{"id":2010,"date":"2014-02-24T16:57:43","date_gmt":"2014-02-24T21:57:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/?p=2010"},"modified":"2023-05-31T15:53:22","modified_gmt":"2023-05-31T19:53:22","slug":"fall-for-marzen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/fall-for-marzen\/","title":{"rendered":"Fall for M\u00e4rzen"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Like many farmstead cheesemakers, old-world brewers knew what it meant to be at the whim of Mother Nature and Earth\u2019s rotation. Since brewing requires closely controlled temperatures, it\u2019s no surprise that the warm summer months posed a challenge to brewers before the inception of refrigeration. In particular, those in fifteenth-century Bavaria noticed that their beer would remain more stable\u2014not infected by warm-weather-loving bacteria\u2014if fermented and aged in cold temperatures. What they didn\u2019t know at the time was that the yeast in their beer was adapting and growing an affinity for those cold temperatures. That yeast would later be isolated and categorized as Saccharomyces uvarum<\/i>\u2014or lager yeast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And so it became that the brewing cycle in early Germany began in the fall and ended with the spring. Beer would be brewed during those temperate months and stored in cold caves over the summer. Come fall, the beer remaining in those caves would emerge as something truly unique at the time: a reddish concoction with prominent sweetness and a bit more alcohol than imbibers were used to at the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was nineteenth-century brewer Gabriel Sedlmayr who first created M\u00e4rzen, which translates, appropriately, to \u201cMarch beer.\u201d Sedlmayr based his unique beer on an adaptation of the Vienna lager originally developed by his brewing predecessor Anton Dreher\u2014an icon of ye olde brewing times. Sedlmayr brewed his M\u00e4rzen, naturally, in March, waiting to tap into it until it was time for a little harvest festival we now call Oktoberfest. His patience was rewarded, as revelers went bonkers for this new, remarkably smooth style of beer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Traditional M\u00e4rzen, both then and now, exhibits a wonderful pop of toasty, bready malt characteristics. It\u2019s full-bodied and rich with some caramel sweetness, typically dark copper in color, and it delivers a medium to high alcohol content. While drinkers shouldn\u2019t expect to find much of a hop aroma, most classic recipes include a decent dosing of noble hops\u2014grown in Germany and the Czech Republic\u2014leaving some bitterness that helps cleanse the palate of all that malt sweetness. Most original versions exhibit an orange-to-red-to-copper hue, but some breweries create an Oktoberfest-style beer with a more golden color.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the increasing popularity\u2014or maybe that\u2019s notoriety\u2014of Munich\u2019s Oktoberfest, beers bearing the festival\u2019s name continue to pop up around the world. While formulas may change from brewery to brewery, the style is still referred to as M\u00e4rzen, Oktoberfest, or even Festbier. Many American craft breweries have done quite well leaving the big West Coast hops in the cooler and instead giving a little attention to that wonderful Vienna malted barley. And it\u2019s specifically that juicy malt profile that affords us some amazing cheese-pairing opportunities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Much like the M\u00e4rzen, Alpine-style cheeses have been historically crafted to suit the changing seasons. These Alpine-style cheeses may change slightly, depending on the altitude where the animals have been feeding, but in nearly all cases tasters will find a wonderful nuttiness that compliments the toasty, malty notes of the M\u00e4rzen. In honor of this longstanding favorite, I\u2019ve highlighted three pairings that showcase the Bavarian-style work of American artisan brewers and cheeses ideally suited to them.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"The<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Three Floyds Brewing Company Munster Fest and Meadow Creek Dairy Appalachian<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Though Three Floyds Brewing Company<\/a> is known for making beers that are atypical by everyday standards, its seasonal offering hits the stylistic mark dead-on. It pours a beautiful orangey color and emits a thin head of carbonation that fills the nostrils with bready sweetness, which carries over onto the palate initially. From there a grassy note of hops helps balance the beer through the finish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This Bavarian artistry is matched nicely by a wedge of Meadow Creek Dairy<\/a>\u2019s Appalachian\u2014an aptly named cheese created at an elevation of 2,800 feet. Truly a tomme-style cheese with a firm paste and earthy undertones, Appalachian plays nicely with the Munster Fest\u2019s noble hop profile. The beer\u2019s crisp finish is a welcome match to the cheese\u2019s buttery notes as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(6% alcohol by volume)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"The<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Great Lakes Brewing Company Oktoberfest and Crawford Family Farm Vermont Ayr<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In a nod to the fall celebrations that Cleveland\u2019s German immigrants once held, Great Lakes Brewing Company<\/a> crafts this traditional-style M\u00e4rzen around harvest time every year. True to style, this eco-friendly operation utilizes Munich malt to provide a good body and toasty aroma; an American-grown version of the Hallertau hop variety\u2014a quintessential German hop\u2014lends a mild bitterness on the palate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vermont Ayr<\/a> is an award-winning cheese made exclusively from the raw milk of the Crawford family\u2019s Ayrshire cows\u2014the high butterfat content gives the cheese its sweet notes. Three months of climate-controlled aging on the farm leaves the cheese with a nutty interior, suited ideally to the Oktoberfest\u2019s elegant malt character. The rich sweetness of both cheese and beer meld together at the finish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(6.5% alcohol by volume)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"The<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Victory Brewing Company Festbier and Thistle Hill Farm Tarentaise<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Victory Brewing Company<\/a> has garnered a reputation for taking an accurate approach to old-world styles, and its Festbier is a solid example. German pilsner, Munich, and Vienna malts provide aromas of toasted grain and hints of caramel on the palate. Whole-flower, German-grown hops add slightly spicy notes that play off the malt sweetness and finish clean and dry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tarentaise, from Thistle Hill Farm<\/a>, may be one of the most accurate American artisan representations of the Alpine style. In fact, the Putnam family imported molds from France for this cheese to mimic the look of the European staples: 14 inches in diameter, four inches tall, and with concave sides. Careful aging and rind-washing give Tarentaise a complex blend of fruitiness, caramel nuttiness, and subtle earthy funk, all of which offer plenty of complementary and contrasting notes with Victory\u2019s Festbier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(5.6% alcohol by volume)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Savor the American adaptation of an old-world autumnal brew<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":2015,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"wprm-recipe-roundup-name":"","wprm-recipe-roundup-description":"","cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[543],"tags":[148,572],"coauthors":[147,187],"class_list":["post-2010","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cheese-pairings","tag-beer","tag-cheese-and-drinks-2"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nFall for M\u00e4rzen - culture: the word on cheese<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/fall-for-marzen\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Fall for M\u00e4rzen\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Savor the American adaptation of an old-world autumnal brew\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/fall-for-marzen\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"culture: the word on cheese\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/grantgbradley\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-02-24T21:57:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-05-31T19:53:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/marzen.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"505\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Andy Jenkins, Wissman Design\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Andy Jenkins, Wissman Design\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/fall-for-marzen\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/fall-for-marzen\/\",\"name\":\"Fall for M\u00e4rzen - 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