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The word “bock” may come from a mangling of Einbeck, the name of the town where the style originated. But, “bock” also means billy goat in German and advertisements for bockbiers almost always feature a goat. Dopplebocks, or “double bock beers,” begin with a long step mash — or a triple decoction mash, if you want to take the traditional route — of Munich malt and end with a long lagering period. However, if you brew one, your patience will eventually be rewarded with a dark, full-bodied, malty brew with a serious kick — just like a billy goat.

Literally, doppelbock means “double bock.” In Germany, all bock beers fall into the category of starkbier (strong beer), which is defined as any brew that is sent to the fermenter at an original gravity upwards of 1.064 (16 °P). Doppelbock is one of Germany’s biggest beers, typically with an OG of 1.072 (18 °P) or more and exhibiting at least 7% alcohol by volume (ABV).

Doppelbocks are always heavy and malty, with little perceived hop bitterness. Their color ranges from a deep amber to light mahogany.

A Challenging Brew for the Patient and Contemplative Brewer

Brewing a beer this big from scratch is only for the most intrepid and patient of grainmeisters! Allow for a long brew day, because doppelbock requires a lengthy and laborious multi-step mashing process to allow for proper grain hydration and complete conversion of beta-glucans, proteins and all the starches. Also, with a grain bill of around 16 lbs. (7.3 kg) of grain for 5 gallons (19 L) of this, you will benefit from a correspondingly long sparge, perhaps for as long as 90 minutes. Next, malty doppelbocks benefit from a long, two-hour boil, which promotes the formation of melanoidins, the browning effect in wort that adds richness and some color to the finished brew. Worst of all, from the standpoint of an anxious and thirsty homebrewer, there is the beer’s long, chilly lagering period to allow it to become mellow and drinkable.

Lagering should take a minimum of two months, but six months is much better — a wait that can test any brewer’s patience and self-control. Lastly, for homebrewers who bottle condition their beer, this heavy lager is notoriously slow to respond to priming agents. So, after bottling, add another month of waiting before tasting, unless you have the means to force-carbonate the brew in a keg. You may also want to consider adding fresh yeast when you bottle.

In spite of all this heartache, this brew is worth the trouble. There are few beer experiences more satisfying than having a chewy, full-bodied, velvety-smooth doppelbock descend unhurriedly past your pallet.

With that much patience and self-restraint — nay denial — involved in brewing a doppelbock, it is small wonder that the people who first came up with this brew were pious monks! The first doppelbock was brewed by the Paulaner friars of Munich, a Benedictine order named after its Italian patron saint, Francis of Paula. It seems that you’ve got to be wholly immersed in the contemplative lifestyle of a cloistered recluse to conceive of a brew this trying. (For additional detail about the origins of doppelbock, see the historical sidebar on p. 32.)

Defining Doppelbock

There are many varieties of strong beer in Munich. Next to the doppelbock, there are regular bocks, Christmas bocks, winterbocks, eisbocks and Maibocks. Unfortunately for the modern, scientifically inspired brewer, the numerical separators between these brews are not quite as discrete as might be desirable. In fact, the brewers of Munich, both secular and religious, brew their beers on a seamless continuum of strength — from the featherweight schankbiers of a mere 2.5% ABV, to the serious heavyweights that push the envelope at 12 to 13% ABV. Thus it is difficult to tell with certainty the original gravity or alcohol level at which an ordinary bockbier — already a potent brew! — should end and a doppelbock should start. Likewise, in the upper reaches of weightiness, there is no clear demarcation line between the strength of a doppelbock and its even more exulted cousin, the eisbock — except by process, of course. The eisbock, unlike the doppelbock, needs to be frozen and drained off its slush to concentrate its flavors and alcohol, while the doppelbock must reach similar heights by relying entirely on the good works of its yeast.

Doppelbocks are always heavy, starting at 7% ABV, but with some examples reaching 13%. Thus, they are sipping rather than quaffing beers. Their smoothness is very deceptive and can easily lead the unsuspecting imbiber to overindulge.

Doppelbocks, like most Bavarian beers, have very little perceived upfront bitterness, in spite of a respectable hop loading of about 30 IBU. This is barely enough to balance the dominance of the residual sweetness from all that Munich malt. In color, a doppelbock is always dark-ish, roughly between very deep amber and light mahogany, somewhere around 20 SRM.

