Grodziskie - The Pride of Polish Brewing

There are beer styles which have lasted for centuries, but then disappeared. The interest in diversity which flared up in the twenty-first century has brought some of these styles back to life, often through new technologies and young creativity. Just think of smoked beer or Gose.

This is how “the pride of Polish brewing“ was rediscovered. Invented in Grodzisk Wielkopolski in 1301, this type of beer was known in German- speaking countries as “Grätzer“. The city was Prussian in the eighteenth century, and home to 53 breweries at that time. Only 5, with a total annual output of around 100,000 hectolitres, were still there at the beginning of the twentieth century.

The archetypal Grätzer is made from 100 percent oak-smoked wheat malt. It has an original gravity of 7.7 °P and an alcohol content of 2.5 - 3.0% ABV. Thus, it was comparable to the original French saisons and today's English milds - i.e. beers which were consumed daily, even during and after hard work in agriculture.

Grodziskie fits perfectly into the twenty-first century because of its aromatic complexity and its relatively low alcohol content.

So it is not just Polish breweries which go for it; a Grätzer beer by Cerveja Blumenau from Brazil won a bronze European Beer Star in the category “Session Beer“ in 2022. Camba Bavaria included a Grätzer in its Beer Legends.

However it is in particular Polish (craft) brewers who are producing this ancient and yet so young beer style: take Browar Grodisk, for instance, as well as fine examples from Pint and Trzech Kumpli. Commercially brewed in classic variants; craft beer, cold-hopped. The Grodzisk Homebrew Competition is exclusively dedicated to this style.

The European Beer Star likes the idea of bringing such Eurogenic styles on board as soon as it can be expected that a relevant number of beers of this style will be entered in the competition. Fortunately, this is the case with Grätzer: 2023 will see the first ever competition in the Grodziskie category.