A Diamond Valley brewery has another international notch on its belt.
Known for its traditional German beers, Brauerei Fahr has garnered the Best in Canada and Grand Gold titles for its Copper Lager in the Red or Amber Lager category at the Frankfurt International Trophy.
“Getting all these awards on the provincial, national and international stage, it’s just a big confirmation of what I’m doing,” said brew master and proprietor Jochen Fahr. “It just feels really amazing to say, ‘My goal is to make high quality German beer out here, and all of these awards together tell me that.'”
To get that Grand Gold ranking, a beer needs to be rated at least 92 out of 100, explained Fahr.
Arriving in Canada over 10 years ago, he got his master’s degree in medical science at the University of Calgary, followed by a PhD in biomedical engineering. Drawing on this skill and having worked as a bio process engineer, nailing those traditional brews is the target.
“There’s a joke in my profession that says the only way to stop a process engineer from improving a process or product is to shoot them,” said Fahr, but he’s not Jochen around when it comes to bettering product. “For me it’s about the medals, yes, but really what I’m most interested in is the feedback from the judges.
“That’s a double-blind study; they have no idea what country, what city, what brewery, what sample, and they test it against the criteria that are outlined in the study.
“We’re a very style-driven brewery, and that’s why those competitions are useful to us in terms of feedback.”
While the competition might be less attractive to breweries looking to break the mould and strike out with a chocolate cherry milkshake IPA, Fahr’s mission from the get-go has been brewing the best German styles.
“If we were a brewery that wanted to break the norm, ‘rage against the machine’, then it would probably be less useful, but we are brewing very traditional beer to very standardized categories, so feedback – very impartial feedback – that's valuable to me,” Fahr said.
“When I say it’s all about the beer – and you can see that everywhere in the brewery – we're asking the question of how we get the best possible beer in your glass or can.”
When it comes to traditional German brews and tastes, Fahr recalled another joke.
“When a German tells you, ‘Yeah, the beer is good,’ but doesn’t order a second one, then it’s not really good,” Fahr said.
“But when they tell you the beer is good and he has a second one, then you know he was telling the truth.”
While the German Purity Law of 1516 dictates that nothing other than barley, hops, water and yeast be used in beer, Fahr has one other ingredient he said helps him make his beer stand out.
“It’s like a soccer or football team, it can only be a good team if you have a good environment,” Fahr said. “So for me, to be who I am and do what I do, and to have the support I have in the community here.
“I hope they share in the pride of the product.”
