April 22nd, 2010 by Nate

Those of you who regularly visit my site know that I am currently living in Switzerland. You will also note that I have a particular affinity for German Bier and tend to drink that more often than Swiss Bier. Weird eh?
However I assure you there is reason behind my general prohibition of Swiss Bier. Basically the mass produced and popular biers are complete shite.

Yes there are plenty of great brews and I have found some some of them. But unlike Germany where pretty much every bier is good (and the bell curve is completely skewed), Switzerland does take influences from all parts of it’s surrounding neighbours. Unfortunately not all of them have a similar Reinheitsgebot law. Thus we get quite the varied collection of bier companies, biers and well tastes.

Now one of the most popular brands in Switzerland is Feldschlösschen. The also happen to be the largest brewery in Switzerland and yet most of the bier they produce is something on par with say an Aussie VB or an American Bud light. I actually made a conscious decision to not review their normal bier on this site and I will only drink it if I’m completely limited to it (such as at the wonderful Paleo Festival), so that is where I leave the main bier alone. What gets me about this brewery is that is located right on the boarder with Germany in town called Rheinfelden. I mean you can literally walk across a bridge to it’s sister city (Rheinfelden… yes you read that right) in Germany. So proximity to the home of great bier, you would expect better.

However recently and I guess in an effort to expand their bier business (as they are now owned by Carlsberg), Feldschlösschen has begun brewing and shipping a “Premium” version of their bier. Please allow this brief tangent, however I have a slight issue with the idea of slapping a ‘premium’ label on a bier. Call me a stickler for quality, but if you are going to sell a bier it should be your premium, your best. Be it your best Lager/Pils or your best Weiss/Wheat… whatever it is, it should be your best.

Having had my little rant, I will tell you that this Premium Bier wasn’t half bad. Where the normal bier is rough to drink, the Premium was actually quite smooth and enjoyable. The Malts were noticeable and it had a good biter edge. So if you need a 6 pack of bier for an BBQ, day at the park, friends party, this is a good option.

Bier, Feldschlösschen, Premium Bier, Swiss Bier/Bière/Birra

April 20th, 2010 by Nate

I do enjoy attempts at seasonal bières. It’s nice to see variation, even if there isn’t any adherence to the Reinheitsgebot. My local chain brewer, Les Brasseurs, which I’ve previously covered here, has decided that with the advent of Spring it is time it’s time for a new seasonal bière.

The above is the Diabolic. A bière that comically or possibly scarily has an alcohol content of 6.66%. So when I visited recently with a German mate, we had to try it. Now I should point out that yes that is the actual colour of the bière, a red-pink colour and a nice touch.
The bière itself was, ahh, well, different. The first few mouthfuls, I just couldn’t put my finger on it, then my German mate pointed out that the bière was hot, like chili hot. BINGO this was a chili flavoured bière! Because of the chili capsaicin, the flavour of the hops, yeast and other ingredients were quite subdued and although the bière was fun to drink, it wasn’t exactly something I would recommend on a regular basis. Certainly it is worth a try, but I wouldn’t buy a sixer of it. However as it was something unique and new, it’s not all bad.

Chili bières, Diabolic bière, Les Brasseurs, Suisse bière, Swiss Bier/Bière/Birra

March 30th, 2010 by Nate

So Winter is done, well so we think. The other weekend I was snowboarding the Corvatsch in the Engadine of Switzerland. The mountain is 3303m above sea level with some great open pistes for boarding on. ANYWAY, this site is about bier, not Snowboarding.

During the day of boarding I stopped to have a refreshing brew. In one of the tiny huts along the pistes I had the above, Calanda Bräu. This is a very popular bier in this region of Switzerland and I’ve actually outlined their Edelbräu, however this was my first time trying their mainstay brew. This is simply a pale lager that is easily consumed. There is actually nothing special about it at all, in fact I found it to be quite bland but drinkable. Which would have lead me to giving it 2 steins. BUT….

Whilst drinking it at altitude and on a minus 25 degree day (-25), yes you read that right, the froth of the bier actually crystallised, which I tried to capture in the photo above. So purely because of this very cool experience, I had to bump the rating up. Literally and figuratively, a very cool experience.

