Memphis Beer Club

To honor Oktoberfest teh Memphis Beer Club decided to drink the Beers of Germany at the Young Ave. Deli in Cooper Young. The only problem was they only had four beers from Germany, so we stayed in Europe and had some beers from the Netherlands and France. They do not have beer samplers so we had to order bottles and keep refilling our pints. The food was great and a chicken and jalapeño pizza goes well with Warsteiner.


One of my fondest drinking memories was deciding to spend my last five dollars at the Germaina Oktoberfest on just ONE more mug of Warsteiner rather than eating a currywurst. Looking back of should of had the currywurst. Warsteiner Premium Verum is an example of a Classic German Pilsner brewed by Warsteiner Brauerei of Arnsberger Forestpark, Germany. The Warsteiner Brewery lies deep in the heart of the Arnsberger Forestpark (Arnesberg Forest Nature Park) outside of Warstein, Germany in the north central section of the country. The Cramer family has been brewing beer since 1753 with Warsteiner Premium Verum begin the #1 selling beers in Germany.

Next we tried two beers from the Paulaner Brauerei brewery in Munich Germany, Paulaner Hefeweissbier and the Paulaner Salvator. The Paulaner Hefeweissbier is a great example of a German Hefeweizen and has even made me more of a wheat beer fan. This is the Paulaner brewery's number one best seller. It's natural taste as well as the many vitamins, minerals and micro elements remain, due to the unfiltered method of brewing.

Paulaner Salvator, a Doppelbock, was served by the monks as a replacement for food at Lent. Their most famous brewer was Brother Barnabas, who was the head of the Paulaner monastery brewery starting from 1773. Its original recipe is today almost the same as it was in Barnabas' time. In order to protect the original recipe, Paulaner had the trade mark "Salvator" patented in 1896. This has been one of the least favorite’s beers of the beer club due to the slight smoky flavor of the doppelbock.

Next we had Amstel Light (they only call it light for us Americans) brewed by Heineken Nederland and is a typical Pale Lager. The brewery was the brainchild of two Amsterdam businessmen, De Pester and J.H. van Marwijk Kooy, responding to the skyrocketing popularity of Bavarian beers in Holland. And although there were already 559 breweries in Holland at that time, only two of them brewed Bavarian style 'lager' beer. By 1886, the Amstel Brewery was the city's largest brewer of lager beer. In 1980, Amstel Light was born. It is now the #1 imported light beer in the United States and according to the ads it's the "Beer drinkers light beer".

Our next beer was also from the Netherlands and is brewed in Enschede at the Grolsche Bierbrouwerij, Grolsch Amber Ale. Grolsch Amber Ale, an amber ale, is an amber colored Ale, highly drinkable with a slightly bitter taste. It was back in 1897 when Grolsch first began selling its beer in these distinctive bottles with their swingtop stoppers, an icon that distinguishes Grolsch from other brands. Grolsch uses a distinctive shape of bottle, known as the beugel, which eliminates the need for an opener. They can simply be opened using only the hand. The top used to be made from porcelain but now is made of plastic.
Kronenbourg 1664 is France’s No 1 selling beer and the UK’s second biggest premium selling lager. Its unique recipe is distinguished by the use of the aromatic Strisselspalt hop – the ‘caviar of hops’ which sets it apart from other beers. It is brewed in Strasbourg, France by Brasseries-Kronenbourg (Scottish & Newcastle). Kronenbourg 1664 returned to TV screens with two acclaimed ads based on 1664 being a good year for beer… but not much else! ‘Composer’ and ‘Sculptor’ highlight the authentic heritage of France’s favorite beer and show that both professionals featured were driven to distraction through their desire for a pint of thirst quenching Kronenbourg 1664 and subsequently didn’t complete their work.


We finished off the night with our last Germany beer, St. Pauli Girl Lager. St Pauli Girl, "You never forget your first Girl", is a Classic German Pilsner brewed by Brauerei Beck & Co./Becks. St. Pauli Girl Brewery is housed within the Beck's Brewery in Bremen. Consequently, Beck's and St. Pauli Girl beers are very similar in nature. St. Pauli Girl is not consumed in Germany and is only exported to the United States where it is marketed as an exotic and prestigious German beer. Brittany Evans, the St Pauli Girl, stated that “I’ve always believed that life is only 10 percent what ‘happens’ to you, and 90 percent how you react to it. It’s up to you to have an exciting, fun-filled and happy life!”