The following article first appeared in the GALACTO-CELTIC NEWSFLASH #12, spring 1995, written and edited by Franz Miklis

Intro by Chuck Broerman:

"I think you and I share one thing, and that´s our love of that ambrosia, that gift of the ghods to mere mortals, that liquid treasure, that blessed consolation to human suffering, namely BEER. I´ve been told that my last name comes from the German for brewer-man, so I come by my love for beer naturally. Actually I also love bread, and I´m pretty good at baking it. Bread and beer of course are two versions of the same thing, just like ice and water are two versions of H2O."

Old Faithful Hefeweizen (featuring Jodlbauer Spectaculator Weisser Doppelbock):

It was in summer in 1990, and time for the annual Golling Open Air weekend. Rock, Blues and Jazz around the clock on a hill near Salzburg. The right time for some fen to meet, enjoy good beer and music in the field, filk together and sleep under the blanket of stars.

As usual I drove with Willi Weissenbrunner on my motorcycle, carrying some good bottles of Jodlbauer Hefeweizens with me. But I think you can imagine what HEAT and SHAKING and VIBRATIONS of a motorbike may do to beer-bottles. When we opened the bottles around the first break of the concert, the beer turned to somewhat similar like California's Old Faithful, vomiting it's contents in a steamy eruption of foam more than six feet above our heads. To our great surprise some minutes later some gals suddenly emerged from the crowd, laughing and shouting: "Franz, we knew instantly where to find you. We just had to follow the largely visible beer-fountains."

Long Distance Travelling Hefeweizen (featuring Schneider Weisse):

Some years ago my wife Monika went to London to study English. In her first letter she wrote: "It´s very exciting and interesting here, but the beer: disgusting! Once I nearly was kicked out from a pub, because I said to the keeper: what you call 'lager' is beer, and what you call 'beer' is shit... I very miss a good old Hefeweizen."

Willi and I instantly decided to send a rescue parcel, full of Monikas favourite beer, the Schneider Weisse Hefeweizen. But something went wrong. When she came back home, she explained that she never has seen any parcel with beer in England. We forgot about that.

But more than one year later, the missed parcel arrived back home, having had an odyssee of incredible dimension, judging from the stamps: (Rotterdam, Hamburg, London, Kopenhagen, Kiel...)

Of course the beer turned into undrinkable shabby mass, but we celebrated its return with a fine fest for the longest travelling Hefeweizen in Austrian fanhistory.

Millenium-Beer-Party (featuring Stiegl Festbier):

1492 is a very special date, indeed. In that very year Salzburg´s most important brewery, Stiegl, was founded. (Wasn´t there something else to that historic date? I don´t get it at the moment). Quite clear that in 1992 a gigantic half-millenium party was held. Europe's largest beer tent was built near the brewery and thousands of visitors joined in the fest, toured through the opened brewery and enjoyed the most massive Octoberfest ever held in Salzburg.

Of course this date was a must for every beer-truefan and so we joined in and stood mouth wide open before the wonder of the year: They actually installed a beautiful, genuine and absolutely cool beer-fountain.....  (Franz Miklis for the 1999 celebration.)