Schlenkerla

Helles Schlenkerla Lagerbier - The helles from Schlenkerla.  It pours a clear straw gold with a decent head that quickly dissipates.  The aroma is subtle, giving no clue to the taste that will hit you.  Smoky flavor permeates every sip with just a hint of hops bitterness.  The finish is crisp and clean and leaves you wanting another drink.  The Rauchbiers (Smoke beers) are a little different taste but I like them and they would definitely go well with a smoked brisket or chicken.

Aecht Schlenkerla Weizen - The smoked weizen from Schlenkerla.  It pours a dark cloudy brown with hints of reddish amber.  A generous beige head slowly dissolves into a fine layer atop the beer.  This beer really looks like a dunkel weisse.  The aroma is pure smoked malts.  The taste is smoky with some hints of spices...a touch of cloves.  There is virtually no taste of citrus, bubblegum or banana that is typically found in a German Weizen, just the smoke and the hint of spices.  The smoke on this is almost overwhelming, it's tasty but it might be just a little too much for some folks.

Special Beer Review - Schlossbrauerei Naabeck

Naabecker Hell - This beer pours a clear yellow with hints of darker gold.  A generous head slowly dissolves leaving lots of lacing on the sides of a glass.  The aroma is hoppy and mild.  The taste wars between slightly bitter hops and sweet malts with the hops just edging out the malts, although the bitterness is really mild.  The finish is crisp and wet and leaves you wanting another one.  A fine example of a helles.

Naabecker Marzen - This marzen pours a deep gold with hints of copper.  The head is generous and dissolves slowly into a thin layer with some lacing on the sides of the glass.  The aroma is malty sweet and so is the taste.  The mouth feel is substantial and the fiinsh leaves a slight aftertaste that quickly goes away.  Marzen's are one of my favorite varieties of German beers and I like this one.

Naabecker Pils - A clear pale gold with a generous head that dissolves quickly leaving lots of lacing on the sides of the glass.  The aroma is mildly hoppy.  The bite of bitter hops slaps you at first swallow.  Hops drags into the crisp finish and is still finish in the after taste.  I can handle a hoppy beer but I don't like it when it's still present after I swallow.  Definitely not a Pils I'll repeat.

Naabecker Bock Hell - This orangish red beer develops a decent three finger head that quickly disappears with almost no residue.  The aroma is sweet malt.  Taste is malty with hints of caramel and some traces of alcohol, 6.4 %.  The finish is crisp and dry. A pretty tasty bock.

Naabecker Bock Dunkel - This Bock Dunkel pours a dark chocolate with hints of amber and red.  The head is a generous beige that lasted quite awhile but eventually dissolved to nothingness.  The aroma is overwhelmingly malty.  The taste is chocolately well roasted malts with a clean finish and just a hint of an aftertaste.  Another pretty tasty version of a bock.

Special Beer Review -Brauerei Fuchsbeck

Fuchsbeck Hell - The standard helles from Brauerei Fuchsbeck.  It pours a pale gold with a thick two finger head that quickly dissipates leaving some lacing on the side of the glass.  The aroma is subtle but hoppy.  The taste is mild malt with hints of hop bitterness.  The finish is dominated by hoppy bitterness.  This helles is a little more hoppy than what I like, so I'll pass on a second.

Fuchsbeck Export - This Export or Dortmunder style beer pours a clear amber gold with a thin white head the dissolved quickly leaving no tracing on the sides of the glass.  The aroma is malty.  The taste is malty with some hints of hoppy bitterness.  The finish is clean and crisp with no after taste.  This isn't a bad beer but there is just something about that I don't like.

Fuchsbeck Pils - There must be something I'm missing about German beer, because almost every pils I find comes in a .33L bottle and this pils from Brauerei Fuchsbeck is no exception.  It pours a darker amber/gold with a very thin head that dissipated quickly.  The aroma is slight and I can't pick out any individual notes.  The taste though is more hops than malt but this much less bitter than other German Pils I've had.  In fact I'd almost guess this was the helles and the helles was the pils.  Interesting.   i like this one which is not something I've said about any of the other Fuchsbeck's or even many German Pils.

