Graetzer, or Grätzer, is a traditional beer from near the German/Polish border, brewed with beechwood-smoked malt. A pale, heavily-hopped smoked wheat beer of 7-8º Plato. The name derives from Grätz, the German name for the Polish town of Grodzisk Wielkopolski. Originally it was made entirely with oak-smoked wheat malt, and about 1 ounce of Lubin or Saaz hops per gallon. A top-fermenting yeast is used.
Later, Graetzer beer became a low gravity and strongly hopped beer made from 2/3 smoked, highly roasted wheat malt and 1/3 pale barley malt. A single step infusion mash is usually used. The flavor is very smokey and the style is very rare.
The last beer of this style was Grodziskie, brewed in Poland. The brewery was closed in the mid-1990s, leaving Grätzer as a style commercially extinct.
O.G.: 1030 - 1034; Alcohol: 3 - 3.5%; IBUs: 45-50.
References
- Mosher, Randy. "Radical Brewing," Brewers Publications, 2004.
- Old German Beer Styles
- Grodziskie/Grätzer - SUABP Beer Blog
