DRAFT Magazine

Graduation

So this will be last post from Europe, even as I type that I still cannot believe it.  The above pic is the only picture I have receiving my diploma, hopefully I will have one less blurry to include soon.  Maybe this picture is supposed to symbolize how this entire experience has been, so quick and crazy, or maybe that’s just a cheesy excuse for a bad photo.  In any case, this is a tough blog for me to write, it’s me admitting that this stage of my adventure has reached an end.  Six months in Europe, 5 months of classes, six countries, and countless amazing experiences.  The kind people at DraftMag have asked me to continue writing and allow readers to follow my experience as I search for a job back in the US.  This is an excellent opportunity for me as it will allow me to continue this blog, maybe be discovered by someone looking to employ me, and finally as my only current source of income, it will keep me off the streets.  The job search looks like it will be quite the challenge, but I will tackle it head on and fill you in as I go. 

How can I possibly sum up the last six months of my life?  I remember the anxiety leading up to my departure, and admittedly for the first month or so of living here.  I remember starting classes, and meeting all my new classmates and professors.  I remember the first few times I tried to communicate to Germans, and the utter failures, and the slow shift towards success.  I have so many amazing memories from all of the ridiculous situations I have found myself in; Karneval in Cologne, St. Patrick’s day in Dublin, all of the crazy days in Berlin, and the even crazier days all over Germany.  I have done some incredible traveling; Amsterdam, London, Prague, Munich, and the list continues.  Met some amazing friends who I hope to stay in contact with and eventually visit, taking me around the world.  I remember sitting in class, focusing on the many topics we have covered.  I remember the time in the labs, and the pilot brewery.  The parties after classes in the hop house, and the dinners in bier gartens.  All of this leading up to our graduation, and final excursion.  At this point it is impossible to pinpoint what all of this will mean for me moving forward, both on a personal and professional level.  It is however possible for me to acknowledge that the experiences I have had, the friends I have made, and the things I have learned, have inexplicably changed me, and I will carry them with me forever moving forward. 

That concludes my rant for the day.  I want to thank everyone who has been reading my blogs.  Your support has meant a lot to me, and I still look forward to any questions or comments you may have.  I want to tank DraftMag, a great publication, for allowing me to share my stories with you.  My family, friends, and the people I have met here in Germany should also know that this would not have been possible without them.  That being said, please keep reading, hopefully your as excited as I am to see where this trip leads me.  If you happen to be looking for an employee at your brewery, call or write me, please.  So again thank you for everything and I wish you all the best.

Cheers,

Mike

My brother's and I in Prague

OK, its been quite a while since I have sat down and written anything, so I have some catching up to do and plenty to say.  First off, my pictures from graduation are a little blurry, but I have some being sent to me, so I will include those later.  I am however officially done and graduated from the VLB with my Brewmasters Certificate.  Since that day I have been doing nothing but traveling, exploring, and enjoying myself.

I wrote once from London, and I’m happy to see it was somewhat coherent.  We had only about 2 days to explore the entire city, and there is a lot to see, so sleep was basically not an option.  It was a beautiful and exciting city though, and fun to check out.  I have to say though that the beer culture there was not as good as I was hoping for.  Maybe someone reading this can tell me otherwise, but it seemed to me like almost all of the pubs and bars were focused on selling the same few beers, all typical mass-produced pilsners and a few imports.  Anyways, awesome trip and I recommend London to anyone, I found it to be a cross between NYC and Boston, but with more accents and less sunshine.

The day after returning from London I was joined by my two younger brothers, Cliff and Tim (see pic above).  We spent one night in Berlin, sightseeing and eating/drinking at my favorite brewpub in Berlin, the Brauhause Mitte.  A meal of Schnitzel, pork-knuckle, sausages, and kraut, went perfect with a few of the brewery’s special seasonal beers.

The following day we woke up “early” and drove down to Prague (Praha) in the Czech Republik.  Prague was by far the most historic and downright picturesque city I have visited thus far.  That goes for the architecture as well as the people, I continue to love Eastern Europeans.  Prague was very much a drinking city, living up to the Czech reputation.  Beers were served almost before you could order them, and went well with the food being served.  Prague is also very cheap, with 4 Euros (Approximately $5.50) buying 100 Krohns.  Meals served on the river, at very nice restaurants, with a beer or two, ended up costing about the same as a trip to McDonald’s, but were a little more enjoyable.  Prague is a must-visit if you are traveling through Europe, it can be seen and enjoyed in 2 days, and is well worth it.

