Our American Cream Ale. Despite its name it was created around 1890 by German expat brewers who wanted to re-create a Pilsner quickly and with American ingredients
Our Beer
We feel beer should be a few things to pass muster - it should taste delicious, it should be refreshing, it should be light enough to leave room for another pint, and it should leave you able to taste the food you’re having it with. Pretty basic stuff that German brewers have mastered for centuries. Being German ourselves we didn’t have to look far to find styles we love and that fit the premise we set out for ourselves.
We source our ingredients mostly from Germany. Noble hops from Spalt, Tettnang or the Hallertau, Bavarian malts, original yeast strains from breweries back home, who have been perfecting one or two styles for centuries and leave it at that. Beer, at its core, is an agricultural product. What you put in it matters, because if we do our job right and treat the best ingredients with the respect they deserve, the beer will taste better. Just like there’s a difference between a burger bun and an artisanal sourdough loaf.
There are more and more beer lovers who rediscover the simple pleasures of an honest Pilsner or a sparkling Kölsch. There’s a quiet revolution happening in the craft brewing world, where loud, crazy and obnoxious is giving way to a return to the fundamentals of making beer. We want to strip away everything that is not necessary, get rid of any facade and dedicate ourselves to what’s inside, because in the end, that’s what matters.
please note: not all our beers are always available in cans
Hefeweizen
“Weizen” means wheat in German, and there’s plenty of it in this beer along with select barley malts and a very special Bavarian yeast. Intense aromas of clove, banana, vanilla and hints of bread and even grass hit the nose and before your palate can catch up you are already refreshed by this unfiltered beauty. No wonder this is a beer that has been around for centuries and to this day is what a real Bavarian summer tastes like. With all this goodness in the can, we recommend to give it a very gentle upside down shake before popping it. Enjoy.
AbV 5.1%
Pilsner
Pilsner is by far the most popular beer in the world. Legend has it that a traveling Bavarian brewmaster happened upon the Czech town of Pilzn, where thirsty citizens demanded an upgrade for the sad excuse of an ale the local brewery put out. We’re not entirely sure this story is true, but it’s a god one, and Pilzn - after exposure to modern lager fermentation techniques - was never the same. Neither was planet earth. This crisp, pleasantly bitter, very bright lager that goes with every food group known to mankind took the world by storm. Our version pays hommage to our home in the North of Germany by adding a little more bite to the noble hops and giving it plenty of time to develop subtle flavors.
AbV 5.0%
Kölsch
“Kölsch” simply means “from Cologne” in the local dialect. And for a city that takes a lot of pride in its more than 2000 years of history, Kölsch in one form or another has been part of a good chunk of it. So much so that only a few select members of the local brewers guild are allowed to call this lager-like ale Kölsch. And this protection extends across all member nations of the EU. Since we here aren’t members, allow us to present our version that, according to visitors and friends from Cologne, tastes “just like home”. A little bit of wheat malt in the mix adds a summery, slightly fruity aroma to a clean, complex and bright beer. This is the breakfast-lunch-and-dinner staple in Cologne, and we don’t see why craft fans stateside should not treat it the exact same way.
AbV 4.8%
A.K.A. - Cream Ale
You could ask yourself: what is an American Cream Ale doing in the lineup of a brewery explicitly dedicated to German beers? First of - it’s delicious, but beyond that there’s is plenty of history to back up our belief that this is basically a German beer despite its name. It goes back to a time before prohibition. German brewers, freshly immigrated to the Midwest and suddenly unbound from the restrictions of the German Reinheitsgebot, went about recreating the Pilsners they remembered and missed with local ingredients including corn flakes - blasphemy in Germany. The result was a crystal clear, very bright ale that could easily drink like a lager. An incredibly refreshing beer that coats the throat with a distinct soothing chill and cuts down on the bracing bitterness some Pilsners proudly play up. To sum it up: American Cream Ale is an ale, but German, and cream goes nowhere it. Did we mention - it’s delicious.
AbV 5.5%
GPA - German Pale Ale
This is what happens when you unleash a German brewmaster on a West Coast IPA. Unlike most examples of the style we weren’t content to amp up a very basic beer with massive loads of hops. We wanted to start out with a baller of a beer, Vienna malts, German Pale Ale and spelt malts creeate depth and a smooth mouthfeel. We used Nordbrauer hops for bittering, by no means an extreme alpha cone. We then dry hopped with two hybridized Bavarian hop varietals that infuse the golden ale with intense aromas of tangerine and cantaloupe melon. The result is a exceptionally smooth beer that lacks the piney bite and finishes very clean and leaves the palate ready to taste other fine things in life.
AbV 6.2%
Saint Father - Festbier
There are many opinions on what constitutes an Oktoberfest beer. It’s dark, it’s bright, it’s a Helles disguised as a Vienna lager. We think there’s one way to find out - go to Munich, brave the drunken hordes and general fleecing, and you will find out that what we put in this can is what Munich’s legendary breweries pour into your overpriced stein. A deep golden lager that proudly displays it’s hefty grain bill with a robust body and a fine balance of spice, hints of floral notes and a gentle bitter. A Festbier is a fine, strong lager that does not deserve the brouhaha people make around its target destination, the Oktoberfest. Especially when we can save you a trip to Germany with this truly authentic version in stock at your craft shop.
AbV 6.2%
Cryptic - California Dark Ale
A dark beer that drinks like a Pilsner, an ale with a lager grain bill, a ancient German recipe that is custom made for right here and right now. There’s a reason we called this beer Cryptic, because it doesn’t fit into any easy box . You simply have to try it. A grain bill fit for a classic Kölsch is elevated with caramel and roasted malts. Bavarian noble hops add a fine bitter to create an ultralight dark beer that quenches thirst on the hottest days. Notes of toast and cookies appear and vanish with its extra clean finish. It’s craveable, very sessionable and entirely surprising.
AbV 4.8%
Landmade - Dunkelweizen
By now you know that “Weizen” means wheat in German. This beer adds “Dunkel” to its name which means dark. So ‘ze Germans’ in their usual inventive flair would like you to know that this is Hefeweizen’s dark cousin. And while you get some of the aromas of banana and vanilla you’d expect from a Hefe, Dunkelweizen adds layers of caramelized malts that not only give it its lush color but also a sweet hint of caramel and malt. A robust backbone balanced out with fine bitters from select noble hops rounds out the picture. This is Hefeweizen+, unfiltered like it’s better known cousin. Again we hope you’ll (gently) shake it up a bit and go over to the dark side.
AbV 5.2%