August 18th, 2010 by Nate

To break up the Italian Holiday Birra reports, I thought I’d just slot in this quick review of the
Rothaus Eis Märzen.

You may recall that I have previously reviewed their Hefeweizen. In that article, I point out the cult following this beer has, especially in the southern states of Germany. Because of it’s location it is often referred to as the “pride of the black forest”.

(German lesson for the day: Zäpfle essentially is a common name for a tavern, a tavern owner and sometimes as slang for a drunk)

Anyway to the Märzen at hand. Again regular readers will know that the Märzen discussion amongst us non-Germans has been ongoing. This is bier style that I very much enjoy, although not so much on a summers day, it’s a more spring/autumn drink. So why then am I drinking it in Summer? Well I was in Germany a month or so ago and needed some Benzin (petrol/gas) and hit the gas station for some additional refreshments. As is typical with German roadhouses/gas stations, they always have a collection of local biers for sale. So I picked up the above Rothaus.

I think that maybe it was the wrong time for the bier, but I still enjoyed it. After all it is bier! Still I think that the extra malt and stronger alcohol content should be left for the cooler months. I am sure that when I get to that period, I’ll be happy to re-visit my thoughts on this bier.

At this stage I can only fathom a high 3 steins.

Germany, Märzen, Rothaus, Rothaus Eis Zäpfle Märzen, Zäpfle

July 21st, 2010 by Nate

International Beer Challenge Logo

The 2010 International Beer Challenge winners have been announced (and Bob over at the Brew Club managed to attend, bastard!).

Congratulations to all of the winners. What I’m interested in knowing is who has tasted the Sam Adams Pils and Utopia? Are they really that good? Do I need to get on a plane to the USA (giving up my bank details, Fingerprint, DNA, etc on the way)? I mean I’m not adverse to going to the US but it has to be worth it.

Best Low Alcohol Beer – Back-to Back awards for Bill Brewer from Harvey and Son (UK)
Best Ale – Another back-to-back awards for Highlander from Fyne Ales (Scotland)
Best Stout or Porter – Vital Spark from Fyne Ales (Scotland)
Best Wheat Beer – Weihenstephan Hefe Weissbier (Germany) – Their second win in 2 years
Best Lager – Sam Adams Noble Pils (USA)
Best Specialty – Sam Adams Utopia 2009

Supreme Champion – Sam Adams Utopia 2009.

So once again, congrats to the winners.

Now tell me, who’s tried what and what are your thoughts on the winners? Personally I’ve tried the Weihenstephan Hefe Weissbier quite a lot, you can read about my thoughts on my this site and others. So how about the others?

Fyne Ales, Harvey and Son, Highlander, Highlander from Fyne Ales, International Beer Challenge, Noble Pils, Sam Adams, Utopia, Vital Spark, Weihenstephan, Weihenstephan Hefe Weissbier

July 7th, 2010 by Nate

YET Another Weiss bier from me. I know, I know, I really can’t help myself. I honestly have to force myself to buy and try other biers!

Today’s Weiss comes from Kuchlbauer“Der Weissbier Spezialist” as they say. This is the first time I’ve actually come across Kuchlbauer and am surprised that a weissbier fan such as myself had not tried any of their biers previously. It could be that by being a Bavarian Brewery I may have overlooked them thanks to the hundreds of other Bavarian Weissbier breweries. None the less, these guys ONLY brew wheat beer and from the looks of it they’ve managed to brew a few variations of the weiss too.

The above is their “Alte Liebe” (Old Love), dunkel weiss. I was actually drinking it whilst cooking some Lamb on the BBQ. Summer time cooking and eating of meat all while enjoying a bier is such a fantastic experience.

So to the bier. Well those who’ve been here before know, I like my dunkel weissbiers, so I was quite excited to try this. Unfortunately this just wasn’t up to par with others that I have tried. The one key thing that got to me was that it was just too bitter for a Dunkel Weiss. I did expect more and that could also be why I was disappointed, so maybe I’ve got to hold back on setting expectations, especially for those biers from regions where you’d expect nothing but perfection.