Bier, Bräu, Calanda, Calanda Bräu, hell, Helles, Lager, Swiss Bier/Bière/Birra

March 6th, 2010 by Nate

2 weeks ago I was in Zürich to see some performances. Specifically before the Henry Rollins Spoken Word show I managed to try the above Halden Krone Spezialbier, which as it turns out is from our friendly mega-corp; Heineken.

It’s funny, I am going to quote another bier blogger here as I’ve seen The Beer Nut’s review of the Halden and it sums up my feelings exactly:
“easy to drink, but let down by — you’ve guessed it — blandness. A sunny-day quaffer, but otherwise pointless

That’s it.. I could not have put it better myself. I honestly don’t feel like giving a rundown on the brewery, history or anything. It has been said in the above link. Cheers Mr. Beer Nut.

Lager, Swiss Bier, Swiss Bier/Bière/Birra, Switzerland, Zurich

February 12th, 2010 by Nate

I have been living in Switzerland for 2 years now and had visited Switzerland for work and play for the 2 years before that. In the 4 years of expeditions through this tiny country I had rarely found any ‘decent’ beers. It seemed to me that the Swiss had no real interest in the good stuff. I think this feeling had a lot to do with most bars only selling the major brands en mass and from tap.

But I’ve been slowly learning oh how ignorant I was. First up, what you consider to be the main bier all depends on where you are in Switzerland. For example in the southern, French speaking area you will find the players such as Boxer (which is actually quite a small production, and they make great beer) or Cardinal (whom I find to be more run-of-the-mill). Then in the Northern, German-Speaking parts the big brew house is Calanda. There is however one big, all conquering brand; Feldschlösschen, whom I have yet to actually have a ‘good’ beer from.

None the less I have finally found that there is quite the collection of breweries throughout Switzerland. They tend to be regional and, especially for those in the north, have quite the selection to taste from. The above Reinheitsgebot.

So how about this Quoellfrisch? Well I can tell you that it pours a lovely cloudy and yellow colour (ignore the amber tones in the picture there was a red light on the right of the frame). The head is strong and the armoa is a little weak, almost like a light lager, an Amstel or Heineken for example. The flavour was clean, not particularly crisp but it had this nice and understated sweetness to it. The feel of the bierin the mouth is lively but nothing spectacular.

This for me was a mid range bier, worth trying but it just didn’t stand out. So like it’s Weiss cousin:

Appenzeller, Boxer, Calanda, Cardinal, Feldschlösschen, Quoellfrisch, Swiss Bier, Swiss Bier/Bière/Birra, Switzerland

January 14th, 2010 by Nate

Before Christmas I spent half a day walking the streets of Basel, which I must say is a gorgeous town once you get of the Autobahn. None the less I got walking around and when I went past the Hauptbahnhof (central station) and found Drinks of the World, a shop that had one of the most plentiful collections of beers from all corners of the globe that I have ever seen. Truly an amazing shopping experience can be had there. However this time around I decided to pick up some seasonal winter biers.

Today’s Bier is from Brauerei Fischerstube, located in the old town of Basel. Now I’ve not visited the brewery itself (next trip to Basel), but this does have quite the local following (similar to that of the Boxer Bière of Lausanne). The Brewery has been around for over 30 years and has been doing a great job of tippling the tongues of the Basel natives in that period.

The bier itself was actually quite nice, although light amber bier. This is an unusual take on the Winterbier for the region, but was quite good. Another unusual factor was that unlike other Winterbier from Europe, this was actually quite low on alcohol at around 5%. This was nicely matched by it’s subtle, yet defined, malty flavour. The thing that really stood out for me about this bier was simply that it didn’t stand out. Most Winterbiers that I’ve tried have been bold in flavour and in kick so to really hit home the warming and festive feelings. This amber from Uelibier is subtle and sometimes that is just what you need.

Amber, Basel, Beerworld.ch, Drinsk of the World, Swiss Bier/Bière/Birra, Uelibier, Winter Beer, Winterbier

January 11th, 2010 by Nate

In the German Speaking areas of Switzerland, they do tend to follow many German brewing traditions such as the Reinheitsgebot. What these sorts of traditions tend to bring to the brewing process is that you get some really quaint biers and attitudes towards bier.

