On the banks of the Dahme River, directly at the water in Schmöckwitz, the 1st Berlin home brewers’ meeting took place on 30th June 2012. For several months, it had been planned, and initiator Hagen agreed to organize it on his premises at the Dahme shore.
Starting at about 15:00 h, the Berlin home brewers arrived – and in this context the wider Berlin area has to be understood as including the Southern Harz region with Sangerhausen as well as Szczecin in Pomerania. Whilst larger amounts of coolers have been stored somewhere in the shadow, Hagen showed proudly his “pulled pork”, a huge portion of pork prepared in his large grill for about 18 hours; and then the home brewers started to quench their thirst with non-alcoholic drinks.
Very few of the approximately 15 participants had met before, and the curiosity concerning exchanging experiences, tasting homebrew, and hearing numerous anecdotes was big, of course. Consequently, it did not take long until the beer degustation started.
Accompanied by good food (not only the “pulled pork”, but the “bacon bomb” and the chilli boiled in a kettle on the open fire have been outstanding) and in an excellent mood, about thirty different beers were evaluated and tasted:
- Pinta – A la Grodziskie
- Flying – Holunder
- Pinta – Odsiecz Wiedeńska
- Eschenbräu – Berliner Alt
- Pinta – Ognie szczęścia
- Wippraer – Schwarzbier
- Pinta – Imperial Wit
- Berliner – Blondes Flandern
- Pinta – Dobry Wieczór
- Gambas – Bullwasher IPA
- BraumeisterAndy – Chocolate Stout
- Pinta – Dymy Marcowe
- Flying – Falconer’s Flight IPA
- Worrich’s Brauhaus – Forster Zwickel
- Bergbiere – Kriekerischer Saches Lambik
- BraumeisterAndy – Weizendoppelbock mit Nelson Sauvin
- Gambas – IPA
- Berliner – Golding Pils
- BasherMcGee – Lager
- Berliner – Wiener Garde
- BasherMcGee – Weizen
- Gambas – 1. Advent Maibock
- Berliner – Böhmerwald
- Südstern – EM-Pils
- Berliner – Citra Festival
- Berliner – Rauschgold
- Andrzej – Rauchbock (polnischer Champion 2012)
An excellent choice, and it was particularly surprising that most of the home-brewed beers could easily compete with the commercially brewed examples; indeed, they could sometimes even beat them.
While the majority of the home brewers stretched their arms against two o’clock in the morning and went to bed, a small group of hard core party animals made it until a quarter past seven in the morning…
Overall, it was a great meeting with a lot of fun which – thanks to the hospitality of Hagen and Andrea – took place in an ideal atmosphere and could surprise with perfect meals and beers. The next morning, it quickly became clear that in 2013 there should be a repetition of this great meeting!
Be the first to comment