The August Schell brewery has been operated by the same family, in the German community of New Ulm, Minnesota for nearly 150 years. Not a big company - August Busch owned a baseball team; Schells sponsors a slowpitch softball team. Anyway, I love their beers. Recently I had a great Schells tap beer in a local restaurant. They were proud that they had two kegs of only 42 brewed - the variety just didn't lend itself well to larger production. Every winter they craft different, limited run beers, dubbed Snow Storm. This year's Snow Storm is a Weihnachtsbier - a simply wonderful dark, spicey blend of 6 different hops. Gosh, a great beer made by people who really care.
For years my beer of choice was their Schmatz Alt. Then it disappeared from the shelves of Minnesota liquor stores. Now my old friend has returned, if only seasonally. Clipped from the Schells Beer webset:
Schmaltz's Alt
We have reintroduced Schmaltz's Alt as a limited edition Brewer's Select beer. The first in a series of Brewer's Select beers, Schmaltz's Alt is available during December, January and well... 'til it's gone! One of Warren's favorite pastimes back in the 30's was a trip to the city dump to shoot rats–so much that it was a common date for him and his wife-to-be, Casey. The manager of the city dump was John Schmaltz–hence the nickname "Schmaltz" Marti. We hope you enjoy our Schmaltz's Alt, a creamy smooth dark alt brewed even better than before.
Beer Style: Dark Alt - a German Ale
Alcohol by Volume: 5.1%
Characteristics: The rich, sweet malty flavor with hints of licorice is balanced by a chocolaty bitterness. Dark brown in color and topped by a thick, creamy tan head.
Perhaps only my friend Jim and I can truly appreciate Warren Marti's pastime. It should be on one of those cable sporting channels - The Rat Channel.
2 comments:
Lately I've been drinking nothing but huge, hoppy locals or oil-black seasonals until today when I decided to give myself a break and opened a bottle of Georg Schneider's Edel-Weisse and just now clicked on this post.
Seems the Germans might have learnt something about brewing beer in the last 500 years. Yum.
Welcome A23. When I was drafted I was under 21, the then legal drinking age. The first beer I drank in any quantity was in Germany - slightly cool not cold, unpasteurized, dark, strong and heavy, not light and "drinkable". Those beers are still my standard of measure. 40 years later beers like that taste of youth.
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