All-Grain Doppelbock Mashing

The optimum foundation grist for a proper doppelbock grain bill is Bavarian-grown Munich malt, often called Type I. Munich Type 1 malt is kilned to no more than 6 to 8 degrees Lovibond (° L). This is a color rating at which diastatic enzymes are still active enough to convert their own starches. Unlike most other, paler base malts, Munich malts do not have the enzymatic power to convert much extra starch. (Of course, since starchy adjuncts are never used in doppelbocks, this is not a practical concern).

With modern malting techniques, which allow the maltster to make controlled batches of malt with Lovibond ratings ranging between roughly 1.5 °L and 500 °L, we can now make dopplebocks at just about any color we want to. For instance, we could make a doppelbock from nothing but Pils malt and obtain a finished beer with a light, golden color. However, before the 19th Century, such pale malts were not available and the more grain the brewer put into the mash, the darker the beer was likely to be. Therefore, if tradition is your guide — as it still is in Bavaria — you want to aim for a color value of around 20 SRM.

When formulating a doppelbock, begin with about 50 to 60% of Munich Type I malt. Next, to add extra color and maltiness, add the more strongly kilned Munich malt called Type II. Munich Type II malt is kilned to about 10 °L. Type II malt should occupy about one-third of the grain bill. Finally, for extra body and mouthfeel, use CaraMunich® Type I, a caramel/crystal-type malt that is kilned to about 35 °L. It makes up the remaining roughly one-tenth of the grain bill.

Note that these Lovibond values refer to Bavarian-grown malts (and the recipes on page 30 are based on these), while malts of the same names that come from North American maltsters are frequently slightly or substantially darker. When purchasing your grains, therefore, be sure to inquire about their color values.

Following the practice of many German breweries, dough-in a doppelbock mash as thick as possible, aiming for a starting mash temperature of roughly 95 °F (35 °C). At a liquor-to-grist ratio of 1:1 (1 L/kg or 0.5 quarts/lb.), our 5-gallon (19-L) recipes call for roughly 2.0 gallons (7.6 liters) of liquor at a temperature of 122 °F (50 °C). This is a very thick mash, much thicker than that of a single infusion mash. However you will be adding water to the mash for subsequent rests and this will progressively thin it out.

Let the mash rest for at least an hour for proper hydration. This improves extract efficiency and lautering speed — important variables in a grain bed as big as a doppelbock’s. Proper hydration also accentuates the finished beer’s malt flavor. Lastly, an enzyme called phytase becomes active at this temperature. It produces small amounts of phytic acid, which helps to ensure a proper mash-pH (5.1 to 5.4 is considered optimal for amylase activity during subsequent saccharification rests). Some German breweries even dough-in the evening before brew day to let the mash hydrate overnight.

The next rest of about 30 minutes comes at a temperature of 113 °F (45 °C). To get there, infuse the hydrated mash very slowly with near-boiling water, while stirring constantly to avoid hot spots in the grain bed. This is an optional, but beneficial rest for a heavy doppelbock, because, at this temperature, high-molecular gums, mostly beta glucans, are enzymatically degraded by specialized enzymes, mostly endo-beta-glucanase. The degradation of gums reduces mash and wort viscosity, improves lautering, cuts down on beer hazes and has a positive effect on head stability and mouthfeel in the finished beer.

Next in line is the protein rest at about 122 °F (50 °C). Again infuse the mash with near-boiling water. Let the mash rest for about 30 minutes. The objective here is to activate proteases, the group of enzymes that breaks down large-molecular proteins into smaller-molecular ones — going to work on the remaining large proteins that have not already been degraded during malting. Like the degradation of gums, eliminating large-molecular proteins aids in lautering efficiency and reduces the possibility of chill hazes in the finished beer.

Now raise the mash temperature to the peak beta-amylase activity level of about 149 °F (65 °C). Beta amylase enzymes change starches into simple, fermentable sugars, the source of all the alcohol we want in a doppelbock. By this point, your mash thickness will be somewhere within the range that allows for starch degredation to proceed without a problem. Rest the mash here for 30 minutes. Then infuse it again to reach the peak alpha amylase temperature of roughly 162 °F (72 °C) for another 30-minute rest. At this temperature, any left-over starches will be converted by alpha amylase into unfermentable, complex sugars which will add body to the finished beer.

Finally, it is time for the mash-out at about 170–172 °F (77–78 °C). First recirculate the wort until it runs clear, and then start sparging with approximately 180 °F (82 °C) water. Reduce the sparge water temperature as soon as the grain bed reaches the mash-out temperature.

