Weyermann® Barke® Pils Goes to the Ballpark with Summit Twins Pils

The crack of the bat. The roar of the crowd. The smell of hot dogs and popcorn wafting on the breeze. Add a cold crisp beer to enjoy while cheering on the home team and you can’t lose.  

Summertime means baseball, and baseball means beer! For those of us in Minnesota (home base to RahrBSG), cheering on the Minnesota Twins has never been easier. This is all thanks to Twins Pils from Summit Brewing Company, a crushable 5.1% ABV German-style pilsner brewed with a nearly 50/50 split of Rahr Standard 2-Row and Weyermann® Barke® Pilsner malts.

Released in cans and on draft in the spring, Twins Pils arrives annually just in time for the Twins’ spring training games and subsequent home opener. It is then available all over the Twin Cities and greater Minnesota during the baseball season and into the end of October, so it can be enjoyed throughout the playoffs and a hopeful World Series win. <wink wink> Walk into a bar or restaurant and you’ll know the beer is on tap from the cool miniature baseball bat tap handle custom made by Pillbox Bat Company in southern Minnesota. 

We wanted the full scouting report on Weyermann® Barke® Pils, so we sat down with Summit Head Brewer Mike Lundell for a couple-three-four innings of beer. “I get a lot of biscuit with a bit of Graham cracker finish,” said Lundell. “It has a nice, round sweetness. Also, a malty sweet aroma of honey.” None of this is by accident, of course. Weyermann® chooses the finest historical two-row summer barley for Barke® Pilsner malt because brewers around the world have long loved its flavor and performance in bright lager beers. 

Twins Pils is hopped with HVG German Tettnanger and HVG German Huell Melon and it is fermented with a Bavarian lager yeast strain. With no specialty malts to tone down its 38 IBUs, Twins Pils starts crisp and pleasantly bitter before moving toward more nuanced flavors of honey, biscuit, honeydew melon, and light citrus. 

Lundell offered a small handful of Barke Pils malt while we were talking. “It’s even nice to eat,” he said. “You get some astringency and greenness from the malt, but that rich sweetness is prominent.” While its sweetness does linger, the malt also has a nice rustic sort of straw or hay aftertaste. Turns out Lundell grew up in a farm family and that particular flavor and aroma is nostalgic for him. “Growing up in southern Minnesota baling hay and straw, you get that dust in your face, nose and mouth. That’s what it reminds me of. And it’s not a bad memory. Because it’s more straw-like than hay-like.”  

As you can imagine, Twins Pils is especially popular at Target Field, the Twins’ home field, as well as at CHS Field, home to the Twins-affiliated MiLB team St. Paul Saints. (Serving tip from Summit’s website: Serve in a plastic cup at the ballpark. Repeatedly.) It can also be enjoyed at many area sports bars and restaurants. But, if you’re in the Twin Cities during the spring or summer months, we highly recommend you seek out at least one pint straight from the source at Summit Brewing Company’s Ratskeller taproom where you can also enjoy the view of the brewery’s beautiful copper vessel brew house. It’s the only thing better than being at the ballpark. 

If you have questions about collaborating on ingredients with Weyermann® or developing a home-run recipe for your lineup, we’re happy to visit you in the brewhouse or grab beers at the closest ballfield. Contact your RahrBSG rep today!