From Prague we drove to Austria, Vorchow specifically, and were staying at Schloss Eggenberg, the castle/brewery ran and owned by the family of one of my VLB classmates, Hubert.  The brewery was impeccable, and the castle unbelievable, I cannot imagine getting to live somewhere like this.  Hubert was a perfect tour-guide, showing us around the castle, and taking us out for a night in a local town.  The brewery has tours and makes a great beer, several of which are available in the states, so please look for Eggenberg at your local specialty beer stores and let me know what you think, I will pass any comments on to Hubert.

From Austria we drove to the beer capital of the world Munich.

Tim and Cliff at the Hofbrauhaus

Munich is very much a rebuilt city, with most of the buildings having been destroyed during WWII.  Some buildings survived, and many were rebuilt to spec, representative of their former selves, however I have to say the best part of the city, aside from the history, is the beer.  Home of Oktoberfest, and what can only be described as a year-round party, Munich is a beer drinkers paradise.  The streets are filled with tents serving beer.  And if you can find yourself a table, you will be served by the beautiful women of Munich, complete with traditional Bavarian dress and attitude (see pic below).  If you get to Munich, you are obliged to have a liter, or more, at the Hofbrauhaus, arguably the most famous bar in the world.

Hofbrauhaus, enough said

This picture has everything you need in it, the oompa band in the background, liter beers served in Hofbrauhaus mugs, and people having a good time.  If you make it, grab yourself a pair of lederhosen at a local shop and get into it.  Everyone has a good time and the locals love sharing a beer and some good conversation with anyone good enough to join them.

From Munich we drove up to Auschwitz and the concentration camp.  It was a somber end to our trip, but an important part of history to recognize and see for ourselves.  If you are in Germany you have to visit at least one camp to put everything you have heard into perspective.  They are all free-admittance, and open most days.

Back to Berlin, where we admittedly crashed early for the first night, justifiably I think.  Then the next day managed to visit some of my personal favorite places around the city.  A cafe, my bakery, and some of my daily locales.  Followed by a night at a hookah bar, the Berliner Rupublik, a bar based on the principles of the stock exchange, and some other sights around Berlin.

In any case, I have been busy, and I thank my brother’s for sharing this experience with me, it was incredible.  If anyone plans on visiting any of these areas I have maps and suggestions for all of them.  Thanks to everyone for reading, I know this was long but hopefully you stuck with me.  Thanks also for the comments and emails.  I will try and put up some graduation pictures when I can.  I am leaving Berlin in a few short days, so I will try and put this whole trip into perspective in one final Berlin post.  In the meantime thanks again for reading.

Cheers,

Mike

Hello to everyone, I am sitting in a hostel in London waiting for my travel partner Alex to get out of bed so we can hit the city.  It’s raining outbut we plan on getting some breakfast, going to the changing of the guards, and then exploring for the day.  Took in most of the main tourist sights yesterday, but there is still a lot to do today.  Sorry no pictures but I’m on a coin operated computer in the lobby, no chance.

Anyways the last few week has been a total blur.  Finished exams, and had a few days off, which should have been spent relaxing, but were not.  Then we traveled to Dusseldorf, Cologne, and stopped at a bunch of breweries spread out in the area.  I will give some more details and include some pictures soon, but basically picture 31 brewers, actually Brewmasters, getting to let loose after a few weeks of non-stop studying.  I was woken up Thursday morning by a fire extinguisher going off in my room (I’m still cleaning powder off things as I use them). 

The graduation ceremony was really nice, all of our professors and a lot of the staff came to wish us off.  Some family members of graduates traveled in to congratulate and then do some sightseeing in Europe.  We had a nice party afterwards with all of the beers we had brewed and a good buffet.  And that basically led me up to London.

So that is it for now, I have no more quid and my time is about to expire.  Thanks as always for reading and be well, more to come soon.

