A spy story (brewers)

Today I'm here to tell you about a spy story. And it's not a new series that I discovered this weekend, but almost, because the story of how pale beers conquered Europe, it's worthy of Netflix!

Let's start with the scenario:

19th century (around 1830 and some) and three European cities: Vienna, Munich and London. Foggy streets, new neighborhoods full of workers and lots and lots of people. Huge chimneys begin to cut into the sky, factories have moved from the countryside to the city and practically everything is produced here. Beer too.

The protagonists are two young people from a good family. You can tell by the way he walks and the way he looks, with his three-piece suits and tall hats. They speak English perfectly, but with an accent. One of them, tall, blond and with a huge mustache that highlights his square jaw, is called Gabriel Sedlmayr, but everyone knows him as Sedlmayr the Younger, to differentiate him from his father, who runs one of the oldest and most famous breweries in Munich. The other man, also tall and with a pointed, bulbous nose, is Anton Dreher, a Viennese and also heir to a brewery in the capital of the then Austro-Hungarian Empire.

And what are these two young entrepreneurs doing in London? Both had started a kind of brewery Erasmus in which they toured Europe and its breweries, to train in the new production processes. In 1932 they met and became great friends, and decided to travel to Great Britain together. Because if there was a country where beer production was developing in an amazing way, it was this one. So here we are, in 1933, walking around London.

-I haven't slept for several nights – Gabriel got off the sidewalk to keep up with his friend-How is it possible that the beers here have this golden color?

- Clearly fermentation is different, dear Anton. But I think we lack data. And you know that breweries are jealous of their secrets.

Gabriel looked at the ground and smiled as he brushed away some wet leaves that had stuck to his boots with the tip of his cane.

The secret ingredient was the different malting processes.

The protagonists of this story decided to steal this knowledge. They had several letters of recommendation that opened the doors of the breweries for them. Once there, while Gabriel was talking to the person in charge and discreetly walking him away from the tank, Anton inserted his cane into the vat and, using an ingenious vacuum system, , filled the interior with beer. When they arrived at the hotel, they carefully deposited this sample of fermented must in a mini laboratory that they transported with them. Thus, by stealing beer from inside their sticks, they managed to gather all the data they needed and developed two new types of malt and two new types of beer.

Both returned home with the illusion of creating a new beer.

• Sedlmayr created the Munich malt which imparts a greater intensity of reddish-amber hue color and a creamy taste of toasted bread. From it, he developed the style Märzen, which was added to the family of Lager beers with an intensity of around 6% alcohol. This beer was so popular that it has been the “official” beer of the Oktoberfestbier since 1872.
• For his part, Anton Dreher created the Vienna malt, which was roasted much lighter than usual and gave the beer a completely golden color, and the beer Vienna Lager, considered to be the first golden lager brewed shortly after yeast isolation Shortly thereafter, the Burgers brewery opened in Pilsen in 1842, brewing an extremely clear and golden with the help of a malt kiln imported from Britain.

We don't know if Anton and Gabriel ever saw each other again. But in those malts that they patented, is the origin of pale beers. I like to think that sometimes, while they drank their respective beers in crystal glasses, they opened the cupboard door where they kept their hollow canes, and smiled remembering his youth as industrial spies.

Sources: From Bean to Cup