h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hello Sho

I'm writing a piece about an old defunct American beer called Pennsylvania Swankey. Some of the articles I'm using for research say that the Swankey part of it is either an Anglicisation of German 'schank', as in 'schankbier', meaning 'tap' or 'draft', or German 'schwenke'.

It's a low alcohol session beer, and I know that some strong German beers like doppelbock are called 'starkbier' and there's a starkbierfest in Munich that's going on just about now I think, so schankbier sounds plausible, and I've put it into Google translate but it doesn't have an English translation for the word. If I put 'tap' or 'draft' in the translator and translate them into German nothing like 'schank' comes up in the results.

'Schwenke' also turns up a blank.

Can you or shed any light on what schank or schwenke might mean in English, in relation to beer?

Oh, wait, 'schwank' came back as 'fluctuating', and I've found an old German - English dictionary for chemists on Google books that throws up a similar result: flexible; slender; wavering. For 'schwenken' it says swing, flourish, wave; wheel about.

Not schwank, schank, and there isn't a Google translation for it

I'm not very good at beer - when do you need the info, because I do know some people who are good at beer, and German and English, but I need to get hold of them.

As far as I know, Starkbier (Stark = strong) is brewed for Lent and was what the Monks had to supplement their meat/fish/milk free diet during that time. As you know Beer is food.

Let me investigate

(btw, does this mean you're once again in gainful employment? I missed that bit)

for German/English translations I tend to use Leo

http://dict.leo.org/ende/index_de.html#/search=schankbier&searchLoc=0&resultOrder=basic&multiwordShowSingle=on

That's the link to the translation for Schankbier. Which comes out as draught.

Starkbier is like stout according to that which ties into what I know.

the festival in Munich is from 16th to 23rd March - which is during Lent - so that ties into what I had heard about what Starkbier is and what it's for. Apparently it has to have an alcohol content of at least 6.5% and a "Stammwuerzegehalt" (I think that relates to the malt and hops content) of at least 16%. The German Wiki article about it includes Porter, Guinnes and various types of the German stuff.

I'm not sure about Schwenke - the only thing I can come up with that is that it should be schwenken which means to swing, oscilate.

is that any help for you?

It certainly is

I think schwenke is a red herring and we can probably forget about that one. At a guess I'd say Stammwuerzegehalt refers to the amount of solids in the starkbier that makes it nutritious enough to survive on for six days at a time through Lent (they were allowed to eat on the four Sundays).

I've dug through that old German - English dictionary (US-published) I found on Google Books. It's from 1917, which is about the last time Pennsylvania Swankey was brewed because it pretty much died with Prohibition. It has an entry for schankbier, which it translates as "schenk beer, draft beer". So, we go to schenk and it says "liquor retailer, cup-bearer". Schenkbier is "draft beer, schenk beer (contrasted with lagerbier)" and schenke, it says, is a public house or tavern. Both schwanke and schwenke appear to have nothing to do with beer.

So it looks like 'swankey' comes from schankbier or schenkbier, and it means draft beer. The people who've already written about it seem to be trying to make some kind of connection with its low ABV - 3% or less. One piece I read said that it's almost a temperance beer

There's no rush on this - I've been given a two week 'holiday' from writing my weekly piece while South by Southwest is going on. If any of your beer friends can shed any more light on what schenkbier might mean other than draft beer I'll be sure to put it in

just had a chat with . We know several old-stylee German pubs called things like the XXX-schenke, or xxx-schanke. More often with 'a' so that would imply that schenke is an old word that is falling or has fallen out of use.

Well I think that's put the lid on this one That's what I'm going with. Thanks Sho

no probs, I'll be interested to know how it goes

I'll send you a link when the editors put it up but I'd rather not post it here cos it'll have my real name on it. I don't think I've got your email address. If you want to send it to me mine is on gmail and the username is omnigrits.

great username! I've sent you a mail. If you don't get it
my mail is sheonag at alice dot de