A Truly Ültimate Night With Mahr’s Bräu

Mahr's Bräu owner Stephan Michel models his Lederhosen along side Shelton Brother Joel.

One of the things Jimmy’s No. 43 prides itself on is being the home to unusual and interesting beers. We love it when one of the “little guys” makes it over to see us, whether that brew is from New Jersey or Europe.

Last night we held the Ültimate Mahr’s Bräu Beer Night and Dinner with owner Stephan Michel and other beer luminaries as we paired some of Stephan’s favorite beers (he hand picked the choices) with a German family-style beer dinner.

Stephan talked passionately about Mahr’s Bräu’s role as a traditional, historical, small brew pub in Germany (in this case, Bamberg). His beers showcase subtle German styles—weisse,weisse bock, variations on pils-hells-kellerbiers—in traditional German gravity casks. He discussed his guerrilla marketing techniques he uses against German mega-breweries.

Stephan also models a chic pair of Lederhosen, even going to far as to demonstrate how to open the fly (flap)! It was all in good fun to relate the traditional habits of Bavarian men at beer fests.

Of particular note was the order of the beers he selected at the dinner:

  1. Weisse – started with less or minimal hops;
  2. Weisse bock – naturally sweet, malty;
  3. Eta Hoffman- a subtle dunkel lager;
  4. Then “leicht” – a 2.8% ABV with bright hoppiness, which perked up our mouths after the sweeter darker malt beers. A real revelation because of its low alcohol content;
  5. Ungespundet.

We finished out the evening with a gravity cask of unfiltered. Truly an amazing beer night (and many of these beers are still available for purchase).