Cheers,

Mike

Skyline from club weekend

Friday I officially took as passed my final exam for the course.  I received all of my scores and found that everything went well and I passed all of my classes, actually did much better than I thought in several of them.  So in any case, I am done here with all of my work at the VLB.  We have our excursion to Dusseldorf leaving tomorrow, and graduation on Friday, but then everything is officially complete. 

I’m not sure where to go with this blog.  The exams were such a whirlwind that I don’t know where to start.  I guess to anyone who wants to take this course, the best advice you could give is to pay attention in class, be involved in everything, and study what you know is important.  At this point all but one student passed the course, and although a few people failed individual exams, all but the one will receive their diploma’s on Friday.

I promised a picture of our hop garden once it had grown in, so here it is.

Hop Garden

 You can see the plants have grown to the top of our roughly 10 foot tall structure.  They have not begun to bud yet, but appear healthy and should do so in the coming summer months.  I’m not sure if this had made the news yet but some very rough thunderstorms hit Germany last week and destroyed something around 30% of the hop plants.  I have seen pictures of entire fields with no leaves left on the vines, so things should get interesting in terms of pricing and availability.

OK, other things to fill in.  Of course we celebrated after graduation, with most of the class grabbing a beer together to relax and congratulate each other.  This continued with many people through the night as we attended barbeque’s, nightclubs, and some flat parties.  Yesterday was spend in Kreutzberg, where this weekend is the celebration of the culture carnival.  It seemed like the streets were blocked off for kilometers as booths celebrating the cultures of countries from around the world were set up.  There were numerous stages for bands, and performers, all representing a different sound native to their homeland.  There were also many shops and biergartens, and food stands, basically everything you could need to spend a day out in the sun/downpours that Berlin provided for the day.

Crowd at the culture in carnival

So as you can see, I am doing my best to keep as busy as possible.  The next few weeks, my last here in Europe, are jam packed and will be incredible, but non-stop busy.  Tomorrow I leave for Dusseldorf, Warsteiner, and a few other stops.  I will be back in Berlin for graduation on the 5th, before flying to London on the 6th.  Returning on the 8th, and leaving on the 9th for Prague, Austria, and Munich.  So my blogs will be sporadic, but I will get to them and include some pics, and stories. 

As always thanks for reading, commenting, emailing, etc.  I appreciate all of the interest and support.  I will be back in the US in a few short weeks, so keep in touch.

Cheers,

Mike

Study Materials

So there is a picture of what I have been looking at for the past week or so.  I am finally starting to see some light at the end of the tunnel and am through what I think to be the worst of the exams.  Today I finished my brewing technology exam, which I anticipated being the hardest of them all.  It covered essentially 5 months worth of lectures, and 7 books covering some 500 or so pages.  Anyways I feel OK about it, at least well enough to have passed I hope.  This leaves me with only three more exams, still some work ahead, but I think I’m almost there.

That all being said, let me fill you in on what the exams have consisted of.  Last week I had the first half of my Microbiology exam, consisting of analysing three samples on agar plates, I had 2 wild yeast strains and a bacteria.  Tomorrow I will go back into the lab and finish this exam by identifying and analysing the results of a swab test I performed last week. 

Monday we had two exams, the first in Waste water treatment, the second in Economics.  Waste water was not all that hard and we were well prepared for the exam by our professor, so no worries.  Economics should be no problem for me as I think I am one of two with a business degree in the class, in any case I am sure I did well.  Today of course was the aforementioned brewing technology exam.  It was around 30 questions, 20 multiple choice, 10 short essay questions.  It is not that the material is incredibly difficult, although some of it it, the problem was the incredible amount of potential material that was covered.  The questions were also very specific, including several drawings of chemical reactions, fermentation processes, and a few other assorted molecules and molecule chains.  This combined with the theoretical context of the entire brewing process proved to add up to a lot.  The entire class seemed very relieved to be done with it. 

The biggest problem now, aside from the remaining tests, is deciding what to do about tomorrow night.  We have been going out to an Irish bar called Oscar Wilde’s for all of the Champions leage matches for a few months now.  Tomorrow is the finals, Man U vs. Barcelona, and my classmate from Catalonia is adamant about going, life is tough. 

