After receiving a brewing kit for Christmas more than eight years ago, Patrick Armstead started collaborating with Steve Prough on making authentic German beer. The Two Monks Brewing Co. owners and brewers take that sentiment literally inside their nanobrewery with Oktoberfest banners hanging from the walls and even donning lederhosen while pouring drafts such as English IPAs, Irish stouts, and of course, those cherished German beers.
Made using the German Beer Purity Law from 1516, or reinheitsgebot, the duo only allows water, hops and barley to be used as ingredients. The results include the Weissbier Mit Hefe ($4.50 for 12 ounces), a light German wheat beer with hints of banana and clove.
“With the German beers, they are much cleaner,” says Prough. “I think most people prefer a nice, clean, easy-to-drink beer. Sometimes when beer gets complicated it ends up worse off than if they would have kept it simple.” Our Pick: Don’t think of Brewberry ($5.50 for 12 ounces) as a blueberry-flavored beer. It’s a refreshing U.K.-style ale aged with blueberries. 352 Massillon Road, Akron, 234-738-2337, 2monksbru.com
