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

March 4th, 2010 by Nate

Ahh my first post for March. I’ve been very busy working through a new collection of biers that I’ve acquired from various locations. I’ve previously mentioned my upcoming reviews of biers from Nürnberg and the Franconian region of Germany. But that’s not quite done yet, so here I present the Andechs Spezial Hell.

I was gifted a case of these beauties during the holiday season and so I’ve had ample time to review them. Rather than just post an overview after one bier I decided to hold out and share some more details after drinking, well, a few more than one

The Andechs Monastery Brewery has been doing their thing and turning out the good stuff since 1455 (yet another ancient middle age brewhaus). As you can probably see from their website these guys do have a wide selection of beir types, but I’m here to give you a review of their Special Lager (Spezial Hell).

Drinking these in large quantities did help me to get a good overall idea of the bier. I will be honest, I expected more from a brewery with such heritage. Thats not to say the bier was bad, it just seemed to fizzle out (literally) just when it seemed it was going to become good.

As you can see from the picture, the colour of the bier is strong gold, but maybe too clear. The foam lasted for a very short period and the flavour lacked the punch that a good 5.8% lager should have and was almost tart when you thought it should hit you with a bitter flavour.

All this being said, I still drank every bottle and enjoyed doing so. As I said, the bier wasn’t bad. It just didn’t meet my expectations. It’s quite pleasing to have friends, family and colleagues that know to buy you bier as presents. So where does that leave the review? Well I can’t get this adventure past 3 steins. But lesson learned. I’ll see if I can get my hands on some other Andechs brews.

Andechs Spezial Hell, Bavarian, Bayern, German Bier, Lager, Pils

January 20th, 2010 by Nate

I dug up this photo out of my collection and honestly I don’t know why I had not posted it before. This photo was taken whilst having lunch at the Aying Brauerei Restaurant, right next to the Aying Brauerei thus this bier was fresh as fresh that can be. The Aying Weißbier was a pleasure to drink. The experience begins with a lovely golden cloudy pour and with a very solid head, just like a good bier should have. The first mouthful is full of carbonation and is almost alive with activity, this was a little too much for my liking. The aroma of banana is not overwhelming but distinct and perfectly matches the subtle citrus and hoppy flavours. Without a doubt this is one of my favourite Weißbiers and the experience of drinking this at the Brewery only made it more enjoayble. I can highly recommend any bier from Aying.

2010, Aying, Aying Brauerei, Bavaria, Bavarian Beer, Bayern, Bayern Bier, Bier, Brauereigasthof, German Bier, Weißbier, Weiss, weissbier

January 12th, 2010 by Nate

It’s not often that you come across a bier, especially a special bier that tops the original. But I have to say that the above Tap7 version of the Schneider Weisse weissbier is well, amazing. I have reviewed the original Schneider before and it is one of my favourite wheat biers. However this Tap7 version takes the cake.

It has more alcohol (5.4%) but to be honest I didn’t notice. The one distinctive quality that stuck out for me was just how creamy the texture of the bier was. It really sat perfectly on the palate with very smooth hits of nutmeg, it was perfect with the Christmas dinner (hence the, ah not so subtle, Christmas decorations), although the website states this is best with traditional Bavarian food. Still incase you didn’t get it yet, I love this bier.

5 Steins, Bavaria, Bayern, Christmas, Frankfurt, German Bier, hefeweizen, Schneider, Schneider Weisse, special bier, Tap 7, Tap7, Weißbier, weissbier

December 22nd, 2009 by Nate

So it’s recently and finally started snowing here. On my back balcony I’ve got my empty bottles sitting to be used in my next home brew (thats another story… for later). Tonight I stuck my head out and found the above situation.

It made me realise that I had drunk an entire case of this bier without reviewing the damn thing. So I thought I would do a post review of the bier. A Southern German, Western Bavarian brewery that specialises in it’s lagers, considered to be one of the better lager/pils bier in Germany.

