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 - Regensburger Spital Brauerei

I had visited the Regensburger Spital Brauerei while home on R&R last year (You can read about it here) but I didn't really review the beers. So here's an opportunity to correct that, especially since I liked the beer when I had it in the restuarant.  The label proclaims it to be the oldest brauerei in Regensburg.  It's a shame that I'm probably not getting back down there since they have several other varieties that I wasn't able to pick up.

Regensburger Spital Helles - This beer pours a brillant golden amber with a what seemed to be a thin head that dissolved quickly, although there were generous amounts of lacing left on the side of the glass.  The aroma was very subtle and missed my nose.  The taste though was a pleasant surprise perfectly balanced with a hint of citrus, I actually had to check to make sure I hadn't picked up a Radler by mistake.  The finsih was wet with just a hint of bitterness and left you wanting another drink.  Yep, just as good as I remembered it from R&R.

Regensburger Spital Dunkels - This beer pours a dark amber brown, almost a black with hints of amber.  The generous beige lasted awhile before dissolving into lacing that coated the side of the glass.  The aroma is of malts and sweetness.  The taste is chocolately sweet with maybe some hints of coffee?  The finish has a touch of bitterness but not overwhelming, just enough to counter the sweetness that the beer started with.  Probably a little stronger than your typical dunkel but definitely not bad.

Regensburger Spital Weizen - This beer pours  the typical cloudy golden amber of a weizen.  The head is generous and lasts a while and leaves lacings that stubbornly stick to the sides.  The aroma is of cloves and spices, while the taste is of cloves spices and definite hints of bananas.  There is just a touch of bitterness in the finish.  An interesting weizen since there is probably a more powerful flavor of cloves and bananas then what I've typically seen. 

Regensburger Spital Pils -   I found this in a .33L bottle, although I think it does come in a .5L bottle.  It pours a brillant clear yellow gold with a generous white head that dissappeared fairly quickly with only some lacing on the sides.  The aroma is definitely hops.  After the aroma I expected this beer to taste very hoppy and bitter.  I was surprised, hoppy yes, bitter no.  In fact there are hints of other spices in the flavor.  A slightly different take on what I'm accustomed to from a German Pils and I actually like it. 

One of my favorite steinkrug's, plain but distinctive looking.