Hot from the press of Jace Marti at August Schell (okay, it’s an e-mail, but it still has the same, breaking-news allure). The fine beer-making, beer-swillin’ folks at August Schell have announced a winner for their Anniversary Draft Series.

We would like to thank everyone who has participated in our 150th Anniversary Draft Series over the past two years! We appreciate all of the positive feedback regarding the different brews. We hope you have enjoyed them as much as we have. Online voting has closed,  the votes tallied, and the anniversary brew selected. Before we officially release the winner of the Anniversary Draft Series, we would just like to state that 2010 is going to be a very special year for the Schell’s crew, and hope that you will join us as we celebrate our 150th Anniversary. So, without further adieu the winner is…

Hopfenmalz!!

The voting was extremely close, but in the end, Hopfenmalz pulled ahead for the win. For those of you who didn’t get to experience Hopfenmalz,  it is one of our very own creations. It is a combination of our favorite beer styles featuring the elegant drinkablity of a Pilsner, the bready maltiness of a Vienna Lager, and the hopping of a Pale Ale. The malt backbone was created using a large amount of Vienna coupled with judicious amounts of Caramunich and Caravienne. In the kettle, we aggressively hopped it with Cascade from the Pacific Northwest and German Tettnangs. We also dry hopped it to give it a bright, citrusy aroma. Hopfenmalz was fermented with our lager yeasts at a higher temperature to add some flavor complexities, then aged it for 6 weeks to provide the crispness that is only found in a lager.

We will be releasing Hopfenmalz on January 2nd in New Ulm in 6-Packs, 12-Packs, and on draft. Look for a full release of Hopfenmalz in February. We’ll have more details coming soon, so stay tuned as we get ready to celebrate 150 years of brewing tradition!