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March 29, 2024, 08:57:43 AM

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BEERS #2 - Beyond the Pale

Started by Shoulders?-Stomach!, March 30, 2020, 03:56:03 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

Shoulders?-Stomach!

Good luck in fictional isolation Bosto - I hope the absolute paedshit EDL-Brau bevvies will see you through your horrid-19 times.

Nu-review!

http://www.lang-braeu.de/en/beers/bock-bright/

QuoteThe strongest beer in the brewery's arsenal. The delicious Bock is a real man's beer with over 18 % original gravity.

I'm a real man! I'm a fucking man - deal with it everyone - yeah! Who wants to take this on?



Man's glass is that?

Lang Brau Echter Doppelbock (Maibock, 7.5%) - ***
Lang Brau, Wunsiedel-Schonbrunn

Most people will know Bock as being amber, red or dark strong beers Germany produces, with Doppelbock being the even more formidable derivation. Kloster Andechs Doppelbock is a famous example, but most follow a tradition of adding "ator" at the end of the name, in an almost stupid enough ritual to match adding "gate" at the end of political scandals. Triumphator, Celebrator, Maximator, Masturbator, it's done, it's in the cumsock.

Well this is a light bock, not a style I've traditionally enjoyed as much as others. With pale lager, once you make something so sweet you crush the prospects of malty complexity and narrow the window of hops that will work. In short it's a bloody difficult beer to get right.

This one is really grassy and hoppy with an almost apple like flavour as the carbonation dissipates (we'll get on to that). However you get a lovely full mouthfilling deliciousness with every gulp. The strength is its asset here as it's ostensibly a bitter, floral, grassy beer that's backed up by fucktonnes of heft in the brew.

Sadly the fizz went out of it halfway through so the appearance is now of flat apple juice, and unfortunately I can't give it a rating I otherwise may have. Conversely if I'd ordered it in Germany on tap it would have taken them 45 minutes to pour half a glass of it while meticulously spooning the froth away each time.

Shoulders?-Stomach!


Ferris

Quote from: Shoulders?-Stomach! on June 20, 2020, 07:26:06 AM
https://www.beervanablog.com/beervana/2020/6/19/have-we-reached-terminal-ipa

Provocative talking point to go 'hmm' and 'I guess' at.

I agree with this, I don't see where the style goes next.

Though I will say I've had Sip of Sunshine from Lawsons, as well as the famous ones by the alchemist and hill farmstead (a friend of mine used to make the drive to Vermont and back and usually gave me a few cans because he knows I'm a beer nerd).

They weren't anything "new" necessarily (and especially not these days), but they are markedly superior beers. I remember Spoke Shave (?) by the Alchemist being seriously impressive - every aspect of it was done perfectly. Heady Topper was good (and I'm splitting hairs here because they were all seriously excellent beers) but I though Lawsons was the better brewery overall.

These days though, I can go to Left Field in Toronto and get a Laser Show (or anything from Bellwood's) and it will likely be comparable. I expect that's the same for most places.

Rambling esoteric bullshit fuck it post

Shoulders?-Stomach! - just had some Franconian beer delivered from the website you linked to. Flipping excellent. Thank you for the tip x

Shoulders?-Stomach!

Quote from: Horselover Fat on June 20, 2020, 03:57:03 PM
Shoulders?-Stomach! - just had some Franconian beer delivered from the website you linked to. Flipping excellent. Thank you for the tip x

Nice! You're welcome, of course.

They really do set a high standard when it comes to 'ordinary day to day beer'.

Just polished off another Reh Zwick'l beer and that is just delicious.

phes

#725
Quote from: Shoulders?-Stomach! on May 09, 2020, 01:01:39 PM
Some good news at least? However you wonder if Belgium in a Box are burning their bridges taking on so many orders they can't process in a reasonable timescale AND can't manage people's expectations either. I expect you won't be handing over more money to them quickly eh, Blods?

First beer review of the 10 I listed above:

Goller Kellerbier unfiltriert (German Kellerbier style, 4.9%) - **** and a half



The first thing to say is this is a classic example of what I mentioned upthread about unfashionable styles from unfashionable breweries losing out on the likes of Ratebeer and Untappd versus average wares from fashionable brewers. 3.35/5 is very unjust. I am joyful that there are 5 more of these to come.

