As you look at this glass of amber beer do you find yourself thinking how is the Vienna Lager different from the Marzen? A host of acronyms - SRM, ABV, IBU - could let you know the two beers are quite similar yet a touch different.
How’d that happen?
2 brewers, Anton Dreher at Sschwechat Brewery from Vienna, Austria, and Gabriel Sedlmayr with Spaten Brewery from Munich, Germany. At the time in the mid 1800s, beer was brown and sludgy, so needless to say, there was room to improve. We could jump to conclusions and name this the first gypsy collab beer, but more likely was a couple of old timey craftsman.
Before the Industrial Revolution, malting - as in the process of converting grain to malt, to get it from the field to the brewer, was quite inconsistent. Barley being kilned over direct flames let to some being burnt and others not heated at all. Obviously the inconsistency in production would drive any brewer crazy.
10 years earlier in England, maltsters began using indirect heat, which allowed for greater consistency. Once time and temperature specifics got worked out, a new world would open up for brewers to make recipe considerations that previously did not exist. This method allowed for the creation of the pale ale.
The two friends took a trip to England. The English accused them of corporate espionage, and they barely (barley) made it out. They used the newfound malting methods in beers in Germany and Austria, which became Vienna and Munich Malts, respectively.
Now what about this Maibock…?