Traditionally, of course, like all Bavarian beers, doppelbock was decocted — principally because the enzymatic properties of brewing grains were unpredictable in the old days, and because adequate modification at the malting plant was not a sure bet either. Many modern brewers maintain that decoction mashing enhances the beer’s maltiness, though most commercial breweries — even in Bavaria — use an infusion process these days. If you wish to try a traditional decoction mash, see the Techniques column on page 55.

Extract and Extract-Plus-Grain Doppelbocks

Extract-plus-grain as well as all-extract brewers will have a much easier time with this brew than do all-grainers, provided they can find the right specialty malt extracts at their local homebrew supply shop. Extract-plus-grain brewers can replace the Munich Type I malt from the all-grain version with Weyermann Munich Amber liquid malt extract. This golden-brown, unhopped malt extract is the perfect substitute, because it happens to be made entirely from a double-decoction mash of Weyermann Munich Type I malt. Use a mix of the other malts, including Munich Type II and Caramunich® Type I, steeping.

For all-extract brewers, a good malt extract approximation of the Munich Type II and Caramunich® Type I malts from the all-grain recipe is Weyermann Bavarian Dunkel liquid malt extract. This product is an unhopped malt extract made from a double-decoction mash of Weyermann Munich Type I , Weyermann Caramunich® Type II, and Weyermann Pilsner Malt. According to Weyermann’s specifications, the amber extract alone produces a nominal color rating of 8.8 to 11 °L in a wort of OG 1.050 (13 °P), while the dunkel extract does the same at a nominal color rating of 25 to 29 °L. Mixed at an amber-to-dunkel ratio of 60:40, therefore, the resulting wort color should be about 15 °L for the reference OG of 1.050 (13°P), and close to our target color of 21 °L at our target OG of 1.072 (18°P).

Hops and Yeast

Because doppelbocks are very Bavarian, their hop bitterness is restrained and more apparent on the finish than upfront. They rely only on the mildest and most aromatic noble hops. Hallertauer Mittelfrüh, Hersbrücker, Perle or the American Hallertauer-derivative Mt. Hood are fine. Spalter, Tettnanger and Northern Brewer can also be used.

Because high-gravity worts sometimes do not take off as quickly and vigorously as is desirable, it is helpful to provide the brew with plenty of viable yeast cells at pitching time. You can either make a yeast starter or simply pitch multiple packets of yeast. For a 5-gallon (19-L) batch of beer, a 4–6 qt. (~4–6 L) yeast starter would be optimal.    

Proven Bavarian lager yeasts are best for doppelbock. These include Wyeast 2206 (Bavarian Lager), Wyeast 2308 (Munich Lager), White Labs WLP838 (Southern German Lager) and White Labs WLP920 (Old Bavarian Lager) yeast. Be sure to aerate the wort well at pitching time, because a lack of sufficient oxygen will delay the start of fermentation and cause the yeast to produce solvent-tasting esters, which could ruin the clean, smooth taste of your doppelbock.

Priming and Conditioning

Because a doppelbock requires from two to six months of lagering time to mellow out, it will contain fewer viable yeast cells for metabolizing any priming agent at packaging time than an ale. Thus building carbonation through bottle priming may take about four weeks at room temperature. Adding some fresh bottling yeast — about a teaspoon of yeast solids per 5 gallons (19 L) — should let you bottle condition in the normal amount of time. By far the best way to serve this brew is to dispense it force-carbonated out of a Cornelius keg.

Alternatively, on the day before packaging your doppelbock, brew a pale lager and divert about one quart (~1 L) of it — at high kräusen — to a sanitized container. Use this as fermenting wort to inoculate the doppelbock right before packaging. The fermenting wort will add both priming sugars and fresh, active yeast to consume these sugars.

Alternatively, you could also, on the evening before packaging day, use about 0.75 lbs. (0.34 kg) milled pale malt to make a single-infusion mini-mash at 149 °F (65 °C), the optimum temperature for beta-amylase. Draw about 1 quart
(~1 L) of wort for priming your beer. Boil this wort for 20 minutes for trub coagulation and sterilizing, but you do not need to hop it. You can also make your quart (liter) of wort from about 0.5 lb. (0.25 kg) of pale liquid malt extract or about 6.0 oz. (0.17 kg) of dried malt extract. Cool the wort and inoculate it with a package of lager yeast. The following day, when the wort is at high kräusen, add it to the finished doppelbock as a primer.