In the end it wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t great either.

BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE
It turns out that the folks at Kuchlbauer not only brew beer but they have a beer theme park as well. From the looks of things it’s not up there with Duff Gardens, but it could be interesting. So if any of you out there have visited Bier Welt (beer world), please let the community know about it.

Otherwise the next time I’m in Bavaria and get a chance, I’ll be making the visit.

Bavaria, Bayern, Beer world, Bier, bierwelt, dunkel, German Bier, Kuchlbauer, Weißbier, Weiss, weissbier

July 5th, 2010 by Nate

I posted recently about the Edel Pils from Hebendanz and today I am reviewing the above Festbier from the same establishment.

First allow me a little explanation. Festbier is quite literally “Festival or party beer”. It’s a special beer brewed for a special event. This type of bier is sometimes a Märzen or sometimes it’s more of a unique style brewed for the event, such as Oktoberfest. As I mention in my previous Festbier post, there has been quite a discussion about this over at The Brew Club on the merits of festbiers “>festbiers (namely Oktoberfest) and Märzens.

Märzens generally have stronger malt flavours than a regular Pils or other biers. They also have a higher alcohol content and personally I find Märzens to be more on the ‘chewable’ side of bier, that is a bier that has more texture in the mouth.

So how about the Hebendanz Jubiläums Festbier? Which mind you is the brauerei’s anniversary brew. Well this was a pleasure to drink. It had all of the qualities you’d expect from a good festbier and was quite enjoyable to drink, as well as taste.

Oh and one little factoid that I feel I MUST share with you. The Brauerei Hebendanz is located in the town of Forchheim. An atypical German town with it’s cobblestone streets, old city square and lovely architecture. What is even more interesting is that Forchheim is part of a region called Fränkische Schweiz. In English the region is called “little Switzerland”, not because of any association with Switzerland, rather it is simply resembles the rolling hills of Switzerland and was named as such by the Romantic Period artists.

All this is well and good, but the fact I think most of you are interested in is that the Fränkische Schweiz is the little place in the world that happens to hold the title of having the highest density of private breweries in the world.

Some food for thought eh? Keep an eye out for more information on this topic. I’m going to certainly have more to say on this.

Festbier, German Bier, Hebendanz, Hebendanz Jubiläums Festbier, Märzen, N, Nürnberg/Franconia Adventure

July 1st, 2010 by Nate

Summer is good.
I love stating the obvious, ha! No seriously the reason I’ve not been posting so often is that I’ve been out enjoying a few drops of the good stuff whilst enjoying some Sun.

But I have been tasting some new beers that I’m keen to share. Above it the Edel Pils from the Brauerei Hebendanz, who’s been doing their things since 1579 . So I hope they know what they are doing.

For those non-German speakers, “Edel” is a similar word to that of the English “Noble”. An interesting name for a Pils, none the less this Forchheim located Brauerei has quite a range of beers from the obvious Pils through Weiss and even Radler bier (I’ll cover this one day.. one day).

So to the beer itself, it was great drinking this on my balcony in the summer sun and normally this would allow me to have a ‘higher’ rating for the bier. But to be honest, in the end this was just a mid-range Pils. Maybe not so noble in the end, but enjoyable on a HOT day.

Bavarian bier, German Bier, N, Nürnberg/Franconia Adventure, Pils

June 27th, 2010 by Nate

Those of you who know me or read this site often know that I’m an Aussie living in Switzerland with slight penchant for German bier. So it is with this in mind that I must congratulate the Germans on their win today.

To my English friends, I am sorry as to the result. I was hoping for a closer result, but then the Germans smoked the Socceroos and they almost did as bad to you. Yes, you should have not lost 4-1 and you certainly deserved the ’66 styled goal, but the Germans certainly had your number today.

