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

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

April 16th, 2010 by Nate

Image care of the SMH

Mr. Sacha Molitorisz from the Sydney Morning Herald has just posted the most whimsical story of bier drinking across the Munich Biergartens.

I highly recommend you give “Liquid luncheon” a read. Sacha has completely summed up how I feel about my regular pilgrimage to München and Nürnberg.

If you are a fan of Gemütlichkeit and cant attest to that lovely feeling of drinking a large (ein Maß) glass of bier, then this article is for you. Oh and we can be friends

I can’t wait to get back to Germany now! Oh and if anyone happens to have Sacha’s Email (as I’d love to thank him for this article), please pass it on to me at Nate (at) Bieradventures.com

Bier, Gemütlichkeit, German Bier, Germany, Munchen, Nürnberg, Sacha Molitorisz

March 10th, 2010 by Nate

Isn’t Nostalgia fun?

The reason I state this is that WAY back at the end of 2006. I followed my career and moved from Australia to Germany. Naturally one of the first things you do when you arrive in German is have a bier. Well at least I did.

So on December 28th 2006 I picked up some brews at my local Rewe (German Supermarket Chain) and then headed back to my apartment to enjoy them in the middle of winter (note that December in Australia is Summer, thus I had just flown from a 32 degree Sydney-Summer day into a Frankfurt -8 Winters day).

If you click on this link, you will be taken back to my first post to Bier Adventures from Deutschland. Back in those days I didn’t review biers I just posted photos of them on my site. As I so eloquently state on the post, a bottle of Maisel’s Wiesse has cost me a grant total of 0.79 cents Euro! Bargain right?

Anyway since that time I’ve ingested a ‘few’ biers from far and wide so my tastes have grown a little. So much so so that although I’ve also posted about drinking Maisel’s Weisse with a Schweinebraten and thoroughly enjoyed the adventure, I think I’ve moved on from thinking this specific Weisse is worthy of such attention.

Yes it is a popular and original family brew from 1887. Yes it is a Weisse that I get to see a lot of and probably drink a lot of when not testing/trying new beers. What the Maisel’s Wiesse isn’t is 5 or even 4 stein material.

Why the change of heart you may ask (or not). Well once you start trying the Schneider Weisse, the Augustiner Weisse, the Franziskaner Dunkel and many, many others you tend to become spoiled for choice and well, at least for me, become a little bit of a Weisse snob. The Maisel’s is simply too sweet for me, a little like a glass of liquid brown sugar + a little bit of wheat.

Having said all of that, I do think that this is the perfect entry weisse bier. It’s great to introduce people to the enjoyability of a weisse without being challenged to early on. So I’m not saying I don’t like the bier, but it has to take a step down in relation to the other Weisse biers.

Beer, Bier, Frankfurt, German Bier, Germany, Maisel's Wiesse, Nostalgia, Wiesse

February 26th, 2010 by Nate

A couple of years ago, whilst on a tour of Europe and before the Schengen Agreement was signed by some Eastern European countries, I completed a boarder crossing between Germany and The Czech Republic. This was the days when you had to hand over your passport to the boarder guard, sit back and wait a few hours whilst they processed you through their ‘system’.

So during this boarder crossing somwhere between Dresden and Ústí nad Labem, we had some time to kill and well what do you do when passing between Germany and the Czech Republic, you have a bier!

Now for my American Readers, you may, or for that matter, may not know about Budvar bier (yes it looks like your Budweiser, King of Beers, bier). Well there is a long held dispute between Budweiser Budvar Brewery (Budějovický Budvar, the Czech Brewery) and Anheuser-Busch as to the ownership of the bier. Essentially the bier was licensed in the USA by Anheuser-Busch 1876 and thus it’s kind of stuck. Whereas the original Budvar has been relegated, at least in the USA as Czehchvar.

Anyway, enough of the history lesson. The one thing that can be said unequivocally is that the Budvar bier is miles ahead of the American version of ‘Bud’. Please note that this is in no way an insult to Americans, just Anheuser-Busch. Which much like the Fosters conglomerate in Australia tend to homogenize the beers at their disposal. The American ‘king of beers’ is well far from deserved of the crown.

The Czech Budvar, the Pils, on the other hand is good, but it’s not spectacular. It does pale in comparison to other Czech Pils, but when laid next to it’s competing namesake biers, this is well… good. The bier is light, with a grassy and hoppy aroma. It’s easily drinkable with a nice but light golden colour. The flavour though is pretty ‘normal’ in that it just doesn’t challenge me. There is a nice, but simple grain flavour that can sometimes be overwhelmed with the alcohol flavour. It’s a midrange bier but nothing awesome.

Anheuser-Busch, Budvar, Budweiser, Czech Republic, Dresden, Germany, Schengen Agreement, Ústí nad Labem

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

August 22nd, 2009 by Nate

Yet another Weisse Bier, yet another 4 steins. Although I should state that I think this has more to do with the region than the brewers. München (Munich) and the Bavarian area really is the king of Weisse Bier production. The above Hofbräu Münchner Weisse is no different. It has a brilliant toffee and banana flavour, without being too sweet and it has almost the perfect chewey texture of a good Weisse.

Many of you may know the Hofbräu from your trips to München for Oktoberfest or just for site seeing. However I’m sure most of you would probably just have the standard Pils. So next time you are there, give the Weisse a shot, you’ll eb surprised at how good it looks in a one Litre Stein

Anyway, here is 4 steins for the Münchner Weisse from Hofbräu.

Beer, Bier, German Bier, Germany, hefeweizen, hofbraeuhaus, Hofbräuhaus, Munchen, Weißbier, weissbier

September 28th, 2007 by Nate

Being a fan of Bier and that I’m living in Deutschland, it was only right that I headed to Oktoberfest. What can I say that you probably don’t already know?
Bier? Well there is a hell of a lot of that!
Fun? Hahaha… yeah there’s lots of that as well.
Food? Half a chicken never tasted so good!
Girls? Have you ever been to Bavaria?
Singing? Prosit! Prosit!

Needless to say it was a brilliant time, and whilst I was there, I tried the bier from:

* Löwenbräu
* Spaten Braeu
* Hofbräu
* Hacker-Pschorr

I wont go into reviewing the bier here though. I think the event leads itself more to excess rather than sampling the biers provided.

Needless to say I’m going again this weekend…. yes I seriously am!!!!!
Ahhh the bier!!!

Beer, Bier, German Bier, Germany, Hacker-Pschorr, Hofbräu, Löwenbräu, Octoberfest, Oktoberfest, Pils, Spaten Braeu

June 20th, 2007 by Nate

I recently visited Heidelberg in the Baden-Württemberg of Germany. Not only is it one of of the most scenic locations in Germany with it’s stunning Schloss (castle), but it was just a cool town.

The above photo was taken atop the Königstuhl, the mountain that also hosts the Schloss. The bier drunk this time, was (yet) another Hefeweizen. The Palmbräu was surprisingly refreshing. It was more of you typical Bavarian Weizen than other’s that I’ve tried. Yet it still wasn’t as full of flavour as say Schöfferhofer, almost lacking on the fruity after-taste. Still it was much more stylish than most Weizen from the North of Germany that I have been trying recently.

So for a rating, I would give this a 3.5. But as I don’t have a decimal system in place with my Steins, this gets rounded up to a 4 Steins.

Baden-Württemberg, German Bier, Germany, hefeweizen, Heidelberg, Königstuhl, Palmbräu, Schloss, Weißbier, weissbier