Fuchsbeck Weissbier - This pours a cloudy amber brown with a generous slightly off white head that dissolved down into a constant 1 finger froth.  The aroma is cloves and bananas.  The taste is cloves and other spices as well as bananas.  The mouthfeel does seem to be a little thinner than other weissbiers.  The finish si crisp and dry with just a hint of an after taste.  Not a bad weissbier.

Fuchsbeck Kristall Weissbier - The filtered weissbier from Fuchsbeck.  I tpours a clear gold with a thin white head that disappeared quickly.  The aroma is subdued spices.  The mouthful is thin and the taste is of banana as well as some citrus and spice.  The finish is very crisp and wet.  Not a bad kristal weisse, I think I like it better than the regular weisse, even if the mouthfeel is a little light or thin.



Special Beer Review - Lowenbrau

Lowenbrau Original - The helles from Lowenbrau.  It pours a a clear gold with a generous foamy head that dissolved quickly into a thin layer with some lacing on the sides. The aroma is faintly of fresh cut grass.  The taste is slightly sweet with a slight undercurrent of bitterness from the hops.  The finish is crisp and slightly dry.  Not my favorite helles but definitely one that is drinkable.

Lowenbrau Urtyp - The label proclaims this to beer to have character.  It pours a clear golden with a generous slightly off white head that disappeared slowly leaving lots of lacing on the side of the glass.  There is a weak aroma of fresh cut grass. The taste is slightly sweet perfectly balanced with a slight bitterness.  It finishes crisp and clean.  I definitely like this beer and I'd have to agree more character than the regular helles.

Lowenbrau Triumphator - Lowenbrau's doppelbock, one of the few that are available year round, This beer pours a dark coffee with hints of reddish amber.  The head is a generous beige that slowly dissolves into a thin layer with lots of lacing on the sides.  The taste is sweet chocolaty caramel with little of the 7.6% alcohol showing through.  That's a lot of alcohol but not as much as some other doppelbocks.  The finish is wet and crisp.  A fine, if just a little lightweight, example of a doppelbock.

Lowenbrau Dunkel - This beer pours a dark coffee with hints of amber.  A slightly offwhite head dissolved quickly into a very thin layer with almost no lacing.  The taste is of well roasted malts with a very slight sweet undertone.  The finish is crisp and begs another drink.  I like dunkels and this is a good one.

Lowenbrau Oktoberfestbier - The lion's brew, that's a rough translation of lowenbrau. Their Oktoberfest/Marzen offering pours a coppery gold like the others but the head seemed to disappear a little faster, although the lacing remained on the sides. The aroma is still malty. The taste is malty sweet with a more pronounced hoppy bitterness. Interesting. The finish is crisp and wet and with that extra hoppy kick. Tasty but not my favorite.

Lowenbrau LowenWeisse - The hefe weisse from Lowenbrau.  It pours a dark cloudy caramel with hints of gold.  The head is a thick white that dissolves quickly donw to nothing with only limited residue.  The aroma is citrusy and sweet.  The taste is more citrus with hints of clove. The carbonation makes this beer very crisp on the tongue.  The finish continues to be crisp and there is minimal after taste.  This is a good hefe. 

Special Beer Review - Augustiner Brau Munchen

Augustiner Lagerbier Hell - This beer pours a crystal clear god with a generous head that dissolves fairly quickly but leaves plenty of lacing on the sides.  The aroma is one of fresh grass.  The taste is not as balanced between hops and malts as other helles and it finishes quite bitter.  I'm almost tempted to say this is more a German Pils than a helles.  Definitely not my favorite helles.

Augustiner Dunkel - The dunkel offering from Augustiner.  It pours a dark reddish amber with an off white beige head that dissolved fairly rapidly leaving lacing on the sides of the glass.  Caramally roasted malts fills the nose and the taste is sweet with hints of coffee bitterness, the finish is smooth and leaves you wanting another drink.  Another slightly different from normal offering from Augustiner.  I do like this one better than the helles but not one of my favorite dunkels.  I'm starting to wonder if the slightly different theme will persist throughout all their beers.

