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.