Monchshof Weihnachts Bier

This week's Christmas Beer comes from the Kulmbacher Brewery's Monchshof line, the Weihnachts Bier.

This beer pours a clear golden amber with almost no head.  The aroma is light and the subtleties elude my sniffer.  The taste is light and crisp with just a hint of hops and it finishes light and clean.  Not a bad drinking beer.

This was the third Christmas/Winter beer that I've tried and they have all not been what I've expected.  All are crisp and light with clean finishes and virtually no taste of spice.  Most of the Christmas/Winter beers that I've had in the states were all heavy and dark with hints of spices and chocolate.  I don't know if I'm disappointed or confused.  I'm still looking for some more so we'll see what other varieties I dig up.

Monchshof Schwarzbier

The final beer in my variety rack from Monchshof is a Schwarzbier.  Schwarbier literally means black beer in German and as it is a very accurate description as you can see from the picture.  Read more about Schwarzbier here.

Monchshof Schwarzbier pours a dark, almost black with an amber colored head that quickly disappeared.  An aroma of roasted malt that almost bordered on chocolate assaulted my nostrils almost from the get go.  The taste was a smooth chocolately with just a hint of bitterness that finishes off a little on the dry side.  An excellent beer but one that also seems to fill you up quickly.

Monchshof Orginal Pils

On tap or I should say out of the bottle today is Monchshof Original Pils.  I've stated repeatedly that I'm not a fan of the highly hopped bitter Pils that I keep finding in Germany and I was prepared to not like this Pils.  Here's what I thought.  A pale pale yellow that poured with almost no head.  Not much of an aroma to penetrate my perpetually inadequate sniffer.  A clean crisp taste that finishes with just enough bitterness to let you know that you are drinking a Pils.  Almost a balanced taste.  I was pleasantly surprised to like this beer.  It was a nice change of pace to not be overwhelmed by bitter hops. 

Monchshof Fienes Helles Lager

This week's review is for Monchshof's Fienes Helles Lager, their everyday beer.  I've mentioned it before but the beer that majority of beers that you see in this huge German beer steins are more than likely a helles.  Here's what I thought:  The beer pours a pale golden yellow with a delicate foam head that quickly dissipates.  The aroma of fresh cut flowers penetrates even my impaired sniffer.  The taste is crisp and light with just a hint of bitterness and finishes with a faint spicy aftertaste.  This a great beer for drinking on a hot summer day and one that I could easily lose track of how many I've had.

Monchshof Kellerbeir

This week's beer is the Monchshof Kellerbier.  A kellerbier is an unfiltered lager normally brewed for local consumption from casks only. They are also known as Zwick'l beirs.  Read more about them here.

You can see two things from the picture.  1. This kellerbeir didn't come from a keg, it came from a bottle. and 2.  There isn't much head to the beer.  If you clicked on the read more link you would have read that is a charactistic of a kellerbeir.  The color is a deep caramel that is slightly cloudy.  The beer was crisp with a taste of roasted malt, not too overwhelming though.  A very drinkable beer and one that I liked much better than the related Veldensteiner Zwick'l from a few weeks back.  I'll probably add this one to the repeat beer list.

Monchshof Maingold Landbier

I picked up another variety rack of beer from a brewery, this time it was the Monchshof line from Kulmbacher brewery in Kulmbach, Germany.  Today's review beer is a Landbier.  Landbiers or "country beers" are not a distinct style of their own, rather they are just an easy drinking beer whose characteristics vary from brewery to brewery.  Read more about them here.

The Monchshof Landbier pours a light golden yellow.  I know the picture is a little blurry but check out the head that crests and rises above the glasse.  This is something that I've noticed with German beers but especially with this one, it amazes me that the head doesn't spill over the side, like you get with American mass produced beers.  The aroma is fairly malty and the main flavor is a smoky roasted malt flavor with just a hint bitterness, it doesn't finish as cleanly as I'd like but it's still good.  Not as good as the Veldensteiner Landbier that I had earlier but still pretty good.