May 19, 2006 -- I’ve been far too long getting notes up on the wares of a new-to-North America Brazilian craft brewer called Cervejaria Sudbrack. Based in Blumenau, on the coast south of Rio, the brewery representative who contacted me suggested that their goal was to change the popular perception of Brazilian beer. On the basis of these bottles, I’d have to say that they’re well on their way.

Most impressive to me of the samples I was sent are the brewery’s Christmas beer, Weihnachts Ale, the Dunkel, the Kolsch and the Weizenbock. All are sold in Brazil under the Eisenbahn name, while the Dunkel is sold in the U.S. as Eisenbahn Escura, the Weizenbock as Eisenbahn Vigorosa and the Kolsch as Eisenbahn Dourada.

But first, the brewery’s only-slightly less impressive beers. The lone dud in the group I was sent is the Eisenbahn Pilsner, a very mainstreamish lager that my brewery contact admitted was mislabeled from the start and should have been classed more as a helles. Even so, however, the grainy, thin body would have disappointed. The tropical fruity Weizenbier is much more successful in its style, with a peppery start and off-dry and quenching finish making it something I can easily see quaffing in the heat.

Sudbrack’s Rauchbier is also a solid entry, with a start that’s a bit like over-caramelized toffee and wood smoke and apple skin in the body, along with drying, bitter hop. Given more of this, I’d have no problem keeping it for the upcoming summer’s best barbecuing days. An interesting note of faint smokiness seems to carry over to the brewery’s pale ale, sold in the U.S. as Eisenbahn S.A.P.A., or South American Pale Ale. This mild to moderately hoppy brew is, I think, one of those beers that you can ignore at the outset, but which grows more and more interesting with every sip.

Of the four I mentioned at the outset, the real head-turners for me are from the opposite ends of the flavour spectrum: the softly fruity – is that a hint of papaya? – and mildly hoppy Kolsch (Dourada), a beer very much true to style, if on the decidedly unhoppy side of the spectrum, and the Weihnachts Ale, a spicy, warming treat that tastes slightly stronger than its 6.3% alcohol, although by no means unpleasantly so.

Rounding out the Sudbrack portfolio are the Dunkel (Escura), a deep purplish lager with a roasty, earthy, dark chocolate nose and sweetish, coffee-accented body holding notes of black licorice and roasted chestnut, and the Weizenbock (Vigorosa), a frighteningly drinkable 8% alcohol, fruity-spicy brew with notes of caramel, cinnamon and red apple.

In any brewing land, these beers would be great assets. In pallid lager-dominated Brazil, they must be true treasures!

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