Starkbierfest

Like many beer lovers, I wanted to attend Germany’s Oktoberfest even before I was passionate about brewing. However, if you are as passionate about rich, malty doppelbocks as I am, there is a lesser-known German beer festival that is even better. Starkbierfest — or Strong Beer Festival — was originally known as the Salvatorfest, which predates Oktoberfest by almost 200 years. 

The brewing of strong beer in Munich started in the early 17th century with the Minim friars (not monks) from the order of Saint Francis of Paola. While you may have read that they brewed strong beer to get nutrition while fasting during Lent, it appears that is not true. These Paulaner friars maintained a Lenten diet year-round and like many people, drank beer every day. Yes, during Lent they fasted during the day, but they still ate small meals in the evenings. 

In the mid-17th century, the friars brewed Sankt Vaters Bier (Beer of the Sacred Father) to celebrate the Feast Day of their founding father, Saint Francis of Paola. It was brewed not only for themselves, but also for the locals. This became an annual event, eventually growing both in size and scope. In the early 19th century, the monastery was closed but the new owner continued the tradition of brewing this Salvatorbier (as it had become known) and many other breweries followed. It became so popular, it was sold internationally and eventually considered a beer style, the same way we refer to Pilsner today. By the 1890s, at least 30 breweries brewed a beer called Salvator. After much legal struggle, the Paulaner brewery took back exclusive use of the name and the other breweries had to rename their beers, often using the “-ator” suffix to indicate the type of beer.

By 1858 the event had grown to include entertainers, bands, and speeches from local dignitaries. Today, nearly 375 years after those first brews, they still hold the festival around Lent each year. You can participate not only in the original Starkbierfest at the beautiful Paulaner am Nockherberg, but also at similar fests at Augustiner and Löwenbräu. Even without a big event associated with it, many breweries around the area brew their own fantastic version of a starkbier, and it is worth spending a couple days of your Starkbierfest in pursuit of them.

While Salvatorbier brewed in the 1800s was only in the 4–6% ABV range, the starkbier you find at the fests today are bigger, with most around 7–10% ABV. At the three Starkbierfest events in Munich, they offer a choice of helles or starkbier (usually doppelbock), but there might be radler and non-alcoholic beers as well. All venues offer delicious food options also.

I had the pleasure of experiencing Starkbierfest 2024 with my friends Adriane, Brian, and Steve from Attaboy Beer in Frederick, Maryland. My first stop in Munich was to visit Ulrich Schindler. Schindler is the Brewmaster at Paulaner am Nockherberg and heads up the brewing team for all Paulaner brewpubs, including locations as far away as the excellent Paulaner Bräuhaus Singapore. Schindler gave me a tour of absolutely everything, from the brewery to the kitchen to the festival hall. I was told that their brew system is one of the first capable of an automated triple decoction, and they are not shy about using it when appropriate. Schindler poured me samples of the four beers they had in the restaurant: Helles, Amber, Salvator, and Bulldog. Bulldog intrigued me the most. It was Schindler’s take on a triple-decocted Bavarian bock. It was very dark, but not roasty. It had very subtle hints of chocolate in a creamy, smooth, bready, and slightly sweet finish. The fermentation was sublime, hiding every bit of the 6.8% ABV. It was one of the best starkbiers I had all week, and Schindler was kind enough to set me up with a stein of it to enjoy during the fest. If any other beer was similar, it was perhaps the also delicious Löwenbräu Triumphator that came the closest to that rich, smooth, and slightly sweet profile.

Paulaner’s Nockherberg brewery is too small to produce enough doppelbock (Salvator) for the festival, so it is brought over from the main Paulaner brewery. Salvator is a classic in the beer world — malty, slightly sweet, with a firm alcohol note. By the time we get it in the United States the alcohol notes have rounded out. At Starkbierfest it can have some very bold alcohol and ester notes, along with a nice maltiness. 

I asked Schindler what was most important in brewing starkbier, to which he quickly responded, “The mash.” At Nockherberg, they perform a single decoction for their helles and a triple decoction for their bock beers. Schindler says that the temperature rests of 113 °F (45 °C), 149 °F (65 °C), and 162 °F (72 °C) over a four-hour mash program give the beer a “soft taste and better mouthfeel.” He cautions, though, that too much decoction can negatively impact head retention when using modern malts. The mash rests are about 20 minutes, and they boil the decoction for 10 to 30 minutes.

