Special Beer Review - Brauerei Heldrich

One of the things that I'm finding very interesting as a bike rider and a beer drinker in Germany is the number of small breweries that I'm finding as I'm riding, most of them also have an associated Gasthaus or restuarant attached or nearby.  I make a special mental note as I pedal by, especially if the restuarant appears to be very busy, something that I think is a sure sign I need to try it, especially if the village only has about a dozen houses or so.

That's exactly what I found as I went through the village of Edelsfeld, a Gasthaus that is always busy, a building with Heldrich Brauerei emblazoned over a door and a small getranke markt with the same name nearby.  Note to self stop by here sometime.  Thats what I did today.  I still haven't tried the Gasthaus but this is what I thought of the beer.

Heldrich Brauerei Vollbier - A vollbier according to the German Beer Institute is a "full" beer, Helles, Pils, and Weissbier all fall into this category.  This offerring from the Heldrich Braueri is a Helles.  It poured a copper gold, with a light white head that quickly disappeared.  The aroma is slightly sweet caramelly sweet with no trace of hops.  The taste is malty sweet and light.  The oh so subtly dry finish is where the hops finally comes into play.  Not a bad Helles.

Heldrich Brauerei Pils - This beer pours a very pale clear gold. The head was a thin white that quickly dissipated.  The aroma is slight and eludes my fickle sniffer.  The taste is primarily hops with hints of spice.  The hops isn't overwhelming for a German Pils, and the finish is dry.  Honestly not much the hops malt balance is not much much different from the Vollbier/Helles, probably just a little more hops.  A really good beer.

Heldrich Brauerei Blau Stopsel - According to Yahoo Banelfish the name of this beer translates to blue plug, well the only blue on the bottle is on the neck label, it's probably a holdover from when the stoppers were actually blue.  Unlike the other two Helricher beers I've gotten my hands on this one came in a flip top bottle.  I found here where it is probably a festbier, I'd have to agree.  It pours yellow gold with  a hea that persists and leaves tracery on the sides of the glass.  The aroma is slightly fruity and sweet.  The taste is sweet malts with an undercurrent of fruit, there is little to no hops present just a little bit that lingers at the finish.  A very pleasant beer.

I think there are only the three varieties of the Heldricher beer, that's all i found in the local getranke markt and on various beer websites.  I'm definitely going to have to check out the associated Gasthaus. 

And finally, of course, the obligatory steinkrug.  Shantel is starting to think it was a bad idea to let me start collecting these things.

Hacker-Pschorr Hefe-Weizen

Another Hefe-Weizen from Hacker-Pschorr is today's review.  This time it's their standard Hefe-Weizen.

This Hefe pours a dark cloudy copper with plenty of sediment swirling inside.  The head is slightly off white and really frothy.  The aroma is spicy fresh baked bread.  The taste echoes the aroma with just a hint of added citrus, just subtle enough for me to not catch a type.

Not a bad Hefe Weizen, I haven't had a one in a while and I'd forgotten how good they were.

Definitely a repeat.

 

Hacker-Pschorr Sternweisse

Next up from Hacker-Pschorr is their Sternweisse.  This is a darker weizen, but not their dunkelweissen which is also an offering. 

This beer pours a dark caramelly brown with golden hints throughout the body.  A thick fluffy brown tinged head lingered for a while.  The aroma is one of fresh baked bread with some hints of citrus and spice.  Perhaps clove?  The hint of spice carries over into the flavor which is also slightly sweet.  The finish crisp with lingering flavors.

Not a bad beer and an interesting weizen that doesn't necessarily overwhelm with citrus fruitiness of some other's.

90 miles on the bicycle

That's how far I rode yesterday!  I almost can't believe it, but I got it done.  That's the farthest I've ridden a bike in almost 10 years.  I'd also be lying if I didn't say that the last 60-90 minutes of the 6 hour ride didn't just about kick my @$$.  I'm supposed to ride further than that and then get off and run a marathon?  I'm begining to think I've lost my fricking mind.

Despite the pain at the end it was a good ride and once I'd gotten off I felt better than I did while on the bike.  I averaged over 17 mph  for the first 3 hours and then about 15.5 mph after I stopped and refilled my water bottles.

Overall it was a good week with a couple of good swims, a good 3hr 15 min run (17 miles).  I'm comfortable with where I'm at and where I'm supposed to be.  I'm cruising for a 14-14.5 race so I'm still on track.