Once you endure the long lagering period, without sneaking samples, your period of self-denial will be over and you will be free to enjoy your liquid bread.

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Terminator Doppelbock

5 gallons/19 L, all-grain; OG = 1.072; FG = 1.016; IBU = 30  SRM =  21  ABV = 7.2%

Ingredients:

9.5 lbs. (4.3 kg) Weyermann Munich Type I  malt (6.2 °L)
6.0 lb. 2.7 kg) Weyermann Munich Type II malt (10 °L)
0.45 lbs. (0.2 kg) Weyermann Caramunich® Type I malt (35 °L)
7.75 AAU Hallertauer Mittelfrüh, Hersbrücker, Perle or Mt. Hood hops (75 mins) (1.7 oz./49 g of 4.5% alpha acid)

0.5 oz. (14 g) Hallertauer Mittelfrüh, Hersbrucker, Perle or Mt. Hood hops (5 mins)
Wyeast 2206 (Bavarian Lager), Wyeast 2308 (Munich Lager), White Labs WLP838 (Southern German Lager) or
   White Labs WLP920 (Old Bavarian Lager) yeast
1 cup corn sugar (for priming)

Step by Step:

Mash the grain using the lengthy process described in the main text. Before sparging, recirculate the run-off until it is clear. Sparge with near-boiling water making sure the grain bed temperature does not exceed the mash-out temperature of about 170–172°F (77–78°C). Boil the wort for about two hours. Add the bittering hops 45 minutes into the boil and the flavor/aroma hops about 5 minutes before shutdown. Let the hot wort rest for 30 to 45 minutes to allow the trub to sediment well. Then heat-exchange the brew to the optimum fermentation temperature recommended for your chosen yeast; 48 °F (8.8 °C) tends to be a perfect target pitching temperature for most Bavarian lager yeasts.    

For a faster start of fermentation, aerate very thoroughly! Pitch the yeast or starter. The brew should reach its terminal gravity of approximately FG 1.016 (4 °P) within 10 days to two weeks. Let the spent yeast settle for a few days. This will improve the clean taste of the finished Doppelbock. Then rack the brew and give it an optional diacetyl rest at room temperature for about two to three days, at which point it is time to rack it into a lagering vessel. For lagering, pull the brew’s temperature down gradually in increments of 2–3 °F (1–1.5 °C) per day for about a week to 10 days. The optimum lagering temperature is approximately 28 °F (-2 °C). The longer the brew is lagered, the mellower it will taste. Eight weeks is the recommended minimum, half a year or longer is better.

Now the beer is finally ready for packaging, but, after such a long lagering period, the beer will contain very few viable yeast cells for metabolizing any priming agent. Thus building carbonation through bottle priming may take about four weeks at room temperature. By far the best way to serve this brew, therefore, is to dispense it force-carbonated out of a Cornelius keg. After conditioning in bottles or a keg, reduce the beer’s temperature to a cellar temperature of about 50 °F (10 °C) for storage. This is also the temperature at which you should serve it.

Terminator Doppelbock

5 gallons/19 L, extract with grains; OG = 1.072;  FG = 1.016; IBU = 30  SRM = 21  ABV = 7.2%

Ingredients:

7 lb. 10 oz. (3.5 kg) Weyermann Munich Amber liquid malt extract
4.4 lb. (2.0 kg) Weyermann Munich Type II malt (10 °L)
0.45 lbs. (0.2 kg) Weyermann Caramunich® Type I malt (35 °L)
8.0 AAU Hallertauer Mittelfrüh, Hersbrücker, Perle or Mt. Hood hops (60 mins) (1.8 oz./50 g of 4.5% alpha acid)
0.5 oz. (14 g) Hallertauer Mittelfrüh, Hersbrucker, Perle or Mt. Hood hops (5 mins)
Wyeast 2206 (Bavarian Lager), Wyeast 2308 (Munich Lager), White Labs WLP838 (Southern German Lager) or
    White Labs WLP920 (Old Bavarian Lager) yeast
1 cup corn sugar (for priming)

Step by Step:

Divide the mixed cracked specialty grains in two muslin bags and place these into about 1.8 gallons (6.9 L) of cold water. Raise the temperature of the steeping liquid over half an hour to 162 °F (72 °C). Turn off the heat and leave the bags in the liquor for another half an hour. Lift the bags out of the liquid, rinse them with several cups of cold water and discard. Stir in the malt extract, adjust the kettle volume and bring to a boil. Because the extract has already been boiled once, there is no need for the long two-hour boil of the wort from the all-grain version. Add the bittering hops after 15 minutes and the flavor hops after 55 minutes. Shut-down after a total boil time of 75 minutes. Then follow the steps outlined in the all-grain recipe.

