New master brewer: "It was love at first scent"

Created: 01/12/2022, 07:45

"The beer is my top priority": Manuel Catone is the new master brewer in Maisach.

© Anton Fasching

Manuel Catone is the new master brewer at the Maisach brewery.

a conversation

Maisach – He comes from Rottweil (Baden-Württemberg), his father is Italian.

Since September, the 37-year-old has succeeded Walter Miesl, who left the Maisach brewery after 25 years for personal reasons.

In recent years, Catone has worked in several private breweries.

In addition to brewing and developing new recipes, he also enjoys playing the electric bass – including in a band when he finds the time.

The interview with the 37-year-old is about beer – he didn't really like his first one.

Mr. Catone, have you always liked beer?

Not at all.

I actually drank my first beer when I was 20 years old.

And I had to get used to it.

But then I started to get more involved with it during my chemistry studies and brewed my first beer in the kitchen.

Honestly only because making mead I brewed before takes too long to finish.

And when did you fall in love with "normal" beer?

When I did an internship in a brewery.

It was like love at first scent.

Those wonderful flavors that are constantly changing depending on the brewing process.

That's sensational.

And then of course the taste at the end of production.

The chemistry studies turned into an apprenticeship as a brewer and maltster.

And then studied brewing and beverage technology at the Weihenstephan-Triesdorf University of Applied Sciences with a Bachelor of Engineering degree.

You then got to know all the processes through further stations and became a master brewer.

As such and as a distiller, I then worked for three years at the Nuremberg Altstadthof brewery and Ayer's whiskey distillery.

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Can you whiskey too?

Clear.

But the beer comes first for me.

And how did you come across the Maisach brewery?

I was looking for a brewery that brews traditionally - and that is close to where my girlfriend lives.

I had known the beer from the Maisach brewery for a long time.

I love dark beers and I already enjoyed the Räuber Kneißl in Petershausen and while studying in Freising.

What do you think of the new Räuber Kneißl with the newly used Chevallier barley?

The old English whiskey barley from the 19th century fits very well.

A really full-bodied pleasure.

You have already brewed the green hop beer that is being bottled: in the Stegen brewery, which is also operated by the Maisacher brewery.

Do you like experimenting?

Yes - and I am very happy that the small plant in Stegen allows me to brew other special beers in small quantities.

I still have a lot to do here.

Old traditions and new varieties

The Maisach brewery is now offering its Dark Bock again, filled in 0.33 liter bottles and only while stocks last.

The traditional brewery brewed the seasonal beer for the first time five years ago.

"And right away, our Dunkler Bock got the gold medal at the Craft Beer Award," says the owner of the Maisach brewery, Michael Schweinberger.

The new master brewer Manuel Cantone is a fan of dark beer and enthuses: "The combination of five different types of malt is perfect."

With a whopping seven percent alcohol and 18.4 percent original wort, the Dark Bock is a strong, malty treat.

And it is the basis of a traditional specialty that is currently celebrating a comeback: the goblet beer.

With the goblet beer, a red-hot "spike" is dipped into the glass with the beer.

This creates a warm, creamy foam that smells of caramel.

The beer spike set can be purchased at the Maisach brewery.

In addition, the specialty is served in the old brewery in Stegen, where the freshly brewed green hop beer is also available.