour although they were still completing construction. They just fired up the big system on the day we visited, but the pilot system had been used for flavor matching their recipes for a while.

We got to meet the Brewmaster, Thomas. He went to VLB and actually did his apprenticeship at Pott's Brewery, which if you recall was one of our stops on the study tour. It was interesting talking to a German Brewmaster at an American style brewery.

This is the Reichstag, which is the main government building and houses the parliament

We took a audio tour that guides you up the spiraling walkway and points out landmarks

All the way to the top!

Obligatory stop at checkpoint charlie

Had to try the original Budweizer

The Topography of Terrors is a history museum that focuses on Nazi era history and oppression. The museum resides on the site of the Nazi Gestapo and SS buildings.

This was an emotionally draining afternoon. Reading the stories and seeing the pictures really hits hard. It is important to acknowledge what happened and how it happened, especially in current times.

Beautiful sunset to bring our time in Berlin to a close. Next up is Amsterdam!

Diploma Graduation, the weekend and Emilia arrives!

Back outside of Munich, we have our graduation and then a short wait before Emilia arrives. 

Going to see if videos work...Nice day hanging out at our local beer garden, Alter Wirt. Love this song... Dunkles, Helles, Weissbier, and Pils!!!

We had our graduation at Wilder Hirsch, which has become a second home for our class. Here is Nato from Chile receiving his diploma with John and Eder.

What a great group, glad we got a copy of class picture with the diploma guys and master peeps together. They are being missed for sure.

Hard to explain the bonds that are made during the program. The goodbyes were rough.

Spent the weekend hanging out with Jarrod in Munich. He got to try sushi for the first time ever!

Finally!!! Wifey is here! First stop is Augustiner Keller, of course!

First meal and beers to kick of our excellent adventure. 

Also, sausages and beer cure jet lag. Yeah, that's a lie, but they certainly don't hurt.

Here is the basement of Augustiner Keller. I believe this is where we will be having our Master Graduation. We will be graduating with all the German students, so it is a pretty big deal.

They have a barrel that you can actually eat inside of, great idea!

Over the next few days Emilia was a trooper getting over the jet lag.

We did a lot of walking and sightseeing...

...therefore, we earned a little snack at Schneider Weisse. 

Had to try the recommended pairing of the Marie's Rendezvous and the strudel. 

Had to take her to the famous Hofbräuhaus for a beer, but it is a tourist trap, so one was enough.

Schweinshaxen! Pork products are an entire food group in Bavaria.

We also took a day trip to Tegernsee, which is one of my favorite places in all of Germany. Besides being beautiful, the Tegernseer beer is excellent.

Some carpaccio and curry wurst for lunch.

They also do some distilling as well. Had some of their schnapps for dessert and it was very solid.

Then we went for a little hike down the shore.

After the hike we had to walk up the hill to the station. After a beer to refuel, we head back downtown to get some rest before departing for Berlin. It was fun playing tour guide, but could not wait to begin our European adventure. 

Study Tour: Final day

Getting to the end of the trip, started with a nice bus ride with some old castle ruins.

 

 First stop was Riedenburger Brauhaus. It is a smaller, more "craft" brewery.

 

They still had a really nice newer packaging line.

 

 However, a lot of their brewing equipment was more old school. Like their control panel above. Not to be mistaken for a cold war era nuclear control panel. 

They even used some pretty sweet open fermenters. The picture on the right you can see the yeast krausening and spilling onto the floor.

This is the owner's son and current brewmaster. He also attended Doemens and is something like a 4th generation brewer.

The beers were a welcome change of pace. They included a solid IPA, a porter, and some lighter beers that used ancient grains such as einkorn and emmer. We were very impressed and it gave me hope for craft beer in Germany. They also were very focused on using organic products and supporting local farmers.

Then our final stop of the trip, Hopsteiner!

They are one of the top hop suppliers in the world. They are located in Hallertau, which is one of the legendary hop growing regions.

They process a variety of products including pellets (left), whole leaf (right), and extracts (below). The building with the bales of fresh hops was an aromatic heaven. Life goals: Do the Scrooge McDuck dive with hops.

They do a lot of breeding to make new experimental hops. The process takes about 10 years from start to finish, but they have new varieties every year that hit the market. Here is a greenhouse when some plants are being analyzed to see if they will be planted in the field next year.

 

This is the head of the breeding program right before he expressed his love of hops through the media of interpretive dance. No, not really. Just good timing on my part.

We did a hop rub of some traditional hops and a few experimental hops that have not been released yet. Huell Melon, Eureka and Calypso were great, but the Hopsteiner experimental hop 09410 was my favorite.

We even got to taste the experimental hop 09410 in a single hop pale ale. It has an absolutely delicious strawberry character. Ask your hop supplier for samples or to be in their trial program, you will thank me later.

We finished off the trip with a dinner at a restaurant called Schossbrauerei Sandelzhausen Gaststatte, which was opened in 1623! What a marathon of an amazing trip. Next up we have some celebrations for our Diploma Students and then finally Emilia arrives!