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 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 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

March 21st, 2007 by Nate

A few weeks ago I was in Lausanne catching up with some good mates. I visited one of my fav’ bars called Les Brasseurs.

These guys serve bier either by the 0.5 litre glass or by the multiple litre. The last time I was here in May 2006, my group of buddies and I knocked back 10 litres. Not just one at a time, but the whole 10 is carried to your table & you are given your own tap to pour from. As you will see in the below photo:

Cool huh!! The bier itself is pretty good as well. There is a selection from Draught through to Blonde. I’ve had the blonde and a special “of the month” variety. The bier in itself probably only deserves a 3-4 but the experience of drinking that monster pipe of bier, well that bring this up to 4 Steins:

Bier, Brewery, Lausanne, Les Brasseurs, Swiss Bier, Switzerland