Father’s Day gift giving is no small task. Typical and non-typical fathers are challenging to buy for, offering no hints or preferences about what they might want to have. I my case, I am very clear about my desires, I don’t want any presents and I don’t want a card unless it is homemade. What are sons and daughters and maybe mothers to do? For me, I want experiences and father/son time.

A conflation of ideas, events and opportunities inspired me to create this post. This is my sixth rotation being on the father end of Father’s Day. I love being a Father, it is been the greatest gift of a lifetime and I can not imagine a more fun son to help me learn about what it means to be a dad. However, I harbor a dread of Father’s Day. My dad died on Father’s Day in a foreign country while I was talking to him on the phone thousands of miles away. There was nothing I could do. He died alone with the phone in his hand There are no words for that circumstance. This year is the tenth anniversary of that moment. So I had a need for distraction.

Fate stepped in at the just the right time. The distributors of Paulaner beers contacted me to see if I was looking for any Father’s Day content. I was not planning on a Father’s day post but I was certainly interested in an opportunity to drink a beer. My dad was always up from a free beer (as long as it was not one of those fancy hipster beers). Earlier in the year, the company contacted to write about new sustainable packaging they have in the pipe line for Paulaner. As a recycling nerd, it was hard to say no, but the earth friendly packaging had no beverages to fill it so I reluctantly had to decline (quid pro….no). Even though I am now out of the beer and pop business it is still a stretch for me to write about non local beer. I crossed this Rubicon (<- read about my earlier Paulaner musings) before, plus I am a master of rationalization so second time around was no problemo or kein problem (bitte schön). The prize was an opportunity to try three Paulaner beers I have never sampled. So other than free beer, how do I tie this together into a theme? Here we go.

My dad was no drinker of craft beer. He did drink a lot of beer. It was usually Bud Light but in his final days it was likely Honduran Cerveza Salva Vida. However, sharing a Paulaner would have been an easy sell to Senor Senior CMH Gourmand-dad. While the Ellison’s were kicked out of Scotland about 1690, his mom’s side of the family was first generation German. When my dad was in the army, he was stationed in Germany and most likely drank many a Paulaner Pils to explore his heritage. Sliding that Paulaner down the bar would have had a 110% acceptance rate. But what about the other three beers in my bounty?

Paulaner Münchner Lager ABV 4.9%, This beer drinks crisp with notes of malt, a touch of hops and a slight sweetness. This is a popular beer in Germany even outside of Munich which says a lot in a very competitive field where most citizens stay true to the beers of their city or region.

Paulaner Hefe-Weizen ABV 5.5%, Consistently ranked as the #1 Wheat beer in Germany, you will find this as a highly ranked beer on any rating site. This is a perfect example of this style, so you will pick up aromas of banana and clove. If you are not a hop head, you won’t find the bitterness of hops in this hefe-weizen (but it has hops because that is the law of the land). This beer pairs well with the summer and fall. Hefe-weizen’s were cloudy before hazy beers were cool. Don’t forget that.

Paulaner Grapefruit Radler ABV 2.5%, Last year, I was smitten by the Paulaner Weizen-Radler (Non-Alcoholic). The Grapefruit Radler left me wanting more as well. This has an extra 2% ABV but does not drink like a beer. It is perfect for hot summer days, mowing the lawn, sitting on the beach or any other scenario when you want flavor, and less alcohol means more of everything else. I was impressed with this combination of grapefruit flavoring with a Münchner Lager. It was refreshing but not too sweet.

The first two beers would be an easy pitch to my dad while giving him a better flavor experience and a bit more ABV. I’d have a harder sell with the radler but telling him it a cooler choice than White Claw would get at least one into his system before he started worrying about his cronies poking fun at him.

Now that the beer is covered let’s jump the Bavarian Shark with some localization. If I was going to do something with my dad today, we would stick with the Bavarian theme. I’m an experience oriented gifter (not grifter) so as an alternative to his daily rounds with the groundlings at El Dorado’s Food and Spirits (beware there be monsters), I’d drag him out of that watering hole for a day on the town. We would start with a pre-game of Paulaner beers at lunch, paired up with an assortment of encased meats from Hungarian Butcher and Thurn’s. The beer of choice for this carnivore’s feast would be the Paulaner Münchner Lager.

(I have not had an opportunity to write about Hungarian Butcher yet and that is my failure. If you have not been, stop reading this drivel and go now. Dan Varga is a superior chef that had a dream of running a true butcher shop showcasing family recipes. The passing of his wife added fuel to the fire to make this dream happen and he delivered. I’ve known Dan for a decade. I think the world of him. I think even more highly of what he crafts in his shop. Before I knew him, he cooked at 90% of my favorite restaurants from 1991 to 2011. Go see him and buy as much as you can carry. (As for the Bavarian connection it is only 639 KM from Munich to Budapest). Thurn’s should be a secret to no one, but if you have never been – go, knowing that the same family has been practicing the trade for over 130 years. Enough said.

Next, we would head to Gemut Biergarten for a few beers on the patio. There is a lot to like about Gemut. What I like the most is that in a world overly focused on IPA’s or what is the new beer the week, Gemut chose a style, owns it and delivers a great experience.

(More back story here. Many of the folks at Gemut practiced their craft at Four String. A few became friends and were always there when I needed a favor or a last minute tour stop. It was devastating to see them loose their jobs with no notice in 2018. It is great to see many of them working together at Gemut and doing well in an industry still taking hits from a global pandemic and supply chain challenges.)

Our final destination for the day would be Germania, which is a true hidden gem not just in the Brewery District but in Columbus. I spent years telling the story of Germania in a tour I created about the Brewery District. Germania is a club with so much to offer, but in this case, our target is their curated menu of hard to find German beers as well as the notoriety being the only place in Columbus that consistently has a Wooly Pig Farm Brewery (one of the best breweries in Ohio) beer on tap at prices that seem like charity. I encourage you to seek out a public event at Germania and/or become a member of the their beer club. There is nothing pretentious about Germania, it has been a local club at the same location for a lifetime. It riffs a bygone era of camaraderie that is lost in our society. I’d have a hard time pulling my dad out of Germania at closing time. That is amazing because the Venn diagrams of our preferences and personalities never had more than a 2% overlap. We don’t suffer fools gladly and we (would have) both enjoyed Germania.

If you are looking for Paulaner beer for Father’s Day, here is a -> beer finder <- to facilitate your own Bavarian feast.

If you are looking for me, I’ll be with my 6 year old on Father’s Day, enjoying every second of it and maybe an occasional sip of Paulaner Grapefruit Radler.