Fredericksburg, Texas is an area we have often visited but we found some new interesting happenings this time around. We read there was an annual free event at Becker Vineyard called Bluegrass and Bluebonnets. John loves Bluegrass music so we decided to give it a go. The event had a huge turnout as it was a beautiful sunny day. The deal of the day was to purchase tickets for 6 tastings and keep the glass. It was so very crowded around both the indoor and outdoor tasting areas, we opted instead to buy a bottle of their Cabernet and open it to sip wine while listening to the music.
After enjoying the music as well as a lot of people watching we corked the bottle to get up and stroll the grounds. At 3pm John let me know he had another surprise up his sleeve. I read that a new brewery was opening in town but sadly it would be open after we leave the area. Unbeknownst to me, John made a comment on the Altstadt Facebook page that we were sad to miss the opening as we love visiting breweries. The owner, William , private messaged John and invited us over for a private tour! How cool is that!
A young man opened the gate for us and we walked to the brewery entrance which was locked but we saw a camera and a buzzer. We rang and soon were greeted by Peter, the Brew Master! Peter escorted us into the shiny, new brewery. For a startup this was a huge facility with state of the art equipment. Peter, who is very passionate about brewing proudly showed us all around explaining that they will brew strictly German beers. The yeast, malts and hops will be shipped from Germany. The facility uses reverse osmosis to purify the water from their well as every effort is made to ensure a great product.
Peter was the most awesome host. His life as a Brew Master was also very interesting. After obtaining his degree in beer brewing in Germany he worked for Abita Brewing and later the the Gambrinus Company (at Shiner). The challenge in becoming the Brew Master for this large startup was too exciting to pass up. We could feel his excitement as he described future plans for a large tasting room and restaurant. If success could be measured on Peter's passion for the venture alone, it will be a huge success!
Passion aside, the product has to deliver to truly be a success so we were so happy to say yes when Peter offered us a taste of two beers he has currently perfected. One was a Lager, the other a Kolsch. The Helles lager, he explained would be exactly the beer one would typically get in Munich Germany. It was light, clean and crisp. To us the star was the Kolsch. It is honestly the best we have ever tasted. It had both body and wonderful full flavor. We know one thing for sure, we will definitely hang out at this brewery the next time we roll through. We cannot thank William and Peter enough and would encourage anyone to try the beers from Altstadt Brewery.
Despite revisiting an old favorite, the town of Fredericksburg had a few new gems for us to enjoy. Thanks, Fredericksburg...we will look forward to seeing you again next year!
NOTE: We are now in Blanco State Park in Blanco Texas.
WOW a personal tour your the man!!
ReplyDeleteNow that sounds like a perfect day, ending with great beer !
ReplyDeleteWhat a good time was had by all.
ReplyDelete