That’s about it today, my brain is fried but I wanted to give a quick update and let you know I am making my way through it.  I know I gave kind of a brief example of the exams, feel free to ask anything more specific if you are interested.  As always thanks for reading and for all your emails and comments.  My time here is winding down and I appreciate all of your input and support. 

Cheers,

Mike

Picture Day

First off I apologize for being MIA for quite some time.  I have been doing nothing but writing papers and studying for upcoming 10 exams (starting Wednesday).  I did manage to go out Friday night, but a little R+R never hurt anyone, unless your name is Mike Piontek and going out Friday night got you sick.  Yes I have some sort of fever or something, so I am now sitting here writing and at the same time hoping the schwein flu hasn’t hit the Deutschland.  On a random side note, the apotheke (pharmacy’s) here are pretty interesting.  They look like empty stores with just maybe a few vitamins out for sale.  Then you go to the counter, tell someone all your symptoms (in my case pantomime them) and they basically arrange a pile of cocktails for you to take and get better.  It’s a no privacy, maximum efficiency type of system, if you haven’t caught onto this German theme yet then there it is spelled out for you. 

Anyways, for one of our final lessons (yes it’s almost over, crazy), one of our professors gave a two part lecture on special beers, focusing mainly on special German beers that follow the rules of the Reinheitsgebot.  The main focus was on wheat beers, alt beers, and kolsch.  This started up a really interesting argument.  Our professor is from Dusseldorf, and one student in our class is from Cologne, which are apparently like the Boston and New York of Germany, except this rivalry goes back way farther.  Basically they have some deep disliking of each other, even making completely different styles of beer, just so they can claim theirs is better than the others.  I have been to Cologne and sampled fresh kolsch, and we are headed to Dusseldorf at the end of the month, so I will make up my mind then.  The argument got funnier though, as apparently, there are no road signs in either direction that will tell you how to get from one city to another, and they are only about 35km apart.  I found this funny, and thought it worth sharing.

In class news we are basically finished up, basically spending the majority of our time covering last minute subjects, and discussing what is important for the exams.  Some of the exams cover 5 months worth of material, and hundreds of pages of manuals, so I have some work ahead of me, but I think I will manage. 

If you are reading this, and in any way contemplating coming to the VLB, let me tell you a story from today, I think it does a good job of explaining why I love it here.  I was sitting at lunch today with a group of friends, just talking and enjoying each other’s company.   And it’s fun speaking English with everyone, a lot of guessing games, explanations, hand gestures are a requirement, as well as attempts at translating into another language (my spanish has gotten 100 times better).   The realization that the four of us, from four different countries, three different continents, representing four different languages, were all hanging out was a really cool feeling, something I can’t quite describe, but will never forget.  In short, similar courses are available in Chicago, and California, but being here in Berlin has so much more to offer. 

In more news, I have several trips planned for the next month.  First off, after we finish exams, we will be going on a final class trip.  We are schedules to tour several small brewhouses and brewpubs, and the a few larger breweries, most notably Erzquell and Warsteiner.  The trip will bring us through western Germany, so Dusseldorf, Dortmund, and some towns on that side of the country.  It should prove to be a very fun trip, especially with the pressure of the exams over.

After this trip, we have graduation, and then I have a 3 day window of nothing planned.  I would like to take this time to see at least one more city somewhere in Europe, but have no decided yet.  If anyone has a suggestion please leave a comment and state your case, I have about a week to decide.

Finally, before returning stateside, my brother’s will be making the trip over here to go on a family road trip.  I rented a car and we will be driving from Berlin, to Prague, then Munich, and then back to Berlin.  Should be an awesome trip, we are jamming a lot into a little time, but I am very excited.

That’s it for now, long entry, but it’s been a while so I had plenty to say, and besides this was a much needed study break.  So thanks for reading, keep the comments and emails coming, I always look forward to them. 

Cheers,

Mike

Berlin Mitte

So admittedly I am starting to stress out over all the work I have to do in the next few weeks.  Finals here start on the 20th and I have 10 exams over an 8 day span.  Also due in the next few weeks are a 20 page report analyzing brewing with malt and certain percentages of barley.  At the same time I am writing a 10 page report for my chemical-technical analyses class based on our findings in analyzing beer and malt.  So in any case I have a lot to do, and only a short time to do it.  The good news is that it is raining outside so my temptations are limited and I may actually sit down and get some of my work done.