The Hoppy and fresh bier that in all honesty can be drunk without complication, hence it’s popularity. The advantage for this bier is that it has texture, a very over looked quality in bier. Although this is something that is focussed on in wine sommelier scene, bier is generally overlooked for it’s texture. Thus this is what makes this one of the better lager/pils going around Germany.

Altenmünster, Bavarian, Bayern, Bier, German Bier, Lager, Pils

November 15th, 2009 by Nate

This is a perfect Bavarian tradition, Schweinebraten (Bavarian Pork Roast) with a Weiss bier, in this case a Maisel’s Wisse.

Ok first to the meat, if you’ve ever had a pork knuckle or anything similar you will know just how well the Germans cook their pork. The meat literally falls off the bone like butter off a hot knife and is a dream to eat. You will also notice the white ‘ball’ behind the pork, this is called a knoodle and is essentially a dumpling made of potato, which with gravy sauce is amazing.

Now down to the bier…. I think it’s safe to say that so long as you have a good weiss of 4 or more steins, then you can’t go wrong here. The weiss bier with the Schweinebraten is a little slice of heaven. The Maisel’s Weisse is a 4 stein bier. It’s not bad in anyway but it just lacks the complexity of say a Karg or a Franziskaner. It still has a lovely aroma of yeasty toffee and has the almost perfect texture for a weiss (which is almost that ‘chewy’ nature).

Bavairan, Bavaria, Bayern, Beer, Bier, German Bier, Maisel's Weisse, Schweinebraten, Weiss

November 9th, 2009 by Nate

It’s Snowing in the Alps, so I thought I’d share this pic with you. I took this a last year whilst snowboarding in Austria. The above Weiss is from the König Ludwig Schlossbrauerei (King Ludwig castle brewery) and is literally the King of Bavaria’s brew. The brewery traces it’s history back 700+ year and has quite the regal attitude to it’s bier.

The bier isn’t horrible, nor is it great. It has a great texture and obvious stunning colour, which is something so many weiss biers miss nowadays. None the less the texture is not supported by the flavour, well at least not to what I expected…. the sweetness of a weiss, its malty-apple-toffee flavour is kind of overpowered by a bitter flavour. But the experience of drinking the bier at 3000 meters was great!

Alps, Austria, Bavaria, Bayern, Beer, Bier, German Bier, König, König Ludwig Schlossbrauerei, Ludwig, Weiss

September 5th, 2009 by Nate

Today’s Weißbier is from the Allgäuer brewery in the small Bavarian town of Marktoberdorf: Leuterschach. I happened to come across this bier being served not in Bavaria but in the Gundelhard forest, at a cute little guesthouse.

Random location and random bier. Now I dind’t mind this bier, but it just seemed to be lacking in depth. The initial flavour was your typical hefeweizen, but the aftertaste really lacked the quality of a good hefeweizen. Now this could be because I was exhausted after a long weekend, so I’m not going to say this is a bad bier. Infact such a statement would not be 100% honest. The bier was good, but I need to re-evaluate to make my mind up.

If any of you reading this is a Allgäuer representative, I’d be happy to test another one again. Drop me a line and we’ll discuss it.

As I can’t really give an accurate evaluation of the bier, I’m going to leave this as ‘undefined’ for the moment.

Allgäuer, Bavaria, Bayern, Beer, Bier, German Bier, Germany, hefeweizen, Marktoberdorf, Weißbier, weissbier

September 1st, 2009 by Nate

I spent the last weekend partying with friends in Frankfurt . Late on Sunday afternoon I was offered this little Bavarian gem to chill out with. This Schneider Weisse is the original bier from the brewery (brauerei) first started by Georg I. Schneider in 1872.

This has to be without doubt one of my favourite biers ever created. Unlike most golden Weißbier, this has a much stronger amber colour which indicates the strength and complexity of flavour, which is not dissimilar to other Weißbier, but has more of a nutty and heartier, less sweet fruit flavour.

Undoubtedly this is amongst the kings of biers and easily gets 5 Steins:

Bavaria, Bavarian, Bayern, Beer, Bier, German Bier, Germany, hefeweizen, Schneider Weisse, Weißbier, weissbier