This is thick, unfiltered and amber coloured. On the spicy side too, I am even picking up backnotes of what you'd expect from a Belgian Tripel (seriously) except this is 4.9% and I have a half litre swing-top bottle of it. Wheatbeer is the nearest next style along to Kellerbier, as it is also thick in texture, a tad biscuity and spicy, but Kellerbier has a little something else. Hoppier perhaps and more grainy with delicate floral notes in the aftertaste. The flavour balances vary substantially - a bit like English Bitter tends to cover a wider range than most styles. Some are sweet verging on cloying (eg. Keiler) while some are deliciously citric while lightly grainy (eg. Mauerscheisser). This one certainly competes with any I've had. It's aiming for a straight down the line kellerbier and nails it.

It is usually served in a half litre stone mug or 'steinkrug' with a frothing head popping out over the top. No such luck here. I have a litre Erdinger steinkrug but it's not the time for that yet. However, it doesn't matter overly.

Loved this. Not a great surprise given my taste and also that I'm inclined to heavily chill beer at this time of year and this is a beer that suits a cool serve. Relatively dry, very peppery, a touch lactic and a pronounced hop bitterness. Very good!

Also enjoyed the Kaiser Heinrich Urstaff very much. As you noted this is not an impact beer, but one that excels over time. I would revisit this beer again and again long after I'd tired of fifty more exciting beers.

A couple of the others I was less taken by, but I suspect these are beers that suffered through my over-cooling, and for the second bottles I will cellar-cool rather than fridge chill.

Edit: Krug brau Urstoff. This reminded me of popular macro lagers available in this country except it doesn't taste like shit. Sweet, malty, bready, nice bitter pucker to it. Pleasant.

Shoulders?-Stomach!

Relieved to read some of that. In a weird way I put a bit of pressure on myself seeing as you and some others are spending your own money.

QuoteAlso enjoyed the Kaiser Heinrich Urstaff very much. As you noted this is not an impact beer, but one that excels over time. I would revisit this beer again and again long after I'd tired of fifty more exciting beers

Yes, it's difficult to think of a beer that has such a "huh, well nothing much going on here" first impression only to move by the end of the bottle to thinking "I could powerslam another one of these".

TrenterPercenter

Ok I've gone in on the Hier-gibts-bier

Aufsesser Zwickl
Hutten Zwickl/Zoigl
Schubel Nordeck
Stelzer Zoigl
Nikl Lagerbier
Weiterer Bio-Zwickerla Dunkel

I've basically chosen all of the biers Shoulders has put as 4* or higher (and got a couple of the ones that were top-top), so you know, no pressure : )

What temp are we drinking these bad boys at? Are they like English beers that you have room temp or get them cold as fuck and drink them in the sun kind of affairs?  Also presumably as some of these are not pasteurised they spoil reasonably quickly? I'm sure they that won't be a problem as they won't last long but how long do they last out of interest?

Cheers : )

Shoulders?-Stomach!

Nice! I don't tend to drink beer near freezing point like some prefer, but these are lagers and should be served colder than ales.

Last night I drank a Dunkel without chilling it though and it was fine. The pale ones especially are perfect summer drinking beers.

The best before dates have been around 2/3 months on average. With perhaps 1 even then quite minor exception they have all seemed exceptionally fresh and as the brewery would hope for. The whole idea I guess is around high quality, organic and fresh with traditional less cost effective but massively flavour enhancing brewing techniques.

Shoulders?-Stomach!

#729
Now I've tried rather a lot of these Franconian beers from Hier-Gibts-Bier.de, I thought it might be useful to compile a small list of best to worst in each category to help anyone who is keen on getting any of these in:

Pale Kellerbier/Zwickl biers

Schubel Nordeck Trunk - 9/10    (Spicy with a citrusy hop)
Aufsesser Zwickl - 9/10             (Thick, unfiltered, tangy, farmhousey and light as air)
Hutten Zwickl - 8/10                  (Lighter than their Zoigl but still comparatively hefty)
Goller Kellerbier - 8/10              (An archetype of the style - cloudy, spicy, subtle hops and mildly agricultural notes)
Nikl Lagerbier Zwickl - 7.5/10    (Pale, super-refreshing with a slight crispness and citric element)
Mainseidla Keller - 7.5/10          (Pale and quite clear, minerality and green bitterness competing with gorgeous unfiltered tang)
Reh Zwickl - 7/10                      (Similar to Nikl and Schubel, enjoyable but less of a standout example)

Copper Vollbier (inc. Kellerbiers/Landbiers)

