Special Beer Review - Schlossbrauerei Hirschau

This week is one of the local breweries, located about 15 minutes down the road from our house is the Schlossbrauerei Hirschau.  Even though it's only 15 minutes away.  I have to drive it to get the beer.  The local Getrankemarkts don't carry.  That should give you an indication of how regionalized some of these beers are.  It should also explain some of my excitment when I come across another new beer and those discoveries are really what I'm going to miss when we move back to the states in a couple of months.

Here is a picture of the castle inn that's associated with the brewery.

The crest on one of the brewery buildings.

The loading dock area.

Schlossbrauerei Hirschau Radler - I'll start with the Radler here.  It pours much darker than other Radlers I've had lately, almost the pale gold of a helles, and has a little more of frothy white head.  Does this mean it has a little more beer in it?  If so then it doesn't manifest itself in the aroma or taste.  The aroma is all lemon with maybe just a hint of hops lingering underneath.  The taste is pure lemon and is a good break from beer.  I had this one on a day where I'd already had several beers and this was a refreshing break.  I'll probably ride out to Hirschau and stop and have a Radler or two when I do.

Schlossbrauerei Hirschau 1812 Original - This is the helles from Schlossbrauerei Hirschau.  The body is an amber gold with a thin head that quickly disappeared.  The aroma is subtle and eludes my sniffer.  The taste is crisp and more hops than malt.  The finish definitely carries a reminder of hops. While not a Pils I'd say that it's hops level almost approaches Pils level.  I'm not a fan of hoppy beers.  I prefer more balance and I normally get that in a helles.  Not here though.

Schlossbrauerei Hirschau Johannibier  - I'm not sure what kind of beer this is, I think it might be a bock, maybe?  What I am sure about is that it pours goldish orange with a generous off white head that hung around for awhile and continued to leave lacing down the sides.  The aroma slight but I can detect the malts.  The taste is slightly sweet with more malt than hops and leads to a dry finish.  Pretty tasty and a very interesting beer.

Schlossbrauerei Hirschau Hirschauer Spezial - A Dortmunder or Export type beer.  It pours a cloudy orangish yellow with virtually no head.  The aroma is underwhelming and eluded my sniffer.  The taste is malty with sour undertones and a shadow of hoppy bitterness.  The finish is dry and demands another drink.  An interesting brew.

Schlossbrauerei Hirschau Pils - The German Pils offerring .  The body is not as pale as some other Pils coming in a more golden color, slightly reminiscent of apple juice.  The head on this Pils was non exsistent, not even any lacing on the sides. The aroma was hoppy and earthy.  The taste was only slightly hoppy even for a Pils, slightly surprised there.  German Pils tend to be too hoppy and bitter for my taste but this was pretty mild, almost closer to a helles. 

Schlossbrauerei Hirschau Leicht - This is no reduced calorie offering.  When the Germans say Leicht it typical means less alcholol (sometimes it also just means ligher in color), so if you are looking for a good buzz steer clear of German beers that call themselve Leicht.  This one comes in with 3.0% alc.  It pours and looks much like it's Pils or Helles siblings and the head is thin and quickly disappears leaving lacing on the sides.  The aroma is malty and earthy and the taste is a well balanced between the malts and the hops with the hops showing up in the finish that lingers ever so slightly.  Once again another interesting brew.

Schlossbrauerei Hirschau Hefe-Weisse - The Hefe Weisse from Schlossbrauerei Hirschau comes in a slightly different bottle than it's lager and ale siblings, a longer necked .5l version instead of the short necked .5l bottle.  It pours a a dark brown/gold/amber, not dark like a dunkel weisse but not straw gold like some other weizen. The head is the standard frothy white though not as generous as some. The aroma is cloves and citrus.  The taste is stll cloves with a touch of citrus and overall is not a flavor explosion.  The finish is dry and leaves you wanting more.  This is an understated Hefe-Weisse, not bad just understated.

Schlossbrauerei Hirschau Festbier - I love Fests!!! At least that's what my son Macen says and I can't say that I disagree with him, maybe I like them for different reasons (it's all about the beer and the giant pretzels!!!)  but I still like them.  Schlossbrauerei Hirschau's Festbier or Marzan type beer poured a golden amber with a thin head that quickly disappeared with no lacing on the sides.  The aroma was sweet malty with just a hint of cut grass.  The taste was malty and slightly sweet with no hint of hops or bitterness.  The finish lingered slightly but wasn't bad.  A little less carbonated then some of the other beers not much of a tingle as I swirled around the mouth looking for taste.  

Schlossbrauerei Hirschau Keller-Bier Spezial - The final beer from Schlossbrauerei Hirschau is a Keller or Zwickl beer.  It pours a cloudy copper orange with a generous white head.  The head lasted a while gradually dissipating into white lacing on the sides of the glass.  The aroma was one of malts.  The taste was crisp and malty but with a tang of hops.  It finished dry, basically begging you to take another sip.  A pretty tasty brew.

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.

Kulmbacher Festbier

It's time to start reviewing beers again.  I've decided to start with several beers from the Kulmbacher Braueri from Kulmbach Germany.  The Kulmbacher brand is the premium brand for the Kulmbacher AG group, I'm a big fan of the group's Monschof specialty line and now it's time to try the premium line.

It's fest time in Germany so why not start with the Kulmbacher festbier.  The beer pours with a snow white head that slowly dissipates.  The aroma is one of freshly cut grass.  The flavor is mildly hoppy finishing crisply with just a little bit of an aftertast that lingers.  A fine beer for summer fests or even back yard bbq's.

I am definitely glad to be back in Germany with the ability to drive down to the local Getranke Mart and have my pick of any number of different beers.

Tucher Festbeir

It's volksfest time in Germany and guess what that means:

Yes, it means beer and in large glass mugs.  The above picture shows several mass of beir or measures of beer (1 Liter) ready to be served at a local fest.  Looks good doesn't it.  Festbiers are brewed in the spring time and most are reserved for Oktoberfest where they are called, of course Oktoberfestbeir, or Marzen (March, for when it's brewed).  The rest are served during the early Spring fests in April and May. Read more about festbeir here. I managed to get my hands on a rack of festbeir from the Tucher Brewery in Nuremberg and I'm just now getting around to posting the review.

The beer pours out a light golden yellow with a decent head that stays around for awhile.  A well balanced flavor that starts out roasted malty and finishes crisply with a hint of mild bitterness. The aroma is more of roasted malt then fresh cut grass.  An excellent beer and I'm looking for more offerings from Tucher to sample.