Augustiner Oktoberfest - This Marzen is one hard beer to find.  It was the only one that I couldn't find in the run up to Oktoberfest.  I lucked into a vendor at the post bazaar who had a stockage of it.  It pours a clear straw yellow with a white light bodied generous head that quickly dissolved into lacing that stuck to the sides of the glass.  The aroma is slightly sweet and the first swig reinforces that sweetness.  A second drink reveals an undercurrent of bitterness that wars with the upfront sweetness for predominance.  The finish is crisp, wet and makes me want to take another drink.  This is a good beer and I'm much more impressed with it then the two preceding beers.  There must be a reason it was hard to find.

Augustiner Edelstoff Exportbier - This is the Augustiner that is the easiest to find in my area.  For all of the other varieties I've had to head closer to Munich.  It pours a clear straw gold with a generous head that quickly dissolved leaving lots of white lacings on the side of the glass.  The aroma is predominated by sweet malts.  The taste does demonstrate slightly more bitterness then sweetness but is overall a good balance.   The finish is subtle and clean and quite good.  I like this beer.

Augustiner Pils - There must be something about German Pils and .33L bottles.  Most of the ones I come across come in bottles that size.  Interesting.  This beer pours a brillant clear straw gold with a generous head that quickly dissolved leaving just a hint of lacing on the sides.  The taste hits you straight up with hops bitterness, leaving you no doubt that this a German Pils.  The bitterness fades to a crisp finish that actually makes you forget the bitterness and leaves you wanting another drink.  This is a good German Pils

Augustiner Weissbier - This weizen pours a golden toned amber with a slightly off white head.  The head dissolved rapidly but left lots of lacings on the side of the glass.  The aroma is bananas and slight cloves.  The taste is bananas and tart spices.  The finish is crisp and dry.  Something seems just a little different from some of the other weizen's I've had, I just can't put my finger on it.  Doesn't matter anyway since if you know me, you know I like my beers just a little bit different and this one definitely fits the bill.

Special Beer Review - Thurn und Taxis Brauerei

Thurn und Taxis Hell - This beer pours a brillant clear yellow gold.  There is a foamy white head with big bubbles that clings to the sides and is constantly refreshed by the carbonation.  If you take a big whiff you get a slightly hoppy aroma.  The taste is a fine balance between malts and hops with a slightly honeyish sweet malty finish.  Really a pretty good beer and an excellent starting point for the Thurn und Taxis brauerei.

Thurn und Taxis Pilsner -  This seems to be Thurn und Taxis Flagship Beer.  At least it's the one that I come across the most and is the one whose banners you see in Regensburg.  The bear pours a clear dark gold with a thin head that dissolved fairly quickly.  The aroma is hoppy.  The taste is lightly hopped with a hint of sweetness and a touch of spices that I just can't quite put my finger on.  It finishes wet and crisp and leaves you wanting more.  Let's be clear here.  I'm not normally a fan of German Pilsner's but this one is a definite like with it's interesting spice and it's hint of bitterness.

Thurn und Taxis Dunkel Weisse - A Dunkel Weisse.  This one pours a dark chocolate with an off- beige head.  The body actually kind of reminds of the same color as a Tootsie Roll.  The head dissolves quickly leaving a smaller layer above the beer and some lacing.  the aroma is all cloves and spice.  The taste is sweet, caramalley, and bready.  Just a hint of cloves and something else, not citrus or bananas, the typical flavors that pop up in a weisse.  Once again another beer that I like. 

Thurn und Taxis Weissbier - This Weizen pours a dark cloudy orangish amber.  A soft white head disappears rapidly leving just bits of lacing on the sides.  The aroma is spicy with hints of fresh hay.  The taste is mild with hints of spices and citrus.  The wet finish lingers and satisfies.  I had this one after a 17 mile run and it was very refreshing.

Thurn und Taxis Roggen - You are probably going what the heck is a Roggen beer.  I know I was.  It's a beer made from rye instead of barley or wheat.  This is a real treat since it is the only Roggen beer that I've come across. I've seen it served at a restuarant in a wine like glass.  I put it in weizen glass, closs enough right? It pours a dark reddish/brown with a very thin beige head that dissolved quickly leaving little to no lacing on the sides.  The aroma is sweet and smells slightly like licorice.   That carried over into the taste where it definitely tastes like black licorice, very interesting.  I've had this one sitting around the house for a while and now I really wish I had bought a rack of it when I found it.  Darn the luck.

