Yet Another Reason to Renew My Passport

From last week's WSJ... "Monks, Munich and Strong Beer."  Excerpts:

MUNICH—Beer enthusiasts might want to keep closer tabs on the Catholic calendar. Two weeks after Fasching, or Fat Tuesday, each year, a short list of local celebrities gathers at the Paulaner cellar in Munich to watch an honorary braumeister drive a brass tap into a new keg. The content he unleashes is called "strong beer," and when it starts flowing, Starkbierzeit, or strong beer season, officially kicks off.

This is Munich's subdued and slightly delayed Mardi Gras of sorts. It's also described as the insider's Oktoberfest—there are still the party tents, but the beer is stronger and the crowds thinner.

[...]

Befitting of its name, the beer is much stronger than what is served in late September—almost twice as potent. A byproduct of Germany's regulatory beer council, which flexes nearly as much muscle in its brewing judgments as the Supreme Court does in the States, is a set of guidelines for strong beer, or starkbier, that guarantees an alcohol percentage of at least 7.5%. Some weigh in at 9% alcohol, plenty potent to protect against the cold weather. (Standard Oktoberfest beers chalk up 4% to 6% alcohol.)

The "strong" in strong beer, however, doesn't refer to alcohol content, but rather to the heavy, full-bodied flavor, which 400 years ago was meant to be as much a meal as a tipple.

Starkbier is actually a doppelbock, or double bock beer, which is heavy on malt. It was first brewed by way of a religious loophole of sorts: In the mid 1600s at Munich's Neudeck ob der Au monastery, Paulaner monks concocted a beverage to sustain them through the Lent fast. They were forbidden to eat solid foods, but liquids were deemed acceptable. So they brewed the strongest, most nourishing beer they could come up with.

Mmmm.  Doppelbock.  I'm thinking I might go on a beer quest this afternoon as I happen to know where there are Paulaner brews in stock. I saw some doppelbock hiding in the cooler the last time I was there, if I recall correctly.  I might not be in Munich right now but I sure can drink the beer.  Tis the season, and all that.

Image from the WSJ.