Welcome to Day 11. Today we have not strictly a whisky but a German product in the idea of whisky. They started with a smoked beer and distilled it down to make today’s product. If you with us last year we have a similar product from two brewers but they started with a stout see here and once again its a very unique product. It is products like theses that show us that even with only a couple simple ingredients your options are still near limitless and to top it off they use some barrels from Michel Couvreur whose vision that whisky could be about more than just the distillers touch. Let us all dig in and enjoy
Whisky
Country: Germany
Age: NAS
ABV: 40%
Story
I
f the former owners of the house in Dominikanerstrasse 6 had had less self-esteem and initiative, today we would know much less about the history of the Schlenkerla Tavern building. As they were constantly building on, buying additional land and – mostly because of that – having trouble with their pious neighbours, the inhabitants of the powerful Dominican monastery, many trial records and land register entries give us important information about the former building BLUE LION belonging to the property UNDER THE STORKS.
The history of the Schlenkerla Tavern building starts together with that of the monastery, which was founded in the 14th century.
In the time between 1405 and 1615 the building was sold a number of times. During the 30 Year’s War (1618-1648) the house was destroyed and rebuilt. The reports before 1678 are scarce, but in that year the brewery was founded and from that time on one can find more and more in the records.
The brewery around 1680
Since 1678 there have been numerous owners of the brewery. Very important of whom was Johann Wolfgang Heller, who took over in mid 18th century. He already owned an old rock-cellar for beer storage up on the hill “Kaulberg” just outside Bamberg. Later on, this storage facility was moved to another hill, called “Stephansberg”, which is nowadays in the middle of town. In the 19th and 20th century the brewery was moved step by step to that location just above the ancient cellars on Stephansberg. In the trade-registry the official name of the brewery is “Heller-Bräu”, even if everybody just calls it Schlenkerla.
The tavern around 1670
1877 was a very important year for the tavern, as Andreas Graser became the new owner. He was a little bit handicapped and moved his arms in a funny way when he walked. In the Franconian dialect this is called “schlenkern”. People soon started to call the place Schlenkerla, and the name has remained until today.
In 1907 his son Michael Graser took over the brewery. More and more guests came to the tavern, and a part of the former monastery was taken on lease from the Bavarian government, which had become the owner during secularization. The paintings in the beautiful gothic-arched sealing of this “Dominikanerklause” were being restored by the Germanic Museum of Nürnberg in the 1920s.
Schlenkerla beergarden around 1900
In 1960 this part of the tavern was bought from the state and Michael Graser’s daughter, Elisabeth, and her husband, Jakob Trum, took over the brewery. In 1967 they handed over the brewery and tavern to their son German Trum.
Tasting Notes
Nose: Whisky tales, Day old house fire, hints of cherry honey, fermeted cherry, dutch chees rind,
Taste: Candied cherries, Chocolate, expired veggie pickle juice,
Finish: sweet house fire, Lingering honey, dried berries, hints of smoke, morning mouth
Purchase Links
NA