Of course, the mash is only as good as the malts used. For a beer like Bulldog, Schindler uses Pilsner malt and Weyermann Carafa^® Special to achieve a color of 31–33 SRM (60–65 EBC). Salvator, which they brew at the main brewery to provide the volume necessary, is most likely made from Munich malt and a single decoction. 

They hop most of their beers with bittering additions only. Schindler told me that “less is more” when it comes to hopping. They do not use mash hopping and no dry hopping, with an exception for the amber, which gets 7–8.8 oz. in 17 barrels (0.22–0.28 oz. per gallon or 1.7–2.1 g/L) of dry hopping to give it a bit of hop aroma “without it seeming like it was dry hopped.” On their delicious helles, they use some whirlpool hops, but it is not dry hopped. Schindler stressed that the goal is a fine bitterness and pH plays a significant role. They adjust their mash, if necessary, and shoot for a pH of under 5.0 for IPA and under 5.2 for lagers at the end of a 60-minute boil. 

Like most German lager brewers, Schindler uses Weihenstephan 34/70, a famous lager yeast strain that can make outstanding beer. It is available from almost all yeast suppliers in dry or liquid forms. They usually pitch 5.3 gallons (20 L) of yeast into a 17-barrel (20-hL) batch for typical lager styles, but for stronger beers such as doppelbock they double that rate. Fermentation starts cool at 46 °F (8 °C) and they turn on cooling when it reaches 52 °F (11 °C). At the middle of fermentation, they want to be around 53 °F (11.5 °C) and let it slowly rise to reach 54 °F (12 °C) by the end of fermentation. As they strictly adhere to the Reinheitsgebot, carbonation comes from spunding the tank to reach 4.5–5.0 g/L (2.3–2.6 volumes) of CO₂.

My friends and I next visited Kloster Andechs. While most German breweries are quite good, Kloster Andechs is certainly one of the best in the world, rooted in a centuries-old monastic tradition.

We met with Production Manager Andreas Stürzer for a tour of their very well equipped and modern brewery. Clearly, they respect history, but they are very passionate about the quality of their beer and invest in the latest equipment when needed. They brew beers from helles to doppelbock and everything in between, including their stellar Export Dunkel, several weißbiers, radler, and some non-alcoholic beers.

One interesting thing about the brewery is that process control is online and most problems can be solved remotely. The night shift is only at the brewery for 3 to 4 hours and then they go home and monitor the brew from a laptop.

Stürzer gave us a detailed tour of the facilities beginning with the ingredients. As they have very hard water, they process it through reverse osmosis to remove the minerals. The Reinheitsgebot prohibits the addition of anything but malt, hops, and water, so they cannot add mineral salts. Instead, they blend back some of the source water to get a mineral concentration of 1.50 °dH.

Andechs sources malt exclusively from Bavarian malthouses. Most of their core beers are brewed using Pilsner, Vienna, Munich, and roasted malt, but other beers do use some wheat, rye, and spelt. Every beer, except the alcohol-free weißbier, is decoction mashed. The pale beers get a single decoction, while the dark beers are double decocted. Their starting mash temperature for lagers is around 131 °F (55 °C). The batch size ranges from 153–213 barrels (180–250 hL) depending on the style, with the pale lagers comprising the largest batches. 

They boil lagers for 50 minutes and weißbier for 60 minutes. They use only aroma hops (no high-alpha hops) from the Hallertau region, in pellet or extract form. Depending on the beer, they do one to three hop additions, and on average, 100 g for 100-L batches of beer (0.13 oz./gallon). The pale lager gets a hop addition at the beginning of the boil and then again 20 minutes before the end of the boil. Stürzer says, “The goal is to introduce some gentle hop aroma and flavor without adding too much bitterness.” On a beer like doppelbock, they only add a bittering addition at the start of the boil. There is no first wort or whirlpool hopping and no dry hopping. Stürzer says, “A dry hopped helles would lose its traditional character, and it is no longer a Bavarian helles.”

Their storage and fermentation cellar contains 40 tanks. For their most popular beers, they brew multiple 213-barrel (250-hL) batches into an 852-barrel (1,000-hL) fermenter. 

