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 9th, 2010 by Nate

My Partner in crime recently moved high into the Swiss Alps, which brings with it a hell of a LOT of snow. Although the wite stuff makes driving dangerous and the place a little cold (-35) last week. But snow is nature’s cold box and thus above you can see a bottle of the Hofbräuhaus and something else which I can’t remember, none the less they were cold within minutes.

Ahh beer in the Alps, nice.

Alps, Beer, Bier, Swiss Alps, Switzerland

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

October 20th, 2009 by Nate

A good mate of mine from NYC recently visited me in Switzerland. During a particularly nice Sunday we decided to head over the boarder to Italy for Lunch. As it is, I don’t like to take the normal route, and we chose to take the Grand Saint Bernard Pass, yes the place where the dogs with Whiskey barrels around their neck. What an amazing drive and in all honesty, something everyone should do.

None the less, we are here to talk about beer. When we left Switzerland it was just touching on 18 degrees (centigrade), but when we arrived in Aosta it was a pleasant 25, so a nice cold birra was in order. We decided to consume the premium brand from the Peroni brand, Nastro Azzurro (literally “blue ribbon” in Italian).

Now I remember when this pale lager first touched down in Australia and was considered an amazing import. The Aussie importers actually used to charge us 50+ dollars for a case of 24x375ml bottles! Back then I used to think that was outstanding, now I know I was an ignorant twit. Still the beer was never bad and is one of the better lagers out there in the world. It may be over produced and seen as an elite brand in some locations, but having a pint of it in the Aosta town square under the Italian sun was nothing short of a small pleasure. I do recommend this birra. It’s not complicated and doesn’t ask much of the drinker. This could be a nostalgia thing. It could be a romanticised notion thanks to the trip or even the location… still it’s getting 4 steins.

Beer, Birra, Grand Saint Bernard Pass, Italian Birra, Lager, Nastro Azzurro, Pale Lager, Peroni, Saint Bernard Pass, Switzerland

April 5th, 2007 by Nate

While in Zürich the other weekend I visited Zeughauskeller. A brilliant Bier Keller, with what has to be one of the most interesting methods to enjoy a bier.

So the photo above is actually of the final stage. But what precedes this is:
- Whisky is poured into the glass
- Lit on fire
- Swirled
- Then doused with bier, which gives you a:

“Highlander Whisky Malt Beer”

I really enjoyed this bier. It was different from what I usually consume, however challenged my preconceived notion of bier and was a pleasure to drink. So purely on originality, I would give this 5 steins:

Bier, dunkels, German Bier, Switzerland, Zurich

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

March 6th, 2007 by Nate

Sunday was spent in the Swiss Alps, specifically the ski village and slopes of Villars. Lunch time was spent lying in the sun and indulging in an Erdinger Weißbräu. Much like my previous photo, it’s hard to take a bad shot of this bier (especially with the backdrop of the alps).

Erdinger is quite a light and refreshing hefeweißen and was exactly what I needed on the day. Still it’s not up there with a Schöefferhofer, I’ll still give this a good 3 stars:

Erdinger, German Bier, hefeweizen, Switzerland, Weißbier, weissbier