The organic beers of Pinkus Müller

Pinkus Muller is a sea of tranquillity in the German university town of Munster that has been a centre of turbulence for centuries. Anabaptists laid siege in the 16th century, and negotiations were held to end the ruinous Thirty Years War a century late. In the 1930s the local bishop defied the Nazis. After a historical tour of the city, a soothing glass of beer at Pinkus Muller is an urgent requirement.

The brewery and tavern are just off the Rosenplatz in a town close to both Dortmund and the Dutch border in the region of Westphalia. The brewery started life in 1816 as a chocolatier and bakery as well as a brewery. Today the sixth generation of the Muller family runs the enterprise and, despite its humble size and small output, has achieved recognition throughout Germany and further afield for the quality of its beer and as a flag-bearer for organic production. Pinkus was a nickname given to Carl Muller who ran the enterprise for many years after World War Two: in the local dialect it means "the singing brewer".

The tavern has four warm, intimate, wood-panelled dining rooms. The main room has a traditional Westphalian oven in a surround of blue and white Dutch tiles. Members of the Muller family cheerfully look after customers' needs for food and drink.

The current pater-familias is Hans Muller and his son-in-law Friedhelm Langfeld is the brewmaster. A whirl of daughters, nieces and cousins are also in attendance and, should Friedhelm be unable to carry out his duties, one daughter has studied brewing technique at the world-famous brewing faculty of Weihenstephan near Munich.

Pinkus Muller produces 20,000 hectolitres or 12,000 barrels a year. Most of the beer is consumed in Munster and surrounding towns but the beers in bottle also find their way to other mainland European countries, Britain, the U.S. and Japan. Since the 1980s, the Mullers have been attempting to source malt and hops free from artificial fertilisers and pesticides. From the early 1990s they have been using only organic materials approved by the German authorities.

The beers are a mix of both warm-fermenting ales and cold-fermenting lagers. The most interesting beer - and the one that will fascinate ale-loving visitors - is called Alt. The word means "old" and is used by German brewers to indicate a style of warm-fermenting beer that predates lagering. Dusseldorf is the city most closely associated with Altbier but Munster has sufficient age and history to warrant its own interpretation of the style. For many years, the Pinkus Muller Alt used a blend of wheat and barley malts, but wheat has now been abandoned. But the Mullers are at pains to stress that this is not due to pressure to bring the beer into line with Dusseldorf: their Altbier is a Munster classic. Bioland Pilsner malt and Tettnanger hops from an organic zone of the vast Hallertau region of Bavaria are the raw materials. After primary fermentation with an ale yeast culture the beer is stored or lagered for a remarkable five to seven months in horizontal tanks in the brewery cellars. A carefully controlled lactic yeast culture is added to give a hint of sourness and a touch of vinous fruit. The beer is also krausened, which means a portion of partially-fermented wort [sugary extract] is added to encourage a powerful second fermentation. The 5% beer that emerges from this long maturation is pale with a hint of bronze and a thick and lively collar of foam. The aroma offers biscuity malt, tart fruit and gentle spicy hops. Juicy malt, tangy fruit and bitter hops dominate the mouth while the finish has enormous length with a touch of sourness, ripe fruit, toasted malt and pungent hops.

The brewery is tiny and visitors have to squeeze down narrow corridors and skirt the restaurant's kitchens to discover the brewing vessels. They were once free-standing but expansion led to new vessels being installed behind tiled walls with hatches that enable the process to be monitored. From the mash tun, the wort is clarified in a lauter tun and then returned to the tun, which also acts as the boiling copper where whole flower hops are added.

The centrepiece of the Pinkus Muller operation is the lagering cellar where stainless steel tanks, which have replaced wood, are held horizontally to allow a long, slow, unhurried ripening of the beer. "We like our beers to lie and improve," Friedhelm said. They mature naturally. In the case of the Alt, it is filtered at the end of maturation but no stabilisers are used.

The second warm-fermented beer is Hefe Weizen, a 4.9% unfiltered wheat beer. It is made from a blend of wheat malt (60%) and barley malt (40%) and Tettnanger hops. It is krausened in the bottle to encourage a second fermentation. The beer is cloudy and pale with a big peppery aroma underscored by banana fruit and creamy malt. There is fruit, malt, gentle hops and spices in the mouth with a light but lingering finish that is peppery, fruity and malty with a light touch of hops.

The two cold-fermented beers are Pinkus Pils, 4.9%, and Special, 5.4%. They are made with pale Pilsner malt and Tettnanger hops and aged in the cellars for at least two months, three in the case of Special. The bronze/gold Pils is a revelation in the age of bland and fizzy pale lagers. It has an aroma of juicy malt, gentle hop resins and a surprising note of apricot fruit. There are herbal, bitter hops in the mouth with toasted malt and rich fruit, followed by a bitter-sweet finish with ripe fruit, juicy malt and floral hops. The Special is extremely pale with a slight haze: it is not filtered at the end of maturation. It has a massive fruity aroma reminiscent of ripe pears, with toasted malt and floral hops. Bitter hop resins dominate the palate with juicy malt and fruit, while the lingering finish has tart fruit, sweet malt and bitter hop resins. It is a wonderfully refreshing beer.

The food in the dining rooms is hearty and is based on traditional Westphalian dishes of pork, ham, beef and chicken, though there are several vegetarian options and a good selection of local cheeses. Desserts include homemade waffles and a sorbet with Pinkus beer and warm prunes. In season, the house speciality is diced fruit blended with Altbier: the fruit is steeped in sugar syrup for 24 hours and the sweetness of the fruit is cut by the acidity of the beer.

It's a drink I would call "punch" but I thought better of mentioning it in case I launched yet another bout of warfare in Munster.

Brauerei Pinkus Muller
7-10 Kreuz Strasse
Munster 48143
Nordrhein-Westfalen