Introduction to Currywurst and Astra Beer
The German classic fast food snack, Currywurst, has been a staple in the city of Hamburg for decades and is often washed down with a local Astra beer. Now, the Astra St. Pauli Brewery has come together with Hela, a legendary spiced curry ketchup producer, to reinvent a popular neighborhood classic.
The Birth of Currydurst
The so-called "currydurst" (currythirst) was born as a homage to Street Food Culture in Hamburg. With the spicy, slightly smoky taste that the Hela spice is used for, which is usually reserved for sausages and chips on the side of the road, the beer is a strictly limited publication of special editions.
St. Pauli’s Cult Classic Beer
Astra is a popular beer all over Hamburg, but is mainly connected to the St. Pauli district, a working-class and alternative cultural center where the port and the red light part of the city meet. The origins of the brewery date back to 1647, when a Flemish brewer in Hamburg brewed a "Bayern" beer – then simply the name for the local Pilsener and not inspired by the southern German region of Bavaria.
History of Astra Brewery
Forward until 1909, when the name Bavaria was changed to Astra. After a takeover, the makers became Bavaria, and the Pauli brewery in 1922, and its "Astra Urtype" (Astra Archetype) became a synonym for the neighborhood. After Astra was almost closed in the 1990s, the city of Hamburg finally intervened and bought the brewery, which was then sold to Holsten – the other large brewery of the city. The cult classic then received a revision.
The Ultimate Street Food Cooperation
When Astra joined Spice Company Hela to create the currydurst, it was a game-changer in Hamburg. Hela was founded in the northern German city in 1906 and was next to the slaughterhouse and supplied the butchers with spices and spice salt. In 1963, Helas appeared for the first time in German supermarket shelves. It was a reaction to the increasing popularity of the currywurst, a sausage that was served with curry powder-infected ketchup that had been invented in Berlin about 15 years earlier.
The Currydurst Promotion
The broader currydurst promotion shows the expectations of consumer taste: "Some say: ‘Will that work at all?’ We say: ‘Of course!’ " goes the slogan. It remains to be seen whether the currydurst will be an arrived miracle or becomes a new cult classic. At the moment, only 2,000 liters of the beer Special Edition are brewed.