Classes are winding down, but I will give you a basic rundown of what we have been learning about during this 3rd module of courses.  Brewing technology is now mainly focused on beer stability, stabilization, and foal stability.  Essentially how to best control the quality of your beer so that it will remain as fresh as possible, for as long as possible, once it is out of your hands. 

Plant equipment is focused on the equipment used while trying to control the quality of the beer.  This is mainly the filtration systems, bottling and kegging systems, and the actual bottles themselves.  The filtrations systems have been iteresting to learn about as I had only really been exposed to a centrifugal system at Harpoon.  Also the bottling and kegging systems are much more advanced at the large industrial breweries, than what I have personally used.  It has also been interesting to learn about the differences between the processes used here in Europe vs. in the US.  There is much more focus here (Europe) on recycling, and re-use, then in America.  Many breweries rely on reusing as much as 60% of their bottles, whereas American breweries often use only brand new bottles.  I was somewhat mocked at this as it shows a wasteful attitude.

Economics we are focusing on building a business plan, something that will hopefully be useful to me in the near, or somewhat distant, future.  This course is somewhat less useful to me though as it is aimed at a less experienced audience and I have a pretty good background in business and economics.

Microbiology is no mainly focused on identifying yeasts and bacterias through analyzing beer, wort, water, and air samples.   There are so many different examples of what could be in your sample that this can be very confusing.  This also makes it more gratifying when your testing comes to an end and you are correct in your findings.  This is definitely a prime of example of a course that will come in handy in a brewery.  The practical work here is exactly what I remember from my time in the laboratory during my internship and I wish I knew then what I know now.

Hopefully this gives you a good look into what is going on here at this point.  I left out a few classes but I will give an update on them later in the week once I have had them more recently.  Thanks again to anyone reading, and for the comments and emails.

Cheers,

Mike

Check out more by searching youtube

Friday here in Germany was labor day.  On this day every year, thousands of people flock to Kreutzberg, a small sort of bohemian section of Berlin.  The streets are all blocked off and set up for a huge day of music, food, shows, and shops.  It’s hard to explain exactly how all of this works, but it seems that the party is basically sponsored by all of the radical political and social parties here in Berlin.  Booths everywhere are pro-socialism, anti-capitalism, anti-fascism, and all sorts of politically charged groups.  During the day, families and tourists, locals, basically everyone, walks around, watches some performances, eat some food, have a few drinks, and basically enjoy themselves.  When it gets dark it is a different story, and if you are interested I thoroughly recommend looking up some YouTube videos (search Kreutzberg and you will find plenty).  The groups basically begin violently protesting, lighting fires, throwing rocks and bottles at police, flipping cars etc.  This was described to me as “a good proper riot”, in other words, this is not a group of hooligans just looking to raise hell.  This is an organized group of political protesters getting their message out.  I could be wrong on this, but this is how it was described to me.  In any case the night ends with thousands of polizei, or the German Anti-Konflict team, charging the crowds, and arresting and detaining hundreds.  I was warned countless times to not be there during the night, and thus I have no first-hand accounts of this, but I have since heard some stories.  In the end, I do fully recommend checking out the festivities if you are ever here for them.  It was a great chance to sample all kinds of foods, drinks, and listen to some really good music with a really enthusiastic crowd. 

Thanks for reading, and emailing, commenting, etc.  I always appreciate.  I have also had some requests to get back to telling about the educational side of my trip, not just the cultural, so I promise this week to write all about my classes, lectures, and practical work and let you know what you pay for at the VLB. 

Cheers,

Mike

VLB Pilot Brewery

First off, just got back from an Irish pub where we were watching the UEFA champions league, Barcelona vs. Chelsea, and I dont know why soccer isnt more popular in America.  I remember people watching the world cup in bars when it was on, I’m not sure why it hasn’t caught on a more regular basis.  Maybe if we watched it we could develop some actual talent in America and compete on an international level.  We sent one player, Donovan, over to Bayern Munchen, the rival of Hertha Berlin (my local team), but the word here is that he was more of a publicity stunt then a player, and he has already been sent home.  That’s it for this rant, but seriously, its a great sport to watch.