Here is what I was supposed to do with what I actually did.

Scheduled
Mon - Off
Tuesday - 75 minute run, Swim 6x400, 8x100
Wednesday - 60 minute Bike Thursday - 30 minute run Swim 6x400, 8x100

Thursday - 30 minute run, Swim 6x500, 8x100
Friday - 60 minute bike in small chain
Saturday - 3:15 hour run, Swim 6x500, 8x100
Sun - 5:30 hour bike

Actual
Mon - Off
Tuesday 75 minute run
Wednesday 60 minute Bike, Swim 6x500, 8x100 

Thursday - Off
Friday -  3hr 15 min run (17 miles)
Saturday -  60 minute bike, 6x500, 8x100

Sunday - 5:50 hour bike (90 miles)

Hacker-Pschorr Kellerbier

I've moved on from the Kulmbacher beers to offerings from one of the Munich Big Six Breweries, Hacker-Pschorr.  Even though the name is hyphenated suggesting two different breweries that combined these two contain a shared history since they were once a consolidated brewery in the 1800's that were split between two sons when the family patriach died.  They became one again in the 1970's.

The Hacker-Pshorr beers come in a .5l flip top bottle.  My fascination with the flip top bottle combined with a recommendation from one of my coworkers has had me searching for all of the offerings from this brewery.  If you can remember I did a review of their Helles last year.  I'll start this series with their  Kellerbier, named Munich Kellerbier Anno 1417 after the year the brewery was founded.

This Kellierbier pours a murky orange tinted copper with just a little of the cloudiness that a kellerbier is known for .  The head is slightly off white and dissipated quickly. The aroma is one of sweet malts and the taste is slightly hoppy with good balance of malts.  The finish is crisp and dry.

Not a bad first selection from Hacker Pshorr.

Kulmbacher Gold

The last beer from the Kulmbacher brewery that I'm going to review is the Kulmbacher Gold.  This beer starts off just a little different with it's .33L clear bottle compared to the .5L brown bottles of all it's brewery mates.

It poured  with absolutely no head but plenty of carbonation. The body is the true gold color that gives it it's name.  The aroma of hops assaulted my sniffer as I lifted it for my first drink.  The flavor is hoppy but not overwhelming as suggested by the aroma, other spices war with the hops for predominance.  The finish is slightly sweet and crisp.  I'm still not sure if I like it but it is definitely worth a second bottle.

This Weeks Recap

Not a bad week as I prep for that fast approaching Ironman.  As usual weather and life sometimes get in the way.  But I'm still making progress and I think I'm doing all right.

Scheduled
Mon - Off
Tuesday - 60 minute run, Swim 6x400, 8x100
Wednesday - 60 minute Bike fartlek, 20 sec sprint with 2min rest interval.
Thursday - 30 minute run Swim 6x400, 8x100
Friday - 60 minute bike in small chain
Saturday - 3 hour run, Long Swim
Sun - 5:30 hour bike

Actual
Mon - Off
Tuesday 60 minute run Swim 6x400, 8x100
Wednesday  60 minute Bike fartlek, 20 sec sprint with 2min rest interval.
Thursday - 30 minute run
Friday - 60 minute bike, 2800m swim
Saturday - 3 hour run (16.21 miles)
Sunday - 5:30 hour bike

Like I said not a bad week.  Tuesday's swim was really good I did the total 3200m in about 1hr 40 min.  Well on track for what I need to accomplish the swim leg in.  Thursday the weather was bad and I couldn't make it to the outdoor pool and I couldn't get motivated to make the drive to the next town to the indoor pool, so I shifted it to Friday.  Saturday's run was good until about mile 13 when my HR went up and the pace went up, not a good thing.  Sunday's bike ride was filled with small rain showers and two torrential downpours.  After the second downpour I made it back to the house and set up the Dual on the trainer and I finished the last 2 hours on the trainer.

Kulmbacher Feinmild

Today's beer is the Kulmbacher Feinmild.  It pours with a very delicate head and the body is a pale cloudy gold with lots of tiny bubbles throughout.  The aroma is very mild and almost nonexistent, some of that could be my poor performing sniffer.  The beer goes down smooth and crisp with no overwhelming flavors, maybe just a hint of hops if you savor a mouthful too long.  Not a bad beer, interesting, delicate is the best description that I can give it..