Special Beer Review - Schloderer Brau

This week's brewery is a local one from Amberg.  We've gone there a couple of times to eat and the food is really good as is the beer.  With a combination like that you can't go wrong!  Here's a more detailed recap of the beer. 

Schloderer Schlodi Kult - This is the helles beer from Schloderer Brau.  It's a little different in that it comes in a .33L bottle instead of the standard .5L bottle.  It pours a darker amber/gold with a very thin head that disappeared quickly leaving some lacing on the sides.  The aroma is hoppy and reminds me of fresh cut grass, not something that normally comes out in a helles.  The taste is more hoppy than other helles I've tried and the finish lingers a little bit.  

Schloderer Weizen - The wheat beer from Schloderer Brau. The body color is a cloudy amber gold. The head was minimal compared to some weizen I've had, but still frothy and generous leaving light lacing on the sides. The aroma is cloves and fruit. The taste is an explosion of cloves and apples. Really good. This is one of my favorite weizens.

  

Schloderer Dunkel- As the name suggests, this is the Dunkel from Schloderl Brau. It pours a a very dark coffee with a beige head. The head lingers and leaves light lacing even after it disappears. The aroma is chocolaty sweet from the roasted malts and that carries over into the taste. The finish is clean with no hoppy bitterness or after taste. Not a bad dunkel.  

Special Beer Review - Pax Brau

Pax Brau is a small craft brewery in Oberelsbach, Germany just north and west of Bamberg.  The name means Peace Brewery and one of their slogans is beat swords into beer spigots.  That's an interesting take.They claim to use all organic ingredients and to only brew small batches.  They had a salesman at the local bazaar put on by MWR so I just "had" to pick up a couple of bottles.  I like the fact that they came in 1 liter bottles.

Pax Brau Vollbier - This is supposed to be a helles that's brewed in accordance with the Bavarian Beer Purity Law of 1516.  That's a little bit of a stretch since the basic premise is that a beer can only have three ingredients: water, barley malt, and hops and the ingredient list on the bottle lists water, barley malt, hops, and wheat .  Wheat wasn't technically allowed until the German Provisional Beer law of 1993.  More than likely this a marketing ploy designed to get someone to buy the beer without reading the ingredient list.  To heck with the technicalities on to the beer.

This beer poured a reddish amber with a generous beige head that lasted a while and left lots of lacing on the side of the glass.  The aroma is slightly smoky.  The smoke theme carries over into the taste where the normal balance of the helles is obscured by the smoky flavor.  Evidently the hops had had a little smoke added to it and in the case of this batch probably more than a little smoke.  The finish is slightly sweet and semi dry with the smoke continuing in the aftertaste.  Not a bad beer and it would go great with one of my smoked briskets or turkeys. 

The guy who sold me the beer at the local bazaar told me it was not like the Bamberg beers when I mentioned the smoke and the Bamberg beers I've had.  He claimed there was just a touch of smoke.  I'd have to disagree, I've had smokier beers from Bamberg but I've also had some that had about the same or less hints of smoke.  The ingredients are listed as bio or organic, so interesting.  I did like it and wish I would of picked more than one bottle.  Oh well.

Pax Brau Weizen - OK the picture doesn't do the beer justice.  I originally opened the bottle a couple of days ago, drank a glass and then sealed it back up.  Even though it "popped" when I flipped the lid it was a little flat tonight.  Anyway when fresh it pours a light golden amber with a slightly off white head.  The aroma is sweet smelling fresh cut grass with lots of clove.  The taste is lots of clove with hints of other spices..cinnamon maybe?  Also maybe a little like bubblegum?  It was really good fresh and not half bad flat.  The finish is crisp.  I would call this a really good craft weizen.