They primarily use two yeast strains — Weihenstephan 34/70 for the lagers and a hefeweizen yeast for their weißbier. They cool the lager wort down to 46 °F (8 °C) and let it rise during fermentation. Stürzer says fermentation takes 5–7 days (with Doppelbock Dunkel taking longer than pale lager). Once the beer has mostly fermented, leaving the proper gravity for natural carbonation, they cool the beer down to 39 °F (4 °C) to help the yeast settle. Then they transfer the yeast out and the beer to a secondary fermentation tank, where spunding allows the beer to build carbonation to their target of 5.5 g/L (2.8 volumes) CO₂ for most beers, and the white beer to 6.5 g/L (3.3 volumes) of CO₂. The spunding pressures are from 0.6–0.8 bar (8.7–11.6 PSI). They cool the beer to 29 °F (−1.5 °C) and lager it for six weeks before filtration and packaging. 

After enjoying some delicious filtered and unfiltered beer from the brewery tanks, Stürzer took us to see the very modern packaging hall. The Andechs bottling hall is very impressive, able to fill 24,000 0.5-liter bottles or 102 barrels (120 hL) per hour. As is common in Germany, they reuse returned bottles for both environmental and financial reasons. Used bottles need to have their labels removed, cleaned, inspected, sanitized, and then they can be refilled. It is a tremendous amount of work. Even with very advanced machinery using cameras and robots it still takes 2 or 3 people just to sort out bad and foreign bottles. Of course, they inspect every bottle before filling. 

Instead of using kegs, the brewery pumps beer up to the Bräustüberl (brewery pub) once per week into two 51-barrel (60-hL) tanks for the Spezial Hell, one 51-barrel (60-hL) tank for Doppelbock Dunkel, and nine smaller 8.5-barrel (10-hL) tanks for the other beers. The beer you drink at the Bräustüberl is always fresh from this minimal handling. Once our tour was complete, Stürzer generously gave us credit at the Bräustüberl, and we all enjoyed an outstanding meal of Schweinshaxe and Doppelbock Dunkel. What a magical day. 

So Many Starkbiers, So Little Time

There are at least a dozen well-known doppelbocks brewed in Germany. Most are quite good, and some are incredible. Sure, there are other bocks brewed around the world, but let’s focus on the motherland of this great style. While the three events (Paulaner, Löwenbräu, and Augustiner) can be visited in just three nights, you will want to make your visit to the area at least a full week. Munich is a beautiful city full of amazing sights and wonderful people. Check out the Volksmarkt, the Residenz, and the Hofbräuhaus, but you must leave yourself time to visit Kloster Andechs, which is outside the city. 

Paulaner has had their Starkbierfest for the last 150 years around Lent. They welcome between 2,000 people on a Monday or Tuesday and 4,000–5,000 per day the rest of the week in their Paulaner am Nockherberg beer hall. While smaller than their giant Oktoberfest tent, this has all the fun, food, and beer. The band does all the usual stuff, from “Ein Prosit” to “I’m a Gigolo.” You have not seen fun until you see 4,000 people up and dancing on the tables, swinging 1-L steins of 7.9% ABV doppelbock.

While Paulaner was the first, Augustiner and Löwenbräu also have fest nights, although usually limited to Thursday through Sunday. The Löwenbräu event is also quite large, probably seating 2,000–2,500 and with a smaller band. However, they kick things off by tapping a wooden barrel of their Triumphator doppelbock each night and then transition into whip cracking and more fun. Here is a pro tip, even if you are alone and without a reservation, check for empty seats near the front. Often there are some open seats and lots of friendly people. 

Visiting Kloster Andechs is well worth the effort. The view is stunning, and the beer is heavenly. When you arrive, you will see the monastery perched on a hill. Leave yourself time to explore the monastery buildings, tour the brewery, and have lunch or dinner at the Bräustüberl. While you can bring your own food, both the food and beer are outstanding and worth the price. They also have a cafe with pretzels, Bavarian donuts, apple strudel, cakes, and yeast dumplings prepared fresh daily. They have their own Klostermetzgerei (monastery butcher shop) on site and make amazing sausages and Schweinshaxe (a traditional German dish of crispy, roasted pork knuckle). The Klostergasthof (monastery inn) has 600-year-old rooms available for overnight stays. 

You can drive or take public transit to Kloster Andechs. Driving is around 45 minutes each way and there is ample parking. The authorities do not mess around when it comes to drinking and driving, so you will need a designated driver or wait until you are 100% sober. The easiest public transport is to take the S8 train from the Munich Hauptbahnhof to Herrsching and then either walk or take the 951 or 958 bus to the monastery. If you have four people in your group, an Uber/taxi might cost around the same and is an easy way to get to the brewery, but it can be almost impossible to get a rideshare back. 

