{"id":4130,"date":"2013-04-08T12:47:19","date_gmt":"2013-04-08T18:47:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tombedell.com\/?p=4130"},"modified":"2013-04-09T12:58:35","modified_gmt":"2013-04-09T18:58:35","slug":"tap-beer-of-the-week-hovels-original","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/tombedell\/golf\/lifestyle\/4130\/tap-beer-of-the-week-hovels-original","title":{"rendered":"TAP Beer of the Week: H\u00f6vels Original"},"content":{"rendered":"

In this hop-centered ale world, I sometimes forget just how refreshing and agreeable a malty German lager can be. Oh, except H\u00f6vels Original isn\u2019t a lager. And though it\u2019s brewed in Dortmund, top-fermented and presumably cold-conditioned, some of the promotional material I\u2019ve waded through suggests it isn\u2019t an altbier, either.<\/p>\n

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So I don\u2019t really know what kind of beer this is. I can say it\u2019s a pleasant one, pouring out with a rocky white head and deep tan. It\u2019s a malt-accented brew, with a caramel nose and palate, with lightly fruity and floral notes, a whiff of nutty roast, and a moderately dry finish. It tastes German to the core.<\/p>\n

I was wading through material and wasting time on the internet because it\u2019s tough to find a lot out about the beer from the living. I made three different calls to people with the U.S. importer, Binding Brauerei USA in Norwalk, Connecticut, and still don\u2019t know precisely where the beer is distributed.<\/p>\n

I do know that it\u2019s not in New England, though it may be by the fall of 2013. A few listings on Untappd.com suggest it\u2019s in Minnesota and Florida. And it\u2019s most certainly in New York, because that\u2019s where my bottle arrived from–in a six-pack donated by my visiting son.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The best that I can piece together is that relatives Wilhelm von H\u00f6vel and Gustav Thier began brewing at the present-day Hausbrauerei location in 1854. In 1893 they developed the recipe for what in Dortmund was long called their Bitterbier, but now H\u00f6vels Original. They also developed a special mashing process (details vague beyond a reference to mixing ground malt with brewing water at a \u201cspecially defined temperature sequence,\u201d which doesn\u2019t sound very special at all).<\/p>\n

The malts include pale and dark barley, wheat and some roasted malt. The hops are a mystery (Spalt, Tettnanger, Saaz?).<\/p>\n

The beer went out of production due to war-time interruptions, but the kettles fired up again in 1984. H\u00f6vels is now part of the Radeberger Gruppe, or corporately as the Binding Brauerei, the largest German-run beer marketer in the country.<\/p>\n

From all I can determine the Hausbrauerei is still a lively place, conducting various seminars and tastings along with the usual business of a German restaurant and brewery. If your German is sharp, you can follow on Facebook. But if you make it to Dortmund, look for an entrance resembling a giant brewing vessel, shown in this brief video:
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