Special Beer Review - Paulaner Brau

This weeks brewery beer review is from Paulaner Brewery.  One of the the Big Six from Munich.  I will admit that when I first moved to Germany I purposely avoided Paulaner because it was a name I was familiar with from the States.  That was a mistake and as I get ready to move back I'm damn glad that I should be able to find some Paulaner.  If you have a auto web translator their website is one of the more amusing ones I've been too.  If not their international site isn't bad either.  Bottom line though here is what I thought of the beer.

Paulaner Original Munchner Hell - The Helles from Paulaner.  I original had this beer when I first got to Germany and my review is here.  I'm still obviously not a pro at beer reviews but I've come a long way.  Here are my current thoughts.  this beer pours a clear yellow with hints of amber/red.  A generous head starts thin and dissolves quickly leaving small amounts of lacing on the sides.  The aroma is of malts and hints of fresh baked bread.  The taste is fine balance between hops and malts with the malts wining in the end.  The finish is wet and crisp.  The verdict is still the same, a fine example of the Munchner Helles and I'm glad that I should be able to find this beer when I get back to the states.

Paulaner Premium Pils - This pils pours a yellow-gold with a thin head that dissolved rapidly but leaves prominent lacing on the sides.  The aroma is hops and spices and that carries over into the taste.  The taste is spicy hops....not bitter, but tasty.  The finish has a touch of bitterness but it's almost not enough to notice.  A good example of a German Pils.

Paulaner Original Munchner Urtyp - According to the German Beer Institute a Urtyp Helles is beer where the brewery tries to emphasize the authenticity of its beverage (ur means "original" and urtyp means "original type").  This beer pours a clear amber gold with a generous head that slowly dissolves leaving small amounts of lacing on the sides.  The aroma is a sweet malts and that carrys over into the taste which is competing balance between the hops and malts with the malts ultimately dominating.  The finish is crisp and slightly dry, making you want another drink.  This not just one of my favorite Paulaner's it's one of my favorite beers period.

Paulaner Original Munchner Dunkel - The dunkel beer from Paulaner.  It pours a dark brownish amber almost like a cola.  The head is beige colored and foams up well just cresting the top of the glass without going over and leaving lots of lacing on the sides.  The aroma is of coffee, chocolate and sweet.  The taste is sweet, well roasted malts with the hints of coffee and chocolate.  The finish is slightly dry.  Not my favorite dunkel but it's drinkable and definitely not a bad example of the type.

Paulaner Hefe-Weissbier Naturtrub - The regular Hefewiezen from Paulaner.  This beer pours a brilliant straw gold with a generous slightly golden head.  The body is too cloudy to see the carbonation bubbles that keep the head alive for quite awhile.  The aroma is cloves and bread.  The taste is more cloves with just a hint of bananas.  The finish is crisp and wet, and just makes you want to have a follow up drink.  A fine example of Bavarian hefewiezen.

Paulaner Hefe-Weissbier Dunkel - This beer pours a cloudy dark copper amber with a generous beige head that is plenty foamy and dissolves really slowly.  The aroma is of spices and bread.  The taste is bananas, spices (cloves?) and slightly toasted bread.  Interesting.  The finish is crisp and wet.  Pretty tasty.  Since we couldn't get into the beer tents during Oktoberfest this was the beer I was drinking that day.  For an interesting twist on the radler or shandy concept take a 50/50 mix of this and a lemon soda.  Germans call it Russ.  I'm almost tempted to think I like a Russ more than I do a Radler. 

Paulaner Weissbier Kristallklar - The filtered wheat beer from Paulaner.  This one pours a clear golden yellow with a frothy head that quickly disappeared but was fead from a constant flow of tiny bubbles from the center of the glass.  The aroma is spicy banana cloves.  The taste is bananas and cloves as well.  The finish is very crisp and tart, but not really dry or not really wet.  A very refreshing beer and probably one that goes down well on a hot day in the middle of summer.

Paulaner Oktoberfest beer - This beer came with a 1 liter glass mug to go with it. I mean how could I pass that up. A liter beer and a mug all for 1 Euro. Here's what I thought of it. This beer pours with a dark coppery tint and nice fluffy head that lasts about 5 minutes. In essence it looks exactly like all of the pictures of the beers that those well endowed barmaids are serving to all of the revelers in Munich during Oktoberfest. The aroma is fine balance between hops and fresh cut grass and the flavor is just as balanced with a slightly sweet malty hint of hops and a semi dry finish. Most definitely a very drinkable beer. 

