THE WAKKER WEEKLY
Issue #1684 – Posted on: 08-May-2023
BREWERY “HOPP”ENINGS! Bushwakker Head brewer, Michael Gaetz, reports that our seasonally available BARON BOCK, SASKADIAN BLACK IPA, MARRY BERRY BLONDE ALE and brand new CHOCOLATE MILK STOUT are currently available. There are still some bottles of the amazing THREE-DOWN BOHEMIAN PILSNER in our offsale cooler. Lots of Bushwakker seasonal brews are on the horizon! Batches of FLEK’S CZECH DARK LAGER, BOMBAY IPA, and GRANNY’S BITTER are currently working their way through the brewery.
A Mexican celebration! From last night’s Premium Tequila Tasting event to tonight’s firkin of Jalapeno and 100% Blue Agave – infused Mexican Lime Radler to this weekend’s line-up of delicious Mexican cuisine, it will be a fiesta!
This Weekend’s Cinco De Mayo Special Dining Feature for MAY 5TH & 6TH is BEEF BIRRIA TACOS for $21.95. Our Saturday CLASSIC STEAK & A PINT SPECIAL as well as our Monday and Wednesday WINGS & A PINT SPECIAL and Tuesday PIZZA & A PINT SPECIAL are also great value deals.
Our SASK CRAFT GUEST TAP is currently pouring the MEXICAN GUAVA LAGER from Saskatoon’s High Key Brewing. This will be followed by a HONEY RYE LAGER from Swift Current’s Black Bridge Brewery.
MAY PREMIUM WINE FEATURES: Our May wine features hail from Argentina. The red wine is MYTHIC MOUNTAIN MALBEC. $8.95 for a glass and $23.95 for a half litre. the white wine is CUMA ORGANIC TORRONTES. $7.95 for a glass and $21.95 for a half litre.
CURRENT HOURS OF OPERATION AND RESERVATIONS NOTES
We are open Monday – Thursday from 11:00 AM – 10:00 PM. The kitchen closes at 9:00 PM and last call is at 9:15 PM. Fridays and Saturdays we are open from 11:00 AM until midnight. The kitchen is open until 11:00 PM and last call is at 11:15 PM. Closed Sundays.
Reservations are accepted and encouraged. We accept a limited number of reservations as late as 6:00 PM every day except Fridays. Fridays we accept reservations as late as 3:00 PM. Call us at 306-359-7276 to secure your table. Our two banquet rooms are also available for private party rentals. Call Kelly at 306-359-7276 to book either our main floor Arizona Room or basement Clubroom.
German researchers figure out how lager first developed in Bavaria
by Oxford University Press
Pilsner-style lager. Credit: John Morrissey/ FEMS Yeast Research
A new paper in FEMS Yeast Research reveals the possible origin story of lager beers. Using historical records and contemporary phylogenomics research, investigators here show where lagers likely first originated: at the court brewery (Hofbräuhaus) of Maximilian the Great, elector of Bavaria, in Munich in 1602.
Beer has been made since ancient times. Recent archaeology shows evidence of brewing in the eastern Mediterranean some 13,000 years ago. Although from the origins of brewing until the early 20th century, ale was the typical beer produced, lager now accounts for approximately 90% of the beer consumed annually.
The beginnings of this shift from ale to yeast occurred when a new yeast species, Saccharomyces pastorianus or “lager yeast,” appeared in Germany around the end of the middle ages. This is a hybrid species that arose from mating the top-fermenting ale yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae and the cold-tolerant Saccharomyces eubayanus around the start of the 17th century. But until now no one has figured out how the combination lager yeast S. pastorianus came about.
The general assumption was that the hybrid arose when a traditional S. cerevisiae ale fermentation became contaminated with wild yeasts including S. eubayanus. But the researchers here believe this is doubtful. Using a detailed analysis of Central European historical brewing records, they discovered that “lager-style” bottom fermentation was happening in Bavaria from at least two hundred years earlier.
They propose an alternative hypothesis that it was S. cerevisiae that contaminated a batch of beer brewed with S. eubayanus, rather than the other way around. And in an intriguing piece of detective work, they identified what they believe to be the source of the contaminating S. cerevisiae—a wheat brewery in the small Bavarian town of Schwarzach.
Beer was always a valuable commodity and its production was regulated carefully. In Bavaria a brewing ordnance from 1516 (the famous “reinheitsgebot”) permitted only bottom fermentation and brewing of “lager-style” beer. But in neighboring Bohemia, excellent wheat beer made with S. cerevisiae was produced and vast quantities were imported into Bavaria. To limit the economic damage from these imports, in 1548 the Bavarian ruler, Wilhelm IV gave Baron Hans VI von Degenberg a special privilege to brew and sell wheat beer in the border regions to Bohemia.
When the grandson of Hans von Degenberg failed to produce an heir, the family finally died out and, in 1602, the new Bavarian ruler, Maximilian the Great, seized the special wheat beer privilege himself and took over the over the von Degenbergs’ Schwarzach breweries. In October of that year, the yeast from the wheat brewery was brought to the Duke’s court brewery in Munich, where the researchers propose the famous hybridization took place and S. pastorianus was born. After that, the researchers here show, S. pastorianus strains from Bavaria spread all over Europe and are the source of all modern lager yeast strains.
TIME OUT
When our lawn mower broke and wouldn’t run, my wife kept hinting to me that I should get it fixed. But, somehow I always had something else to take care of first, the shed, the boat, making beer. Always something more important to me. Finally she thought of a clever way to make her point. When I arrived home one day, I found her seated in the tall grass, busily snipping away with a tiny pair of sewing scissors. I watched silently for a short time and then went into the house. I was gone only a minute, and
when I came out again I handed her a toothbrush. I said, “When you finish cutting the grass, you might as well sweep the driveway.”
And that’s how the fight started.
Happy belated “May the Fourth Be With You” Day everyone!