You Had to Be There

There are some things you can’t put in a bottle…

September 1, 2010 By Julie Johnson

When it comes down to it, I’m really a draft guy. I like being at the spot when a rare beer is available by the glass: pour, pffft, it’s gone. Though I will take the occasional growler if it’s allowed! In which case, it’s worth making the trip to Selin’s Grove Brewing in Selinsgrove, PA, for their Kriek. It’s stupidly good and rich with tart fruit, and that’s the onlyplace you can get it.―Lew Bryson

I know that Akkurat has a keg of Eylenbosch Kriek from the original brewery (closed 1989?). They opened one a few years ago and it was heavenly. If they open the other one I will be on the plane to Stockholm in a second!―Ola Nilbrink

One of the most memorable beers for us is Ayinger Keller Beer (cellar beer,) a beer that you can only get at Brauerei Gasthof Aying in Bavaria. It is a delicious, unfiltered lager and as I write about it, I can almost smell the yeast and taste the fresh delicious malt. The beer has the aroma of the brewery and that is a beautiful thing!―Charles Finkel

Another category would be brewpub offerings that are not bottled; say, bourbon barrel stuff from Iron Hill or lambic from The Brew Works or Berliner weisse from Nodding Head. They’re rare, but only because they’re not bottled. Usually you can find them if you actually go visit.―Don Russell

Spezial Rauchbier at the brewery pub in Bamburg: It’s a smoked malt beer that is at its absolute best vom fassat the brewery and loses a hard-to-place but undeniable something when bottled and shipped, even as far as down the road.―Stephen Beaumont

A couple of years ago, a group of us visited the brewery at the Abbay Notre-Dame de Saint-Remy (Rochefort). In the tasting room afterwards, brewmaster Gumar Santos offered us a choice of the beers at different ages. What was remarkable was how different the younger versions of the beers tasted, with hop aroma and flavor being much more forward. We were each able to select one bottle to take home, and without exception we all chose younger, hop-accented versions of the beers. My bottle of Rochefort 8 made it back to my hotel room, where it was promptly consumed. I don’t think any of the other bottles made it back to the U.S.―Steve Hamburg

The first time I had real kellerbier was at St. Georgen Brau in Buttenheim, Germany, just south of Bamberg. It’s a lightly carbonated, cloudy, unfiltered well-hopped lager. Gorgeous, full-flavored beer served in a gray-and-blue stein that’s wide at the base and narrow at the top. Unfortunately, the bottled version available here in the States is simply not the same as the beer right from the St. Georgen bierstube. Buttenheim, by the way, has another claim to fame, besides the St. Georgen brewery: it’s the childhood home of iconic American blue jeans namesake Levi Strauss. He left Buttenheim for New York City when he was 18 years old. The other great kellerbier that I love so much is made by Mahr’s Brau in Bamberg.―Kerry Byrne

It has become harder and harder over the years to carry much of anything on the plane, and most of my attention is usually focused on how to get rare cheeses past the agricultural inspectors. Besides, a good part of beer exploration is enjoying the beer in the context of its surroundings. One commonly told story is how different and wonderful Pilsner Urquell is in the cellars of the brewery than from an imported bottle.―Matt Stinchfield