We are blessed to have great friends, and among them, is the famed brewery Aecht Schlenkerla brewery in Bamberg, Germany. For six generations, the family of braumeister and owner Matthias Trum has dedicated themselves to the preservation of Bamberg’s historic rauchbier (“smoke beer”) by producing legendary lagers that blur the line between beer and bbq, using malts they smoke in house, predominantly over beechwood. Their beers are beyond iconic, and, together with another small Bamberg brewery, the equally renowned Brauerei Spezial, it is one of the last two historic rauchbier maltsters and brewers remaining in Germany.

Each year, Schlenkerla celebrates International Rauchbier Day on July 23rd. Golden Age is proud to join that celebration by serving Rauchbier from Schlenkerla, Spezial, and a special batch of pale Rauchbier that we have brewed ourselves for the occasion. Our kitchen is joining into the smoked fun with a menu of German Barbecue, which will feature smoked sausage, smoked pork belly skewers and more.

With so much great beer to drink and BBQ to eat, we decided to make a full weekend out of the celebration, extending it from Thursday, July 23rd through Sunday, July 26th. We will, as always feature live entertainment throughout the entire weekend, and, enjoy as much of the festivities in the biergarten as the weather permits.

To kick-off the festivities, we will be serving Golden Age Historiches Rauchbier from a gravity keg that we will tap at 4 p.m. on Thursday, July 23. Last summer, our Head Brewer Aaron Dahl had the opportunity to spend an evening at Schlenkerla, where he toured the facilities and dined with Matthias himself, and learned more about traditional rauchbier production methods from a brewer who has dedicated his life to preserving those techniques. In celebration of this year’s Historic Rauchbier Preservation Day, Aaron has brewed a beer dedicated to his experience at Schlenkerla. That beer is a pale, low-gravity lager featuring beechwood smoked pilsner malt and Munich malt from our friends at Sugar Creek Malts in Indiana. At just 4.5%, this historic rauchbier style is almost like a Märzen brewed for summer consumption, and, it is the perfect accompaniment with summer bbq.

We look forward to hosting you. As always, events at Golden Age are free to the people, with no cover charge or ticketing!

Prost!