The return to Munich requires either walking to Herrsching or taking the 951/958 bus to town. Keep in mind that the walk can be 45–60 minutes depending on the speed you walk. 

Getting a Seat at the Fest

It might seem overwhelming when you arrive at a Starkbierfest event. Thousands are crowding the hall and here you are without a reserved table. If you have plenty of money and are traveling with several other people, you can reserve a table in advance. Usually this is for a table of ten people and can be quite pricey. If you have eight to ten in your party, it is well worth it, as it ensures you can all sit together. The Augustiner Keller is not very large, but they will allow you to reserve a single spot. For Paulaner and Löwenbräu, try to go during a weekday if you can. If you are alone or even with three friends, it is possible to find very good seats. Ideally, show up when the fest opens. For Paulaner that is usually 4 p.m. and Löwenbräu 6 p.m. during the weekdays. While tables are reserved, they always set some seats aside for smaller parties. Start your search by walking toward the front, right in the middle, and look back for tables that are not full. Often people buy a table for ten but do not have ten in their group and are happy to give a friendly face a free seat. If you are having a hard time finding a table that will let you join them, or you are too timid to ask, one of the wait staff can help you find a seat. If they let you in the door, they have a place for you to sit somewhere. This works almost anywhere in Germany. Most places use large communal tables and people are used to sharing and being friendly. Sometimes they will even move people around to accommodate your group. Just by asking, my friends and I scored seats at Löwenbräu right in front of the stage where they tap the barrel of Triumphator doppelbock. 

Regardless of where you sit, you must say hello to your fellow tablemates. This is the greatest part of attending one of these fests. It is a wonderful opportunity to make friends through a common bond of great beer. I always carry business cards with my personal information and invite people to visit me in California. I can’t tell you how amazing it is to have people take me up on it. Be friendly and kind and watch your alcohol intake. Eat something and drink plenty of water to ensure you have the best experience possible.

Brewing Your Own Starkbier

If you want to brew your own starkbier, doppelbock is a great choice. A doppelbock is brilliantly clear and ranges from deep golden to very dark chestnut brown. My favorites are dark in color with ruby highlights, but some excellent paler versions exist. Just keep in mind that these beers should be smooth, with a rich, bready malt character. Some have very slight toasty, roasty, or chocolate notes that blend beautifully with the malt sweetness. While doppelbock balances toward the sweeter side, that does not mean they are overly sweet or under attenuated. The use of low bittering levels results in a sweeter balance. Any alcohol character should be smooth and slightly warming, never hot or solvent-like. The fermentation character is clean, with minimal esters and no evident diacetyl or Dimethyl Sulfide (DMS). While some examples exhibit a slight dark fruit character, it comes from a combination of malts and alcohols, not poor fermentation.

The best way to achieve that great German malt character is with high-quality, full-flavored base malts and excellent fermentation practices. I would never attempt to make a doppelbock without using continental Pilsner and Munich malts. You can use other base malts, but the light, grainy, and bready taste of high-quality Pilsner and Munich malt is right on target for this style. The bulk of the grist should be Munich malt, anywhere from 50 to 100% is good, depending on the character and color of the Munich malt you source. A portion of caramel malt is acceptable, and I like the rich malty sweetness of caramel Munich malts. You can experiment with different color levels and percentages, but limit caramel-type malts to approximately 10% of a mid-color (40–80 °L). Using a high-quality continental Pilsner malt for the remainder of the grist helps keep the beer from being too melanoidin rich. You should be able to make an excellent example of the style with just those three malts, but if you must, you can add other malts, such as head- and body-forming dextrin malts or color-enhancing malts such as Weyermann Carafa^® Special or Briess Midnight Wheat. Avoid overloading the beer with too many specialty malts. While you want those rich melanoidin flavors, too much can make the beer taste meaty or brothy. 

Extract brewers will need to use a Munich extract or do a partial mash with Munich malt. Most Munich malt extract is a blend of Munich and Pilsner (or other pale malts) in different percentages. I would try to get an extract made with as much Munich malt as possible but always let flavor and freshness be your guide. That said, most Munich extract blends are close enough for a decent doppelbock without any adjustment. 

