Austrian Breweries
And other beer notes

The Augustiner ex-monastary runs up the hill from the pay-parking lot in one huge building. They also only make one beer - a Marzen, strong thick golden lager of 4.6% ABV although there is a 6.5% bock for Christmas and a 5% Fastenbier for lent.

It's a do-it-yourself place. First, climb up the stairs from the entry garden to the food stands on the first floor inside. Select from fish, breads, pretzels, sausage, corned beef, salami, pastries, eggs, cheeses, chocolate, even hamburgers. Everything except soup, nuts, and pizza. The food stands are leased out to private vendors.

Then, food in hand (no trays), pick a mug from the rack. .5liter and 1liter pottery mugs are available, with depth markings. Then pay for your beer. 2.50€ or 5€. Next the mug and receipt go to another stand for filling. They pour lots of foam but don't complain about a short pour - you're in freaking Austria so be happy.

Walk to one of the 3 indoor keller rooms or go back down the the terrace, it seats about 900 people. To get another beer, rinse your mug at the stand and head back to the casse (teller).
 

Austria's largest brewery is Stigl and their BrauWelt (Beer World) claims to be the largest beer museum in Europe. And it probably is. It's certainly a first class museum done by a competent curator. Located in the old malting rooms they abandoned in 1986 in favor of using a malt-house in Vienna, it covers a lot of malting history of course, and a lot more. One floor is devoted to ingredients and the brewing process, including a small brewery that makes a special "Paracelsus" organic wheat beer. Exhibit signs are in German and English, a real plus.

9€ gets you the museum, 2 beers (half liter each), a pretzel and a gift glass. Not too bad a deal really. Free parking even.
 

The Filtration exhibit claims unfiltered beer will go bad in a couple of weeks.
All Stiegl beer is filtered of course.

Austrian beer tower.

Every year they run a label contest and the best get used commercially.

BrauWelt had 6 beers available in their tasting room/restaurant. All on tap and well carbonated.

• Goldbrau - Marzen. Clean and bitter. More bitter than Augustiner.
• Weizen Gold - A clove and banana German-style weiss. Very good. Spicy and sweet. We should import this stuff.
• Paracelsus - Organic. Made with some wheat. Less bitter and lighter than the Weizen Gold but with no wheat notes.
• Dunkel - Deep brown. Malty sweet with a little roasted character. A+.
• Pils - Light, somewhat hoppy pils. Very like an all-malt pilsner from an American specialty brewer.
• Holunder Sommerweizen - Bottled June 1st and very fresh tasting. Chill-hazed. Lots of wheat. Medium bitter. A bit of banana sweetness comes through in the belch.
   

They also make a 3.3% light beer, a 5.3% zwickl, a 5.5% Spezial, and a 7% bock.

Beer facts as told by Stiegl:

• Stiegl's history goes back to 1492 when documents list the brewery property being bequeathed by the owner to his wife.
• St. Florian is the patron saint of brewers.
• Traditional central Europe beers are Pilsner, Dortmunder, Munich, and Vienna. All were concocted after Anton Dreher found bottom-fermenting yeast in 1841 and invented "Klein-Schwechater Lagerbier".
• Marzen is a Salzburg specialty.
• Brewery inns are gaining popularity in Austria. There are now 52 brewery inns with an average output of 1,000 hectolitres per year. (this sign was dated 2002).
• The biggest Austrian brewery is Puntigam, followed by Goss and Schwechat.
• Shandy (Radler in German, meaning cyclist) was invented by Franz Xaver Kugler. He had an inn, Kugleralm, 20km outside Munich, with a cycling path going past. On the first weekend in June, 1922, 13,000 cyclists stopped at his inn and he was faced with a shortage of beer, so he mixed the beer half and half with lemon soda and told the crowd he invented the drink especially for cyclists and called it Radlermass (cyclists' liter).
• Stiegl makes three Radlers - Raspberry, Lemon, and Elderberry.
• New years day, 1939 saw the strength of the wort decreased to 9º from the normal 10º to 12º. (We think this is degrees Plato, 1040 to 1048 OG).
• From 1943 until 1945 beer could only be made with wort of 2.7º. They called it dunnbier.
• After the war, shortages forced the strength to drop to 2.5º but the Americans were brewing a pilsener at the Stiegl brewery of normal strength for the occupying military. Raw materials for this beer were imported from the U.S.

Vienna's near northside hosts the Erste Wiener Gasthaus und Brauerei. Yellow of course, like all good Austrian buildings. This hosts Fischer and Fischer and their Fischer Brau brewhouse in a back 1-story windowed pavillion behind the terrace.

The Gasthaus is a very busy local hangout with jazz, blues, and classical music on Saturday night and Sunday afternoons.

The Brauerei makes only Fischer Helles - Yellow, unfiltered, organic, pure malt very balanced between hops and malt but unbiting. Very fresh.

Vienna's other brewpub is the Seven Stern Brewery (7Sternbrau) on Siebensternstrasse (Seven Stern Street). It's near the old section of town down a side street. A big place with an attentive staff. "Wurde im Jahr 2000 vom englischen bierguru <<Beerhunter>> M. Jackson zuden Sieben beste Osterreichischen biere gazhalt".

Their 7 beers:

• Bamberger Rauchbier - Bamberger malt. Dark cordovan. Mild smoke helps crisp the beer rather than give the main theme. 5.2%
• Prager Dunkles - Dark brown with a long lasting creamy tan head. Thick and sweet. Filling. Roasty malt.
• IPA - They were out.
• Chilli - PAY ATTENTION HERE - ABV - 4.8%.Style - Hell (in more ways than one). IBU - who cares? Measure it in Scofield units, it's about the same as jalapeno pepper. The waiter served two beers and said "be careful of the chilli". It's made with little red peppers. "Fur chilli freaks und mitglieder des www.pepperworld.com clubs". Order a pretzel with this one.
• Marzen - Typical. Good. 5.2%.
• Wiener Helles - Long lasting white head. Bitter helles. Saaz hops. Pils yeast. 4.8%.
• Hanf - Made with hemp seeds and belladonna in a "style brewed since the 16th century". Puckering dry yet very rich. Aroma of butter and green beans, but not vegetal.

A block down the Siebensternstrasse is Centimeter II which has 8 beers on tap. A worthy visit.