The Spirit World

Recently, I took my family into Manhattan for a long weekend and, of course, some beer research. The first night we decided to get some barbecue at Virgil’s (152 West 44th Street, just off Broadway in the Times Square vicinity). Of course, I had a couple of beers (Brooklyn Pilsner and a Mardi Gras Ale from Magic Hat) with my pulled pork sandwich, but Denise couldn’t resist a mixed drink called Swamp Water. I don’t recall what was in this muddy looking drink, but it tasted pretty good. Swamp Water didn’t have any beer in it, but it did remind me that there is a beer cocktail named after a particular kind of water: Isar Water.

In the interest of full disclosure I reveal that one of my online sources for beer cocktail recipes is the Beer Cocktails page at that’s The Spirit!. I had never heard of Isar Water until I saw it mentioned there. Here’s what they say:

A wheat beer mixed with Blue Curaçao and apple or orange juice. We are not sure of the background on this one but it sounds interesting.

Their admission that they don’t know the background on this drink inspired me to cook up a story from some armchair Internet research. (If you know the real story, please post a comment below with the details.)

As any real beer geek knows, the Isar is the river runs near Munich and is (according to Wikipedia) the fifth largest river in Bavaria and a tributary of the famous Danube. Also this source says that the word Isar is derived from the Celtic word Isaria which means torrential. The implications of this etymology might have some bearing on the drink, don’t you think?

Now water is a very important ingredient in beer. The flavor and character of the water used to brew a beer will determine the flavor and character of the resulting beer. The fact that the Isar is close to Munich and that Munich breweries use the water from this river for brewing, Munich-style brews will derive much of their flavor and character from the Isar.

Of course, this doesn’t mean that the beer cocktail called Isar Water will taste like actual water from the Isar river. My guess is that whoever invented this beer cocktail wanted to pay homage to the importance of this famous brewing river. Since Bavarians are known for their love of wheat beer (weizen or weißbier), it makes since that wheat beer is chosen as the base for this drink. The Blue Curaçao (I suppose) is suppose to represent the blue water of the river. What the apple or orange juice is suppose to represent is anybody’s guess, but my suspicion is that the juice is added to provide a touch of turbidity to the drink’s appearance. (Rivers are turbid right? Perhaps the Isar is. One source described the Isar as gray in appearance, the river, not the drink.)

Alright, now we have some explanation of the name of this cocktail let’s look at that recipe a little closer. What kind of wheat beer should you use? The base wheat beer could in principle be whatever your favorite wheat beer is, but it would be nice to use a wheat beer from Munich so there will be some chance that actual water from the Isar will be in the drink. Two readily available (in the States) Munich weizen’s are Hofbräu and Paulaner. My favorite Munich weizen is Franziskaner (now owned by Spaten so it’s pretty much everywhere now). Also I like Erdinger Hefe-Weizen which is brewed in Erding, Germany, not too far from Munich. But I’ll leave it to you as to which one to choose. I’ve suggested hefeweizens, but I would imagine that a Krystallkar (filter wheat) or a Helles Weißbier will do just fine also. The Dunkles and Weizenbocks probably wouldn’t be a good choice since they would mask the color of the Blue Curaçao.

Now, exactly how much Blue Curaçao does one put in the wheat beer? Let’s start with an ounce per 12 ounces of beer. Pour the Blue Curaçao in the bottom of a wheat beer glass. Pour the wheat beer in the glass (pouring a wheat beer is an art that takes some practice, but that’s another future article). Then top the beer with a splash of apple or orange juice. This is an extremely yummy drink. So be careful. Enjoy!