Wanted: Austrian Lager/Marzen Options

[DeanRIowa]

I studied in Salzburg, Austria during college and I have wanted to recreate the standard beer served there in the bars and beer halls, it was a lager/Austrian Marzen, which is different from a German Marzen. Austrian Marzen are defined by Specific Gravity and not Ingredients, thus becomes my problem. I do not think they were Vienna Lagers, they are not German Marzens. The Austrian lagers had similar profiles to Bavarian Lagers. Any ideas and recipes would be great, and am an extract brewer at this time.

I can not remember the taste profile, but I did like them.

thanks,

Dean

[DeanRIowa]

Any true austrian recipes out there?

[kenlenard]

You would have to provide some extra information here. I love to brew German Lagers, Viennas, Marzens and Oktobers. I have a Vienna in primary right now and I'm looking forward to it. But this area of Europe has so many little sub-categories of beer that your description isn't detailed enough. Was the beer light or dark on color? Was the beer strong or medium? Was the beer hoppy or malty? Have you done any searches for "Salzburg Beer"? Do you know anyone in the area that you could contact and ask them for brand names of beers or beer styles enjoyed in that area?

[Thomas]

Ken gives good suggestions. You say it's defined by gravity, well then what is the gravity? Do you have any beer names?

I too have a couple lagers going. A Vienna I made with jhenjum, and a couple oktoberfests, helles, pils, rauchbier.

[kenlenard]

Is "STIEGL" a style? Check out this link and also this link.

Maybe Stiegl is a brand, not sure. But there is more good info here.

It appears that it could be a Helles or a Marzen that is brewed slightly differently in Austria than it is in Germany. I remember reading something, somewhere about various regions in Germany, Austria, Bavaria, the Czech Republic where there are beer styles brewed that are not found anywhere else in the world. Small, local breweries turn out these products for the local citizenry. Yommenbrau, Schputzbier, SchnegelMeister (yes, I'm making these up) and of course, BrachtsBier. Anyway... I know someone must have some info on this one from Salzburg.

Ah... Roggen, Keller and Zwickl are some of those oddities.

This post has been edited by kenlenard: Oct 31 2005, 10:28 PM

[kenlenard]

How about Zoigl? Isn't there a Zoigl style? Sheesh.

[DeanRIowa]

Here is a link to one of the beers I enjoyed:
http://www.augustinerbier.at/pages/ebrauerei/maerzen.htm

[DeanRIowa]

I actually just found a better description of what I am looking for at http://www.xs4all.nl/~patto1ro/indexaus.htm

'The everyday beer of most breweries is Märzen or simply Lager. In Austria, this signifies a malty, golden beer of 12-13% plato or 5-5.5% alcohol. It is roughly equivalent to a Bavarian Helles, but with perhaps a slightly less pronounced malt flavour. They are relatively mildly hopped.'

I guess, I need to find a good German helles and reduce a little the hops. How would I get a less malty flavour though?

[kenlenard]

I think you could get a less malty flavor by using Pils (wait... is this extract or all-grain?) base malt and staying away from grains that provide a more robust maltiness like Munich or Vienna. I'm sure that getting your hands on a good Helles recipe should be relatively easy. But I'm guessing that the beer you had in Austria was as close to going to "beer heaven" as you can get. You could try to make something similar at home but my guess is that it will be hard to duplicate such a lovely experience. Keep us posted.

[kenlenard]

DP (IMG:style_emoticons/brewboard/dry.gif)

This post has been edited by kenlenard: Nov 1 2005, 01:16 PM

[hiddendragonet]

Stiegl is a brand of pilsner. In Salzburg you can buy them by the liter.

Dean, I can't help you build a better Marzen, but I can suggest some Mozart balls to go with it. (IMG:style_emoticons/brewboard/smile.gif) I love Salzburg.

[kenlenard]

Here is a link to one of the beers I enjoyed:
http://www.augustinerbier.at/pages/ebrauerei/maerzen.htm

Dean: That gives you a starting point. Pilsner malt with some CaraHell (which provides accentuated aroma & head stability) and Hallertau & Spalt hops. A recipe could be put together to get to the 4.6% ABV point. Knowing that Marzens are not typically hoppy, you might consider bittering hops, a small amount of flavor hops and little-to-none on the aroma hops. I would also use something like Wyeast 2308 Munich Lager yeast which gives a very traditional flavor to beers like these. I also have some White Labs Oktober Lager (WL820?) in the basement and I'm planning on using it in a style like this. Good luck.

[DeanRIowa]

I currently have lagering my attempt of a clone using this recipe

I will report back after bottling and carbonation.

thanks,
Dean