Paulaner Salvator - A meal in a bottle, this dopplebock also packs a punch at 7.9% alcohol by volume.  It's Paulaner's take on the Catholic monks liquid diet for Lent.  It pours a bright coppery red with in my pouring a very limited head.  The aroma is slightly fruity and sweet.  The initial taste is fruity, dissolving into chocolaty, roasted malts.  The finish is dry with just a little more than a hint of the alcoholic punch that it will hit you with.  Not a bad substitute for a meal, but I'm not sure I can handle more than one at a time.

As I've stated before you can't beat a free steinkrug with a rack of beer.  It's even cooler when the handle is a carabiner that you can attach to backpack!  Actually it's not as comfortable as a normal handle, but it's still cool.

Special Beer Review - Klosterbrauerei Scheyern

New Old Brewery Alert!  I have seen hundreds of brew brands since I've been in Germany, many of which you have read or will eventually read about here.  Klosterbrauerei Scheyern is one that I haven't heard of or can recall seeing in any of the getrankemarkts that I frequent.  That's interesting since their website lists them as the third oldest brewery in Germany (Behind the two who argue about who is the oldest Weihenstephan and Weltenburger).

There have been two coincidences that have caused me to start reviewing their beer, one a friend brought me a bottle of their Helles, and two I went to a local Getrankemarkt and found their beer there with a free steinkrug attached the rack.  I just had to buy a rack and pick up a bottle of the other varieties that were there.  It looks like they have a line that's only available in the local area and a line available nationally, this is the only line I can get without going to the brewery.  I'm just guessing, but it looks like they are trying to expand their distribution across the rest of Germany.

Kloster Scheyern Kloster ~ Weisse Hell - This beer pours a cloudy dark honey color.  A generous head slowly dissolves but leaves some white froth that clings to the sides.  An aroma of citrus with some hints of fresh cut hay fills the air.  The taste is light, and crsip with hints of citrus and spices.  Spices dominate the clean wet finish.  A fine Weisse Hell.   

Kloster Scheyern Kloster Weisse Dunkel - This dark wheat beer pours a dark chocolatly brown with small hints of amber.  The head was a thin off white/beige that quickly disappeared.  I think I smell cloves and bananas in the aroma.  The taste has hints of chocolate but no one other flavor seems to dominate or jump out at me, the traditional flavors of a weisse are all there just muted and blended almost to a perfection.  Quite tasty, the finish is crisp and wet and lends itself to another sip.  This beer is just a little bit different, but in this case different is good.

Kloster Scheyern Kloster - Export Dunkel - The regular Dunkel.  Since I liked the Dunkel Weisse so much and I've kind of been on a Dunkel kick lately, I had high hopes for this one.  It pours s a dark chocolately brown with hints of reddish amber and a generous beige head that slowly dissolved leaving generous lacing on the sides of the glass.  The aroma is sweet malt and that carries over into the flavor a chocolately, caramelly sweet malt with maybe some hints of coffee. The finish was wet and lingering but not bitter.  Maybe a little different than your standard Dunkel but with me different is good.  My high hopes were satisfied and I'm glad I bought a rack of this one.  Everyone I shared it with also agreed that it was pretty good.

Kloster Scheyern Kloster ~ Gold Hell - The helles beer from Kloster Scheyeren, it pours a brillant clear straw yellow with hints of darker gold.  The head is generous and frothy and crested the top of the glass but didn't overflow dissolving slowly while leaving decent lacing on the sides.  The aroma is malty and bready.  That theme carries over into the taste where sweet malts dominate, leading to a wet finish with just hints of the 5.4% alcohol by volume coming through.  Not quite your typical helles but not quite typical seems to be the norm for this kloster brau.

You can't beat it when you get a free steinkrug with the rack.  Yeah!!!!

I really wish this brewery was closer, that way I could get some of their more local offerings.  After a while some of these German beers start tasting the same.  The beers from Kloster Scheyeren were a welcome change of pace, all of them just slightly different then what you typically expect from their style.