Anyways, spent 8+ hours this weekend in the pilot brewery working on a new batch of beer.  Myself and a fellow American, Chris, brewed a batch of honey wheat beer, my first real foray into a predominately wheat based brew.  The best part was that the two of us had the brewery to ourselves (with the brewmaster watching) to do as we wished.  Chris had picked up a case of fresh honey from a local honey farm, and we used that as the base for our brew.  I had already made two brews here at the pilot brewery, but usually in a larger group, so this was much more active and hands on than usual.  We mashed in with predominately wheat grains, just about 25% barley malt.  When the boil started, we used the brewer’s kitchen to boil and dilute our honey.  We added 3 liters mid boil, and 3 liters at the end of the boil, figuring it would only give us more to ferment, as well as a full body and sweet taste.  Unfortunately we only had a dry top-fermenting yeast, but we pitched none the less, somewhere around 400g for a 2 hectoliter batch.  This was on Saturday, today, Tuesday, we were already hitting our target gravity and ready to rack.  We added 1 more liter of diluted honey and racked a total of 3 kegs and 1 growler.  The plan is to leave them at room temp for 2 days, carefully regulating pressure, as we have decided not to filter, and then to put in cold storage to mature for several weeks.  I will let you know how the beer turns out, chances are it will be available for our graduation in early June, so as long as I can pass my exams I will have something to celebrate with.  Wish me luck.

That’s it for today.  As always thanks for the comments and emails, and for just reading in general.  Tomorrow night (day for US) is the Man U vs. Arsenal UEFA champions league match, I challenge you to watch and not be entertained.  Otherwise keep reading and Ill post again soon.

Cheers,

Mike

Old Pic, but it shows the whole class

Thursday the 23rd was officially the “celebration” of the Reinheitsgebot, or German Purity Laws.  If you are reading this and not familiar with the laws, I recommend reading more at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_purity_law.  The law comes from the 1516, originating in Bavaria, and basically states that a brew, to be considered beer, can contain only four ingredients; malt, water, hops, and yeast.  Depending on who you are in Germany, your viewpoint on this law can differ immensely.  For example, a maltster most likely appreciates the law, as it keeps brewers from using other ingredients to save money.  Brewers seem to have very conflicting viewpoints.  Several of my professors speak of how they are proud of it, and from the point of view of tradtition, are happy to be carrying on brewing the way its been done for so long.  I also have professors, who come from more of a scientific point of view and think the laws are foolish and no longer needed.  I understand that this is a long standing tradition, but it seriously limits the types, and styles of beers that can be brewed and sold in Germany.  The beer here is of a very high quality, always consistent, usually good, but what is lacking is the different choices.  Many variations of beer that I love, are simply not available here.  In any case, regardless of what you think of these laws, they provided the VLB with a good excuse to throw a party.

One of the VLB’s best characteristics is its ability to bring together people from so many places around the world.  On any given day there is someone at the school representing 6 continents and countless countries.  The Reinheitsgebot limits the variety of beer, so this party was meant to be the exact opposite, and attract as many different types of people, food, and beverages as possible.  Everyone in the class was instructed to bring food and/or drink from their home nation, and meet after the school/work day in the hop house/brewers guild, which is essentially a shack turned bar behind the school.  There must have been around 100 of us, with a ridiculous amount of food and beers/liquors from all over the world.  I tried some home cooked meals from Thailand, Japan, China, that I had never seen anything like.  Some of the traditional meals from Argentina, and Brazil, turned out to be my favorites.  And the liquor brought from Korea and Lithuania turned out to be what ended the night for many.  The night also provided a great forum for discussion about all sorts of world issues, many of which were controversial, none of which got overly heated.  I was personally asked some questions about 9/11 from some interested guys from Turkey, and it was very interesting to hear their points of view.  I also had several guys from Germany telling me their families stories from WWII, and it is especially interesting to me to hear these stories from the other side.  They key here was to show that something universal like, an appreciation for beer, really can bring so many different people together for such a good time.  Once again I am very happy with the VLB and the experience that it is affording me. 

Thanks again for reading this, hopefully it was interesting.  I want to again thank everyone for the emails I have been getting, its good to hear that people are enjoying reading about my time over here.  So keep it up, and thanks again.

Cheers,

Mike