Rustic Franconian Lagers Über Alles: Spezial by Gathering Place Brewing Co.

Franconia.

Franconia.

Franconia. Franconia. Franconia. Franconia.

Looking at the region on a map, it looks like one of those areas that, if you told a big city slicker you hailed from it, they'd laugh and call you a country bumpkin. Think of someone from the Plains states telling a Chicagoan or New Yorker that they're from Nebraska or Kansas. Sure, Nuremberg has a bit over half a million people, but it looks like most other cities are rather smaller.

The marketing division of Gathering Place Brewing Co. says that each town in Franconia has its own special lager. When I make it over to Germany and tour Franconia, I will do my best to verify this claim. However, I've read something like this written by people whom I trust have been there and to be reliable narrators. This Stadt here has its own proprietary pale lager while the one down the Strasse has their special dark lager. I think of these beers as Landbiers, a.k.a. – country lagers. Not so much a style with set ranges of color, A.B.V., and I.B.U., but more a generic geographical appellation. Just the beer you find in a rural or small town Gasthaus.

And so when Gathering Place describes Spezial as a "Rustic Franconian Lager", I don't think it really means anything beyond whatever lager they felt like brewing last fall or whenever this batch was brewed. (My can had no date on it and the brewery's website says it went on sale last November.) The only other such brew from Wisconsin that I am aware of is New Glarus' Two Women.

This was my first taste of Gathering Place. I didn't have high hopes going in. More like medium hopes. It's one of Milwaukee's newer breweries having opened in 2017. While they don't appear to be a haze factory trying to do something different for a change, I also hadn't heard that the brewmaster had studied in Germany and had enough tanks at their disposal to lager Spezial for 3 months.

Out of the gate, things went well. The beer was a beautiful dark gold that looked almost amber. In fact, after my initial once over, I held it up to another light mumbling to myself, "Is it gold? Or is it amber?" Thankfully my Frau didn't notice this. Or simply chose not to say anything, more likely. Atop the resplendent elixir was a slightly tan head that was fluffy and was in no hurry to go away. This was a genuinely beautiful brew that made you want to drink it on looks alone.

Spezial smelled nice too – like grapefruit and flowers engaged in a pas de deux of olfactory bliss with a little breadiness cutting in every so often. Just wonderful.

Appearances can be deceiving. For a beer that had such a deep color, it wasn't heavy. Not watery, mind you, but rather in that golden middle. There was a tasty bready base but it was those hops that really shine here with – quelle surprise – citrus/grapefruit and floral flavors. Also lurking in there was a touch of honeyed sweetness. The carbonation was precisely to my taste too with just enough to add a pleasant fizzy bite yet not make it particularly dry. This complemented the lingering spicy hop bitterness which left a very nice dry finish.

As I drained my glass, a lovely pattern of Schaumhaftvermoegen emerged with a band here and a spot there.

Spezial was a wonderful surprise. While I wish that it had just a touch more of that bready malt flavor - something Two Women has more of, it was still very, very tasty. All those grapefruit and floral hops flavors may have been front and center but they didn't overwhelm. Just the right bitterness, just the right fizz, it looks lovely – what a great beer. It made me wish that Covid was gone so I can buy some plane tickets for Germany. Or at least that it was spring and Spezial was on tap down at The Biergarten at Olbrich.

Junk food pairing – Just as Spezial evokes the Landbiers of Franconia, Dill Pickle Kraut Krisps evoke the rich culinary heritage of Germany with crunchy, tangy triangles made of sauerkraut and delicately seasoned with dill.