A couple of days ago we had dinner at a German restaurant here, and the menu had a special deal - a Wiener Schnitzel with a free beer. Naturally I ordered the schnitzel, and asked them for a weissbier. They said the free offer didn't cover weissbier, only Australian beer. So I ordered a weissbier and told them just to bring me the free Aussie beer as well.
The other beer I drank was Schneider Weisse. The waitperson was about to open the bottle when I stopped her just in time. The label showed it was "kristall", i.e. crystal clear, with no yeast in it. She apologised, and fetched a bottle of hefeweizen, i.e. cloudy.
I was able to do a side-by-side taste test, German v Australian. I'd hate to offend any Australians reading this, so I'll just point out that there's a Melbourne beer brand actually called 'Piss'.
I used the Aussie beer as a palate-cleanser between gulps of Schneider, but basically I should have asked for a spit-bucket like at a wine-tasting.
As for the schnitzel, there were two on my plate, one on top of the other, and you could hardly see the plate for meat. I finished one, not bad going for a vegetarian, and took the other one home, to the delight of the dog.
Hotboy has resorted to home brewing again. He's going to try making wheat beer, but he hasn't said whether it's the German Weissbier style, with the cloudy appearance and the funny-smelling yeast.
I have just started a batch of non-wheat beer, but using a bohemian yeast as in Weissbier. It will be interesting to compare the results of the hotboy brew and my effort. Stay tuned for the battle of the beers.
Onan! I had some sneider weisse last night! And what's a schnitzel? It sounds like a dog. Do they eat dogs in Polynesia? Hotboy p.s. I think my wheat beer must be English
ReplyDeleteI say!
ReplyDeleteSo that was the significance of the Aussie beer at the Pitch Inspection Supervisors, Selectors and Umpires Pageant.
MM III
So, you like beer to be cloudy with a funny yeast smell?
ReplyDeleteHmmm....I am wondering, but I imagine that beer is much stronger than the beer we have here.
Not sure I am too crazy about the wiener schnitzel. Is that like sausage? I am not much for sausage or hot dogs.
I can't wait to hear the outcome of the battle of the beer.
LA - only the German weissbier has to be like that. The schnitzel thing is a big flat hunk of boneless veal, battered and breadcrumbed and fried. I should have taken a photo. Hot dogs are garbage, agreed.
ReplyDeleteOnan? Is veal not made by sticking sentient beings with stereoscopic vision and faces into a box and ... well, I'll just leave the rest to your imagination! No, it can't be. You didn't eat that, did you? That's one that'll definitely eat you back when your dead! It doesn't help. Hotboy
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to more brewing news. Where do you keep the brewing bins and the bottles? Lack of storage space is a major impediment to my brewing.
ReplyDeleteIncidentally, the venerable Tudge waxes lyrical about New Caledonia, which started life as a small fragment of Gondwanaland. Its subsequent isolation has allowed it to develop quite the most odd assembly of plant species on the planet, almost all endemic.
ion - the paraphernalia resides out of sight, out of mind, under the house.
ReplyDeleteI like to think that in my own small way I have added to the diversity of New South Caledonia.