Anyway to celebrate this, is a photo of the first beer that I drank in Germany, ever. This was taken in some small currywurst store near Alexanderplatz station in Berlin. I couldn’t help but think that Bier and Bratwurst is uniquely German!

Once again, Herzlichen Glückwunsch Deutschland!

Deutschland, Football, Germany, Soccer, World cup

June 21st, 2010 by Nate

When the weather has been summer-like, I’ve been keen to get outside and enjoy it. The above photo was taken on my Balcony during a lovely Saturday afternoon. This is the the St. Georgen Braü Pilsener from the Upper Franconian town of Buttenheim.

This is yet another Small-Medium sized Franconian Brewery that’s been doing it’s thing for over a hundred years. In fact St. Georgen Braü has been around since 1624.

Their Pils to me was actually just as good as an Urquel. A perfect blend of hoppy and citrus like flavours. However as good as this Pils is, I’ve been informed that the brewery makes one hell of a Kellerbier. So good in fact that it’s get shipped throughout Europe to quality beer establishments. I’ve not yet tried this, but I will try and pick some up on my next trip to Nürnberg/Franconia

Buttenheim, Nürnberg/Franconia Adventure, Pils, Pilsner, St. Georgen Braü Pilsener, Upper Franconian

June 19th, 2010 by Nate

Not quite a Fanconian Brewery, but certainly not bad by any shot. The Brauerei Rothenbach in the Swabian region of Bavaria has been brewing some sort of beer since 1796. So there is a little bit of experience at it.

This shows in their Festbier (above) is a typical dark Märzenbier or Marzen. The Brew Club guys have previously discussed the merits of the different types of festbiers (namely Oktoberfest) and Marzens.

This is a actually one of my favourite Märzen’s. It was lovely to drink with a heavy caramel malt flavour and just a small kick of hops. I drank this whilst sitting on the balcony reading a book and couldn’t have been happier.

Bavaria, Brauerei Rothenbach, Fanconian, Festbier, Märzen, Märzenbier, Swabian

June 3rd, 2010 by Nate

43%

Yeap you read that right.. 43 freaking %. Now I’ve not actually come across this bier until today. I was reading the article in Business Week about the competition for the worlds strongest beer. Now I was aware of Brewdog‘s efforts, but had NO idea about Schorschbräu.

The best thing for me is that they are a Fraconian based Brewery and I’m back Germany next weekend, so guess what I’m going to hunt down?

Still I wonder how much is too much?

Bier, Franconia, German Bier, World Strongest Bier

May 26th, 2010 by Nate

Well my collection of biers from in and around the Nürnberg region of Franconia has come to an end. Above it the final bier from my current collection. However, fear not! I am returning to the region in 4 weeks time and will be certain to pack the car up with enough ‘new’ and great biers for drinking and review.

The above Dunkel bier is from the tiny town (1000 people) of Weissenohe. It is kind of your small German towns, old city buildings, cobblestone streets, ugly new concrete buildings, etc, etc, etc. But most importantly, at least for this website, is that they have their own brewery.

The Brewery has been doing it’s ‘thing’, on and off, since 1050 when it was a Benedictine monasteries means of brewing it’s supplies for Lent. No I’m serious, the monk of this region would brew liquid food to allow them to survive during the Lent. Some stories that I’ve been privy too is that the monks were ‘rationed’ 8 liters a day (yes you read that right).

So besides the cool history, I probably should overview the bier itself. This is a wonderful and enjoyable bier. It has great caramel and malty characteristics. Which seems to be beautifully contrasted with an earthy quality that I just couldn’t put my finger on….. maybe as I’d had a couple. Still this is a great bier from another tiny, historic brewery who survives thanks to the interest of the Franconian locals.

PROST!

dunkel, Franconia, German Bier, Nürnberg, Nürnberg/Franconia Adventure, Weißenoher Bonifatius Dunkel, Weissenohe