The Beginning

It is appropriate that whilst I compose my first blogesque communique, I drink a Bavarian Helles lager bier, brewed by one of at least 14 breweries within walking distance from my apartment. A Helles is a light colored lager, more mello than Pils, delicate as an evening barley field awaft with breeze, and practically my favorite right now. And of course you've never had anything like in the States.

For those who are unclear as to my whereabouts and whatwhoosits, an overview: I have come to Germany for one year to work as an intern at Weyermann Malt. I live in Bamberg, a World Heritage-class town of about 70,000 people, located in Northern Bavaria, just north of Nurnberg, in a land called Franconia. Franconia is one of the evolutionary centers of beermaking, speaking of which it's time for another Helles.

...Ahhh, much better. So, a bit about beer, skip this paragraph if disinclined. Malting is the first step in the beer making process; in the past, beermakers were both maltsters and brewers. The last hundred years has individualized the two processes. So what is malting? Simpy put, malting is the steeping, germination, and kilning of a grain, which promotes the development of enzymes that help the brewing process later on. Barley is the best suited grain for the job and dominates the business. Last year I malted buckwheat in my kitchen, a glutan-free grain to make a GF beer for Josh and Jen's wedding present.

Weyermann Malt is the best specialty malt house in the world. Specialty malts are the dark, the sweet, the red, the sour, the smoky, the chocolate, and the roasted malts brewers use to define their beers. Weyermann Malt provides malts to breweries from Portland to Poland to China to Brazil. I have come to Germany to learn from the best Malzerei in the world.