Simon Spezial - 8.5/10                       (Amber, Marzen-esque lager which starts nice then seems to get even nicer)
Honicka Heiner's Original - 8/10        (Floral bitterness with frothy soft but full textured ambery lager, a surprise find)
Reckendorfer Kellerbier - 7.5/0         (Brownish, easy drinking coppery malty lager)
Hetzelsdorfer Vollbier - 7.5/10          (Subtly creeps up on you. Not overly complex but stop searching and focus on the drinkability)
Meister Vollbier - 7.5/10                    (Soft in the mouth but bitter tingly hops and roast malt competing in aftertaste)
Buchenbacher Beck'n'bier - 7/10      (Low % for the style, but this is liquid pretzel. Roast malt, bready, tingly hops, good balance)
Frauendorfer Landbier - 7/10           (A lynchpin of the style rather than an outstanding copper-brown kellerbier)
Hallerndorfer Kellerbier - 7/10          (More coppery coloured than you'd expect. Again roast malt, sweetness, tingly finish)
Stockl Ahorntaler Landbier - 7/10     (Brown, malty yet still refreshing. Not overly sweet. Lager mirror image of an English bitter

Dunkels/Brown kellerbier

Weiherer Zwickerla Dunkel - 9.5/10    (Almost overwhelmingly delicious. Reddish, full, thick, swirling, intoxicating and light as air)
Langbrau Burggraf Dunkel - 8/10      (Munich Dunkel, on the roasty end of things. Dry in the mouth but smooth finish and thick)
Bauernbier Dunkel - 8/10                   (Forgot my notes but this one was a terrific Munich dunkel)
Aufsesser Dunkel - 8/10                    (Only a shade darker than the brilliant Zwickel and nearly as good. Just a tone darker)
Lindenharter Landbier - 7.5/10         (Make peace with the dark brown colour, and it is rich, toasty and full flavoured )
Bamberger Braunbier - 7.5/10           (Delicious Dunk/Keller hybrid. Malty but lively hops. The better end of both worlds)
Leupser Dunkel - 7/10                       (Dry wholemealy dunkel that has a very distinct character. Well brewed.

Weissbier

Kuchlbauer Turmweisse - 8.5/10       (A genuine competitor for Schneider Original and Sternweisse for light brown wheatbeer flavour
Nothelfer Bioweisse - 8/10                (A trad attempt at Bavarian wheatbeer that nails it. So fresh and worthy of high praise)
Schroll Nankendorfer Weizenbier - 6/10     ( (lost its head and went flat, flavour was ok)

Zoiglbiers

Stelzer Fattigau Zoigl - 8.5/10          (Great label. Vienna-style lager. Full flavour, caramel malt, well balanced bitter finish. Exemplary)
Hutten Zoigl - 8/10                         (A stand-out brown beer that shows so much skill. Bursting with flavour yet moreishly drinkable )
Wurth Zoigl - 7.5/10                       (Weird one. Dunkel Zoigl. Malty yet thick and light. Unlike any beer I've had)   
Scherdel Zoigl - 7.5/10                   (Similar to a pale kellerbier but a little more spicy and thick. Nice but not a standout)
(Paul) Puttner Zoigl - 7.5/10          (Coppery kellerbier similar to the vollbiers above. Thick, sweet, hoppy and reddish brown

Weird/Atypical Ones

Leikem Steinbier - 8.5/10                       (An absolute one off - thick, strong light yet...faintly charred and elemental. Has to be tried)
Spezial Rauchbier - 8.5/10                     (May as well put it out there. This is better than Schlenkerla Marzen.)
Kaiser Heinrich Urstoff - 8/10                 (Deceptive bready Dortmunder style lager that just gets better with every gulp)
Hubner Vollbier  - 7.5/10                        (Smoked malt provides a surprise background flavour to this pale lager, and it works)
Frauendorfer Rauchbier - 7.5/10            (Smoke is not at the forefront, but it still props up the lager nicely)
Krug Brau Urstoff - 7.0/10                      (One of the less remarkable beers of this selection, but still enjoyable pleasant pale lager)
Langbrau Maibock - 6.5/10                    (Slight failure to launch, as the head disappeared leaving behind an appley-grassy  palebock)
Glenk Walkentrunk - 5/10                      (Disastrous. Something was wrong with the bottle. The head evaporated on impact with the glass.)



TrenterPercenter

It's a pretty strong showing across the park really. Can't wait for mine to arrive hope the sun holds!

Shoulders?-Stomach!

Quote from: TrenterPercenter on June 24, 2020, 09:43:11 PM
It's a pretty strong showing across the park really. Can't wait for mine to arrive hope the sun holds!

Very difficult to give a score to these when comparing them to all other beer everywhere (especially as I've been drinking them for 6 weeks solid, so my standards are pretty high right now). If I had been spending the last 6 weeks drinking day to day lager some of these 7/10s would be 8 or 9s I'm sure. I've tried to rein in my urges to hype them all up and reserve that for the very best ones.

