Laughing Germans and Citrus in Beer

In a previous job, I occasionally had an opportunity to work with a vendor that was based in Germany. The company had a US presence, but all of their engineering staff were located back in Europe. While working on a new project with them, we would get together for week-long design sessions that would get into mind numbing detail.

At the end of the day, though, we would all go out and have a chance to socialize. The rather business-like and reserved engineers would relax and show much more of their personality.

One night, we were out at a restaurant and one American in our party ordered a beer that came with a slice of orange in it. One engineer next to me turned to his counterpart and snickered. I asked why and this is the story he told me. I haven’t verified it but it makes sense.

For centuries, a primary beer making region of Germany was Bavaria and other parts of the south of the country. The area is internationally known and the city of Munich (right in that area) hosts the Oktoberfest to end all Oktoberfests.

As the area produced more beer than the residents would drink (note I did not say could drink…), beer became an exportable item. Back before automated transportation, casks of beer would be loaded on the back of a cart and slowly make their way north. As the hot summer weather beat down on the casks during the long trip, the beer inside would start to spoil. When the beer finally arrived in the north, the beer didn’t taste as good as when it left and in some cases was (almost) undrinkable.

Some enterprising individual found that if you put some citrus in with the beer (lemons and limes initially) it tended to hide the spoiled taste. So when citrus was placed in beer, it became known (at least to the Bavarians) that you were likely drinking bad beer. While the recent trends (Corona and lime, Blue Moon and Orange) are not likely to cover spoilage, the tradition runs deep with the Bavarians.

Bavarian Pot Roast

This dish has flavors reminiscent of Sauerbraten, but honestly not quite there. It certainly was easy to make.

The cider and vinegar really brings that Bavarian flavor.

I cheated and didn’t brown the roast. It was fine.

It is amazing to me how much a big roast can shrink during cooking.

The tangy and slightly fruity flavor work great!