Sharkbait’s Cocktail of the Week: Ein Prosit!

Guten Tag meine Freunde! If the title and the first line of this week’s post hasn’t clued you in, there is a German theme this week. Mainly because Oktoberfest was supposed to have started this week in Munich. Oktoberfest is the worlds largest beer festival, lasting from mid September until the first weekend in October. Unfortunately, like most things the past two years, the festival has been canceled. THANKS COVID. Also, (not that I need to tell you fine folk, but I’m going to say it anyway) GET VACCINATED!!!

Sorry for raising my voice there.

Anyway, I’ve always wanted to go to Oktoberfest. Eventually I’ll get there when this nonsense is over. In lieu of that, I went looking for a German or Oktoberfest centric cocktail, and came up rather empty. Germany, it turns out doesn’t have a big cocktail culture apparently. I even consulted a buddy who is a bartender, and his girlfriend, who is from Germany. There isn’t much of a cocktail scene there. I was only find a couple of “cocktails” searching on the internets, and they were beer based. Surprise surprise.

So what am I making? This week I’m making a Dark Beer Punch, or an altbierbowle. All this drink consists of, is beer and fruit. I’m certainly intrigued:

1 apple
4 ounces strawberries
4 ounces raspberries
1 quart chilled Altbier dark German beer
2 ounces sugar
lemon balm and fresh raspberries for decoration optional

Put the sugar in a small saucepan with 1/4 cup water and bring to a boil stirring constantly until the sugar has dissolved. Allow to cool.
Wash the apple, core and quarter it and cut into pieces. Wash and dry the strawberries and raspberries. Place the fruit in a punch bowl and pour the sugar syrup on top. Cover and allow to marinate for 1 hour.
Add the dark beer and decorate with skewers of fresh raspberries and lemon balm.

I did scale the recipe down since I had a dark beer. Granted it is an OVERSIZE beer, but still, not what the recipe calls for.

Aroma is Dunkel. All the way. I get nothing from the fruit on the nose. Not surprising since the beer I have is a whiskey barrel aged Dunkel, so it is more potent than your average German bier.

The Dunkel flavor leads off, which is not a surprise at all. About halfway through the sip I can start to get the sweetness from the fruit and simple syrup. That mixes nicely with the strong beer flavor of the Dunkel and adds a nice balance. For a moment. The deep whiskey barrel notes start to shine, (as does the 7.7% ABV) to immediately bring the sweet and fruit flavors back into the background. . The sip remains a mixture of deep, dark beer notes, with a little bit of sweet undertones underneath. A point of clarity is needed here I think. When I scaled down, I built the drink in the stein, rather than in a punch bowl and serving from there. Next time, I’ll either make the punch properly, or add more fruit to my beer.

I’m on the fence about this. On one hand, I do like the flavors going on here, and despite using a Dunkel and not specifically an Altbier, I think it still works. On the other hand, a beer punch, is…beer wearing fancy clothes. I like German beers as they are, and I think I would prefer the beer sans fruit.

(Banner image found here)

Until next week, Cheers!

Ein Prosit, ein Prosit
Der Gemütlichkeit
Ein Prosit, ein Prosit
Der Gemütlichkeit