BREWING UP GERMAN STYLE BEERS AT WESTERHAM BREWERY SEVENOAKS CHRONICLE

Westerham Brewery owner Robert Wicks invited friend and fellow brewer Markus Lotz to make German-style beer at the Pootings Road site.

Mr Wicks said: “We have a lot of customers who like to experiment with different flavours, which is why we decided to try something a bit different. We are hoping to come up with a German beer with a Kent accent. We are sticking to Markus’ recipe and we will be using German hops.”

Mr Lotz, who lives near Frankfurt, said: “Beer is made through a completely different process in England and Germany so it is an interesting experiment.

The first beer of our collaboration, Weizen Up, a Bavarian Hefeweizen or wheat beer, will be launched on March 1st. This beer was brewed with a multistep infusion to generate the clove flavours traditional to Bavarian wheat beers. The yeast used is a German wheat beer yeast from Weihenstephan, the oldest brewery in the world. It is a cloudy wheat beer, hence the title Hefeweizen which means “yeast wheat beer”. The beer is lightly hopped with Spalt Select from the Hallertau and Spalt hop growing regions of Germany.

In April we will be releasing the Dusseldorf Altbier or Old Ale, Alt Ego. This was made in mid February with Markus in control and will be lagered until its release on 1st April.