During my time in Germany, I spent most of my leisure time bicycling around the countryside, taking in the sights, the cuisine and of course the local beer. While I explored most of the country, I spent the majority of my time exploring Oberfranken (Upper Franconia) – the area around where I was living and working. In that part of Germany there are breweries in just about every town. I loved visiting these small-town breweries; after a day of pedaling, sitting in their Biergarten eating dinner and enjoying their beer was about perfect.

One of the styles I learned to look for was called “Landbier.” The best translation to english for this word is “country lager.” These were beers that didn’t necessarily fall into a well-defined style like Pilsner or Helles, they were a specialty of the particular town or even of that brewery.

We brewed this beer in that tradition. It doesn’t fall neatly into any well-defined category: it’s more malty and a little darker than a Helles, but not so dark and malty as a Vienna Lager. It’s clean and bright, with a noble hop finish. It’s a great beer to enjoy in our beautiful beer garden after a day’s exertions, be they hiking, biking or just about anything else.

We’ve named this beer to honor the memory of Karl Eden, a true character and the first German Brewmaster I worked under. He taught me that interesting character was as important in the brewer as it is in the beer.