Beer of the Week: Grateful Deft

For many breweries, especially in ale-and-hop-loving San Diego County, Oktoberfest offers a nice change of pace; an opportunity to take a brief break from producing IPAs and lighter-bodied bottom-fermented stock to crafting and tapping more of the impressively broad spectrum of German-style lagers (and some ales, too…hello, altbiers!). It’s cause for celebration, the donning of lederhosen and dirndls, and downing stein after stein of Old World goodness. Most local breweries offer their take on a strong pale Wies’n-style festbier or a malt-forward, copper-hued Märzen. But not Deft Brewing, where they celebrate lesser-seen styles from Deutschland (not to mention the U.K., Czech Republic, Ireland and Belgium) on a week in, week out basis, but never so much as during their annual Deftoberfest. That two-week celebration runs concurrent with Bavaria’s Oktoberfest, and sees the seven-year-old institution tap all manner of German beer. Deftoberfest runs through Sunday, October 6, and will feature vierzehn (translation: 14) biers, including this week’s featured brew, Grateful Deft. An unfiltered kellerbier, it pours an amber hue that looks positively beautiful when held to the light in commemorative glassware. On the palate, light, toasty breadiness is followed by lingering notes of dried apricot. Not only is it a well-made, delicious beer, but you’re not likely to find it anywhere in the county any other time of year, providing an ideal reason to pay Deft a visit and give it a try. Or grab a stein fill of any of the other 13 seasonally celebratory beers on tap, which include a mango-infused gose (sour ale brewed with salt), kölsch, leicht (light) helles lager, kottbusser (honey wheat ale with molasses), Bavarian Pilsner, hefeweizen, Märzen, dunkel, schwarzbier (black lager), weizenbock, Maibock and DoppelSticke altbier. Not only does variety abounds for vierzehn festive days, but those to-style beers can be savored in equally traditional environs in The Gärten, a large outdoor biergarten Deft shares with neighboring businesses, Lost Cause Meadery, Oddish Wine and Pizza Cassette. Lasst uns feiern!

For those who might not be familiar with the style, a ‘kellerbier’ is basically an unfiltered, cold-stored (keller = cellar) lager style popular in the east-central part of Germany, in and around Nuremburg. As compared to its little cousin, zwickelbier (which you are a little more likely to find on a local brewery tap list), kellerbiers tend to be bigger and more full-flavored. That is what we were going for, a respectful-of-tradition, reasonably strong, flavor-packed, unfiltered, rustic-style brew we could store away for months and then bring out to enjoy during our favorite time of the year, Deftoberfest. We find that this latest version ‒ our best yet ‒ features a really nice balanced profile. You’ll likely notice both the bread and caramel-malt character along with the influence of the Noble hops we used, however, ours does slightly veer from tradition. Apparently, traditional kellerbiers were served flat, with little or no carbonation, and appeared quite turbid or murky when poured. Our version is pleasantly carbonated to appeal to modern sensibilities, and although similarly unfiltered, our long cellaring/lagering process left the beer less murky. To us, this kellerbier is a great example of a rustic, classic beer; something you cherish, store away and then bring out for special occasions. Kind of like those classic vinyl albums from those beloved bands that will live on forever. We hope Grateful Deft is a beer that folks will really appreciate and that will also live on forever. Prost!“

Mo Nuspl, Co-founder & Brew Master, Deft Brewing

Deft Brewing is located inside The Gärten at 5328 Banks Street in the Bay Park / Morena neighborhood