Terminator Doppelbock

5 gallons/19 L, extract only; OG = 1.072  FG = 1.016; IBU = 30  SRM = 21  ABV = 7.3%

Ingredients:

6.75 lbs. (3.0 kg) Weyermann Munich Amber liquid malt extract
4.0 lbs. (1.8 kg) Weyermann Bavarian Dunkel liquid malt extract
8.0 AAU Hallertauer Mittelfrüh, Hersbrücker, Perle or Mt. Hood hops (60 mins) (1.8 oz./50 g of 4.5% alpha acid)
0.5 oz. (14 g) Hallertauer Mittelfrüh, Hersbrucker, Perle or Mt. Hood hops (5 mins)
Wyeast 2206 (Bavarian Lager), Wyeast 2308 (Munich Lager), White Labs WLP838 (Southern German Lager) or
    White Labs WLP920 (Old Bavarian Lager) yeast
1 cup corn sugar (for priming)

Step by Step:

Mix the two liquid malt extracts with hot brewing liquor in the kettle, stir well, and bring to a boil. Add the bittering hops after 15 minutes and the flavor hops after 55 minutes. Shut-down after a total boil time of 75 minutes. Then follow the steps outlined in the all-grain recipe.

Terminator Doppelbock

5 gallons/19 L, countertop partial mash; OG = 1.072;  FG = 1.016; IBU = 30  SRM = 20  ABV = 7.3%

Ingredients:

8.25 lbs. (3.7 kg) Weyermann Munich Amber liquid malt extract
3.55 lb. (1.6 kg) Weyermann Munich Type II malt (10 °L)
0.45 lbs. (0.2 kg) Weyermann Caramunich® Type I malt (35 °L)
8.0 AAU Hallertauer Mittelfrüh, Hersbrücker, Perle or Mt. Hood hops (60 mins)(1.8 oz./50 g of 4.5% alpha acid)
0.5 oz. (14 g) Hallertauer Mittelfrüh, Hersbrucker, Perle or Mt. Hood hops (5 mins)
Wyeast 2206 (Bavarian Lager), Wyeast 2308 (Munich Lager), White Labs WLP838 (Southern German Lager) or
    White Labs WLP920 (Old Bavarian Lager) yeast
1 cup corn sugar (for priming)

Step by Step:    

Heat 5.5 quarts (5.2 L) of water to 165 °F (74 °C) and pour it into a 2-gallon (7.6-L) insulated beverage cooler. Place crushed grains in a nylon steeping bag and submerge grains in cooler. Open bag and stir grains thoroughly, then close bag and cooler and let mash for 45 minutes, starting at 154 °F (68 °C). While grains are mashing, heat 3.0 quarts (2.8 L) of water to a boil in your brewpot. Also, heat 5.0 quarts of water to 180 °F (82 °C) in a separate pot.

After the grains have mashed, recirculate a couple quarts (liters) of wort until it is fairly clear, then run off first wort and add it to the boiling water in your kettle. Add 180 °F (82 °C) water to cooler, stir grains and let sit for 5 minutes.

Then recirculate and draw off second wort, adding it to the wort in your kettle. Add about 3.0 lbs. (1.4 kg) of the liquid malt extract (not all of it) to your brewpot and bring wort to a boil. Boil wort for 60 minutes, adding hops at times indicated in the ingredient list. With 15 minutes left in the boil, stir in about half of the remaining liquid malt extract. (Keep the boil clock running.) At the end of the boil, stir in the rest of the malt extract and cover your brewpot. Let it sit for 15 minutes before you cool. Cool wort. Transfer chilled wort to fermenter and top up to 5 gallons (19 L) with cold water. Pitch yeast and follow the fermentation instructions in the all-grain recipe. 

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As best we know, the first Lenten strong beer was brewed by Paulaner monks at Cloister Neudeck ob der Au in Munich. The Benedictine order of Paulaners had arrived in Munich from Italy in 1627. No sooner had they settled in their new home, they started to fire up their brew kettles, making beer just for their own consumption. Depending on which documents you trust, the year of the Paulaners’ inaugural brew was 1630, 1651 or 1670 — a difference of little consequence, though, from our perspective in the 21st Century. The strong brew that these austere Paulaners concocted apparently had such delightful qualities that it gave them no small amount of guilt pangs. They felt, their beer might be just a bit too much of an indulgence, especially for Lent, a 46-day time of fasting between Ash Wednesday and Easter Sunday.