While I normally prefer a single-infusion mash, I will decoct doppelbock and altbier. Even without decoction, if you use high quality continental malts and excellent fermentation practices, you can produce excellent beer. It is far more important to invest time and effort in fermentation, sanitation, and post-fermentation handling than on decoction. If you have ensured that all other aspects of your process are perfect, then a decoction mash can be fun and may add an extra touch of malt character. For a single infusion mash, target a mash temperature range of 152–156 °F (67–69 °C). 

For doppelbock, hop character is just a background note. This is a beer about rich malt character, and a fine example does not require late hop additions. If you do like a touch of hop character, keep it subtle and use only floral or spicy hops. I prefer German-grown Hallertau hops, but other German-grown hops such as Tettnang, Perle, or Tradition work well also. These hops, when grown outside of Germany, can still work well but you should check with your supplier first if you are not sure how closely they match the German-grown hops. If you cannot get any of those hops, try to select hops with that same flowery or spicy noble hop character. Some decent substitutions are Liberty and Mt. Hood. You can also try Crystal, Ultra, and Vanguard. The big picture is that you want very low hop character and just a balancing bitterness, with both complementing and integrating with the malt. The balance of bittering versus malt sweetness should be even or slightly on the sweet side. The bitterness-to-starting gravity ratio (IBU divided by the decimal portion of the specific gravity) ranges from 0.2–0.4, and I like to target the middle at 0.3. Avoid or restrict your late hops to small additions. In general, 0.25–0.5 oz. (7–14 g) in the last 20–30 minutes of the boil for a 5-gallon (19-L) batch is the most you should use.

You can ferment doppelbock with almost any lager yeast — Weihenstephan 34/70 is an excellent all-around lager yeast and is available in dry form, such as SafLager W-34/70. A couple of my favorites for this style are White Labs WLP833 (German Bock Lager) and Wyeast 2206 (Bavarian Lager). Different lager yeast strains will emphasize different aspects of a beer, with some emphasizing malt character and others hop character, but all can produce excellent bock with proper fermentation. Do not forget that the sweetness present in doppelbock is from a relatively low hop bitterness, not incomplete fermentation.

While this style is higher in alcohol than most lagers, the beer should never be hot or solvent-like to taste. A gentle warming is what you want. Anything more is a flaw. You will run into “judges” that do not understand this point and seem to think doppelbock should taste like rocket fuel. Do not fall into that trap. Instead, make efforts to educate those that think hot tasting alcohols are good to drink. Proper control of fermentation temperature, a proper pitch of healthy yeast, and adequate nutrients help avoid that hot alcohol problem.

When making lagers, I like to chill the wort down to 45 °F (7 °C), oxygenate, and then pitch my yeast. I let the beer slowly warm over the first 24–36 hours to 50 °F (10 °C) and I hold this temperature for several days. If fermentation seems sluggish or is slowing, I raise the temperature 2 °F (1 °C) at a time until fermentation improves. The idea of the cold start is to reduce the diacetyl precursor alpha-acetolactate, which yeast creates during the early phase of fermentation. Once the growth phase of fermentation is complete, it is important that fermentation be active enough for good results. It may never be as robust as fermentation at ale temperatures, but it is important to have enough activity to blow off aromatic sulfur and other unpleasant compounds. Vigorous yeast activity at the end of fermentation also improves the reduction of unwanted fermentation byproducts. Keep in mind that starting fermentation colder only works well if you are pitching enough clean, healthy yeast at the start.

It seems that every beer improves with some period of cold conditioning, and this style is no exception. Traditional lager conditioning utilizes a slow temperature reduction before fermentation reaches terminal gravity. The purpose of the slow cooling rate is to avoid sending the yeast into dormancy. After a few days, the beer reaches a temperature close to 40 °F (4 °C) and the brewer transfers the beer into lagering tanks. If you want to use this technique, you will need precise temperature control so that fermentation slowly continues and the yeast remains active. Rapidly chilling (cold crashing) the beer near the end of fermentation can also cause yeast to excrete a greater amount of ester compounds instead of retaining them.

I prefer to wait until fermentation is complete, including any steps such as a diacetyl rest, before lowering the beer temperature no more than 6 °F (3 °C) per 24 hours. After the beer has had a chance to lager around 40 °F (4 °C) for a week or two, I lower the temperature close to freezing. This cold storage allows very fine particulates to settle out and the beer flavors to mature. Great lagers take time, so do not rush things.