Rahr

November 2, 2004

By BARBARA RODRIGUEZ /

The Dallas Morning News

The Ginger Man, at 2718 Boll, in Dallas, sells Rahr Blonde Lager on tap.

FORT WORTH If you want to judge a German-style beer, ask a German. My husband is no hard sell when it comes to buying him a beer, mind you. He'll drink most anything that comes from a keg, especially if the tab's going elsewhere.

But tell him you want to buy him a beer that's going to taste like a German beer and he turns all dubious. That is until he sinks his goatee into the foamy headed Rahr Blonde recently introduced by a Fort Worth microbrewery.

"Ach, ja, das schmeckt wirklich Deutsch," he says joyfully, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand,
a gesture I'd not seen (nor missed) since we were last in
a German biergarten.

The golden lager not only passed the taste test by "tasting really German," but, according to the gleam in J|rgen's eye, it also succeeded in abating the homesickness that seems to swamp him each year around Oktoberfest. Alas, it may also mean I see a lot less of my husband until mid-November when the beer, currently available only on draft, will be widely available in longnecks.

Fritz Rahr, 37, founder of Rahr & Sons Brewing Co., has according to my husband, mastered the German-style helles lager, a quaffable brew similar to the Czech Pilsener. As someone who once drove from Berlin to drink a Pilsener in Pilsen, Czechoslovakia, I can tell you Rahr Blonde is the right glowing gold, has the just-so foamy head and is absolutely delicious. In short, it's the sort of beer you'd plan a road trip around.

How Mr. Rahr, who was director of sales for Kansas City Southern Railroad, got it right is no mystery. Sure, he studied brewing in Germany and at the Siebel Institute in Chicago, but more important, he has hops in his genes. In 1847, his great-great-grandfather, Wilhelm Rahr, immigrated to the United States and opened the Eagle Brewery, the first lager brewery in Wisconsin.

The marriage of family and brewing passed through generations, resulting in a Cowtown microbrewery with a fine line of brews.

The Rahr family's malt house in Minnesota supplies the two-row malt (barley), but Tettnanger and Hallertauer, well-known German hops producers, ship in the hops.

So what's the Texas connection? As an alum of Texas Christian University, Mr. Rahr chose to locate Rahr & Sons in Fort Worth, which is also the home of his wife's family.

"Deciding to open the brewery was one of the biggest decisions I've made in my life," Mr. Rahr said.

"I had a fabulous career, but ultimately all I wanted to do was make beer. Perhaps more importantly, I wanted to continue the family tradition. Now, not only do I have a part in my family's brewing history, but my sons can, too, and that's very special to me."

And it's special to me, too. It made my husband happy.

B.R. THE RAHR & SONS BREWING CO.

701 Galveston Avenue (a block west of South Main, south of downtown Fort Worth); 817-810-9266.

The brewery offers free tours and tastings (up to 26 ounces) from 1 to 3 p.m. Saturdays. You're encouraged to bring your own nibbles, the better to enjoy the beer.

What's a microbrewery? Well, it's small enough to imply the beer is crafted, rather than mass produced. Rahr & Sons has a brewing capacity of 10,000 to 12,000 barrels annually, whereas a company like Miller produces

7 million barrels annually at its Fort Worth plant.

WHAT THEY BREW
Rahr Blonde, a helles lager, is 4.7 percent alcohol by volume. Also available on tap at the establishments below, Rahr Red has a bit more body. Ugly Pug, a German-style Schwarzbier or "black" lager, is planned for a Dec. 1 release. And more brews are promised.

WHERE TO DRINK IT
The lager, crafted by Rahr & Sons Brewing Co., first began appearing in Fort Worth in September when the fledgling brewery first began tapping into the market at the Flying Saucer in downtown Fort Worth and Addison, White Elephant Beer Garden in the Stockyards and Lonnegan's in Hurst. It's currently on tap in Dallas at The Ginger Man and the Idle Rich Pub, and in Fort Worth at Zoe's and Fox & Hound. The longnecks will be sold "anywhere and everywhere bottled beer is sold," promises Fritz Rahr.

Barbara Rodriguez is a Fort Worth freelance writer.