To calm their worried souls, they decided to ask the Holy Father in Rome for a special dispensation so that they could continue to brew with a clear conscience. So they sent a cask of Lenten beer to Rome for the pope to try and to pass judgment. During its transport across the Alps, however, and along the burning-hot highways of Italy, unfortunately — or fortunately — the cask tossed and turned, and got “cooked” for several weeks—a classic condition for beer ruin. So when the Holy Father tasted the much-praised quaff from Munich, he found it (appropriately) disgusting. His decision: Because the brew was so vile, making and drinking as much of it as the Munich monks could was probably beneficial for their souls. Therefore, he willingly gave the brewing of this new, allegedly rotten, beer style his blessing. Little did he know...!

Traditionally, the Paulaner monks brewed their “liquid bread” only for themselves for the Lenten season, when next to no solid food was allowed to pass their lips. Because the monks believed that liquids not only cleansed the body but also the soul, they would patiently make plenty of liquid instead of solid bread from their grain, and then drink it in copious quantities as the rules of their order commanded them to. It is a fair guess that the Paulaners’ Lenten “liquid bread” got stronger over the years. Eventually, the Paulaners must have let some of their beer leak out for cash, to the general population. Under stringent feudal rules (and under the modern rules of post-Prohibition North America, incidentally) such sales were of course patently illegal without a license. Thus the Paulaners often found themselves in trouble because of their beer. We know so from many civil complaints that were on record about public rowdiness and drunkenness in the streets around the monastery.

It was not until the spring of 1780 that Elector Duke Karl-Theodor of Bavaria finally granted the Paulaners their official permit to disburse their brew to the public. The name of that first commercial doppelbock was Salvator, which is Latin for Savior. (Today, most brewers give their their doppelbocks names ending in “-or,” referencing the original doppelbock.)   The Paulaners’ joy in being legal, however, was to last only 19 years, because, in 1799, a French fellow named Napoleon Bonaparte conquered Bavaria and proclaimed a new policy, in which he declared that, in all the lands he had conquered in Europe, all religious orders had to be dissolved and dispossessed. Napoleon’s secularization edict was inspired by the Enlightenment movement, which called for a strict separation between church and state. Unlike in Europe’s feudal past, in the new order, governed by Napoleon’s law, the Code Civil, the church was no longer allowed to own property, levy taxes, or engage in business . . . no more pursuits of earthly riches, just the shepherding of man’s immortal soul.

For the Paulaners, that meant that the Bavarian state had to confiscate their monastery and its brewery. The brewery lay in disuse until 1806, when the state rented it to Franz Xaver Zacherl, owner of the Münchener Hellerbräu brewery. Franz Xaver swiftly ended the “Salvatorless” period. By 1813, he was able to purchase his rented premises . . . and, like the monks before him, he promptly got himself into trouble with the law. There were countless court challenges to his beer license, because the public was once again ready to “disturb the peace.” In small-minded fashion, always fearful that their subjects might have too good a time, the civic authorities simply tried to shut Franz Xaver down.

It is in a transcript of testimony given in support of brew master Zacherl during one of those hearings that, on November 10, 1835, Zacherl’s brew was called Salvator. Though the name had been in use for many decades before, this is the oldest documentary reference to the name Salvator for the original doppelbock.

But things soon improved for Herr Zacherl. His Majesty himself, King Ludwig I of Bavaria, issued an ordinance of favor of the Paulaner brewer on March 25, 1837. “As long as I do not decree otherwise,” the King proclaimed, “the authorities are herewith empowered to grant an annual permit for the dispensing of Salvator beer. Regular closing hours, however, must be observed, but no taxes may be levied, because this beer is to be considered a luxury item.” Having found a friend for his brew in the highest place in the land, Zacherl continued to pour his Salvator Doppelbock every Lent until his death in 1846. His heirs and successors did so as well. By the mid-1860s however, a beer hall, the Salvatorkeller at the Nockherberg, was erected for the festivities. This hall — albeit completely renovated after a fire on November 27, 1999 — is where still today, every year, the first Salvator cask of the season is tapped.
   
Horst Dornbusch is a frequent contributor to Brew Your Own.