The above Weissbier is from the Appenzell region of Switzerland. The brewery is named after the region and has been doing it’s thing since 1886. As for the bier itself, well it’s not exactly bad (the amber is better) but it is a good Weissbier for a Swiss bier.

Beer, Bier, Reinheitsgebot, Swiss Bier, Swiss Bier/Bière/Birra, weissbier

November 26th, 2009 by Nate

I’ve recently undertaken a semi-regular weekend train trip that allows me some time to enjoy a few beers, read a book, watch a movie and just have some down time. During my last trip I tried a popular Swiss Bier/Bière/Birra Calanda (check out the entry site for the 3 languages… that is Switzerland) Edelbräu.

Now the Calanda is very common and popular Swiss brand, however their usual lager isn’t so special. The above Edelbräu however is fantastic. My first mouthful of this lager-ish brew was full of cloves and chocolate like sweetness that was surprisingly refreshing. Whilst not having the texture of say a Weiss bier, I thoroughly enjoyed the Edelbräu.

The reasons for the difference in flavour from the normal bier is apparently the water, which for the Edelbräu is sourced from an Alpine spring. I’m not sure if this is the only reason, but I thoroughly enjoyed this and would recommend it to anyone.

Alps, Bier, bière, Birra, Edelbräu, Siwss, Swiss Bier/Bière/Birra, Switzerland, Train

November 2nd, 2009 by Nate

Well I got lazy with this post and drank it all to quickly without really capturing it’s colour and depth in a photo. None the less I have provided you with a photo of the empty bottle

Rugenbräu is a 140+ year old company and not only brews bier, but also distills Schnapps and creates it’s own wine. Quite the variation for a firm located in the Swiss Alps.

To be honest, I didn’t purchase this bier. My mate, visiting me from New York, spent a couple of days in Interlaken and brought back a couple of brews for me to try. Lets just say these little fellas (33cl) didn’t last long after he pulled them out of his bag.

The bier itself if a simple lager, but that was the standout. It was just how clear and refreshing this simplicity was that made this bier. It was missing the complexity of the Cisk , but it was one of the crispest and cleanest of lagers I’ve had, maybe this is due to the water source, I’m not sure. Now I like complexity in my biers, but this juxtaposition was really interesting. I would like to spend more time reviewing this bier and seeing that it’s a relatively local brew, I’ll do that. For the time being it gets 3-4 steins, with a note to review further:

Beer, Cisk, Interlaken, Lager, Rugenbräu, Swiss Alps, Swiss Bier, Swiss Bier/Bière/Birra, Switzerland

October 30th, 2009 by Nate

Over the weekend, I undertook the first stages of fermenting my very first bier. I am finally moving from being just a consumer to actually being produce. This should be quiet the experience seeing as my only previous experience is the drinking process.

During the initial stages of my setting up the first brew, I consumed some Swiss Biers from the Monstein Brewery . The Brewery is located near Davos, high in the Swiss Alps. What is great about this brewery (which I’ve not visited, but hopefully will be soon) is that they brew some specialty biers to be had with unique Swiss Foods, such as Fondue. I should point out here that most people will tell you to NEVER have beer with Fondue, unless of course you like a concrete-like block of cheese in your stomach. So I am very much looking forward to trying this on in the coming months.

The two biers pictured above were found in my local supermarket (I don’t know who is buying their bier, but they are doing a great job at getting quite the collection). Of these two I was quite partial to the Monsteiner Mungga (Mungga is a small, Swiss groundhog like creature) bier. Which I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed this top-fermented bier with it’s wonderful toffee and nutty overtones, which seemed to suit the malty air in my kitchen, thanks to the brew.

The second bier, the Bock, wasn’t bad by any standards. However it just didn’t jump out at me and to be honest tasted more like the Mungga than a Bock.

What I am REALLY happy to find is that there are some quality Bier brewers in Switzerland. For a while there I was very worried, mainly because the French-Speaking part I’m in seems to either brew or import stuff I wouldn’t even give to the dog. None the less, I do believe we are staring to open a door into the quite varied Swiss Bier culture.

As a total these get 3 steins. The Mungga was a 4, but was let down by the Bock:

2009, Ale, Beer, Bier, Bock, Swiss Bier, Swiss Bier/Bière/Birra, Switzerland, Top-Fermented