Mar 11 2009
Munich’s Starkbierzeit–A German Beer Festival
Munich’s Starkbierzeit, or Strong Beer Season, began on February 26th and will continue until March 29th. During this season, Munich’s breweries each serve their own version of strong beer, a heavy flavorful beer with a higher alochol content and higher concentration of solids than the already strong and flavorful German beer. A unique German beer festival, the Starkbierzeit is not only a tasty time of year for locals and visitors, it’s also a time of year with an interesting history.
More than 300 years ago, monks of the Paulaner order from Calabria in Southern Italy built a monastery atop the Nockherberg Hill, Munich’s highest point, and began brewing strong beer. The strong beer was brewed to help “sustain” the monks through the 40 days of Lent. The monks were unsure if the beer really was allowed during the fasting time of Lent, so a small barrel was sent to the Pope for his blessing—by the time the beer completed the long hot journey to Rome, it had turned and become rancid. The Pope couldn’t understand how anything tasting that horrible could be bad, so he gave his blessing on the drink.
Now the season is used to celebrate the arrival of the year’s beer. Each brewery creates their own version of a strong beer—most with names related to the Paulaner’s original Salvator. The Augustiner makes Maximator, the Löwenbräu produces Maximator, and the Spaten-Franziskaner makes Optimator.
The “strong” label does not indicate a higher alcohol content; it refers to a higher level of Stammwürze, the hops, malted barley, and yeast. Beers must have at least 18% of the Stammwürze to be called a strong beer. Christian Dahnke, the head of the Paulaner brewery, points out that “we call it liquid bread.”
Visitors coming to Munich for this beer festival won’t find the crowds or expensive beers of Oktoberfest, but they will find Bavarians enjoying a time-honored local tradition—and some delicious food and drink.
Check out the websites for each of the breweries for more information.
Photo Dark Beer by mzacha, www.sxc.hu.
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