I am also biased towards these sort of beers, so just as phes has probably done, you'll find your own way of comparing and enjoying them based on your palette and qualms. It's nice to know that regardless of that you have much happy beer guzzling to look forward to (and in 20+ C temps hopefully!)



TrenterPercenter

Not that i'm pining (JUST HOOK IT TO MY VEINS!) but what the delivery wait on the Kellerbiers.  It said on the website 1-3 working days (which would be amazing considering the brewery in Bham couldn't deliver in that time) but wasn't sure if that wasn't internally in Germany.

Shoulders?-Stomach!

Yes that's delivery time for within Germany. Took 7 days for mine to arrive both times and I think that was the same for phes, not sure about the other guy who mentioned getting some in.

If you email them they will send you links to the courier info where you can track it (though I found this info to be frustratingly badly updated. Seems to take a long time to get to the port for shipment then all of a sudden arrives on your doorstep just as you think it may take even longer).

TrenterPercenter

Quote from: Shoulders?-Stomach! on June 25, 2020, 12:44:32 PM
Yes that's delivery time for within Germany. Took 7 days for mine to arrive both times and I think that was the same for phes, not sure about the other guy who mentioned getting some in.

If you email them they will send you links to the courier info where you can track it (though I found this info to be frustratingly badly updated. Seems to take a long time to get to the port for shipment then all of a sudden arrives on your doorstep just as you think it may take even longer).

Ah I see thought as much.  Ordered Monday so hopefully early next week then.  In someways thats good as i've got the inlaw and a few friends round this weekend (i.e. more for me!)

PS - also let me get my apologies in early for when i'm posting utter pish on here after getting smashed savouring and studying the delicate tones of Franconia's best booze next week.

Shoulders?-Stomach!

Have yours arrived? I've just received a final batch (I'm out of the country from 18th) 4 or 5 days ahead of expectations. I have no idea how they turned it around so quickly. Everything must have synchronised.

TrenterPercenter

Quote from: Shoulders?-Stomach! on June 27, 2020, 12:31:38 PM
Have yours arrived? I've just received a final batch (I'm out of the country from 18th) 4 or 5 days ahead of expectations. I have no idea how they turned it around so quickly. Everything must have synchronised.

Yep arrived this morning! Had a hutten zoigl and the aufsesser zwickl very impressive.  You've done us a great service here Shoulders : )

Shoulders?-Stomach!

Our own beer boxes may even have frotted on the ship across!

DrGreggles

Just had a mixed German Pilsener case arrive.

2 x 500ml bottles of each of these:
Paderborner Pilsener
Dab D-Pils
Wickuler Pilsener
Warsteiner Pils
Veltins Pils
Radeberger Pils
Brauerei Konigshofer Pils
Konig Pilsener
Jever Pilsener
Dab Pilsener
Brinkhoff's No1
Bitburger Pils


Thought it might be a nice refreshing thing to sit in the sun and drink so, obviously, it has started pissing down...

Shoulders?-Stomach!

QuotePaderborner Pilsener
Dab D-Pils
Wickuler Pilsener
Warsteiner Pils
Veltins Pils
Radeberger Pils
Brauerei Konigshofer Pils
Konig Pilsener
Jever Pilsener
Dab Pilsener
Brinkhoff's No1
Bitburger Pils

I don't mind DaB + Veltins on tap, they are quite satisfying. Radeberger and Konig very different to tell apart but passable. Jever seems to have a fan club, along with some of these really grassy and quite sharp-going-on metallic tasting pils from up in the North West.

Bitburger is one beer I go all hangdog sulky at seeing if its the only option at a bar.

purlieu, might have more to comment on those, he must have tried pretty much all of them.

DrGreggles

I'm only familiar with about half of them, but I rather like those.
Bitburger would be my least favourite, but I'd still take it over most pub lagers.

Sheffield Wednesday

La Trappe Dubbel

Barnardo Ocho

Rochefort Huit

Franziskaner Hefeweissbier

La Trappe Wit

Rochefort Dix

Barnardo Douze

Karmeliet Tripel

Ferris

Quote from: Sheffield Wednesday on June 27, 2020, 07:43:44 PM
La Trappe Dubbel

Barnardo Ocho

Rochefort Huit

Franziskaner Hefeweissbier

La Trappe Wit

Rochefort Dix

Barnardo Douze

Karmeliet Tripel

...your boys took one hell of a beating!!

Shoulders?-Stomach!

For this shipment I decided to order some helles and pils for a bit of extra variety. There had been occasions where I simply fancied a pils. Now is such a time, after reading Greggles post yesterday.



Gampertbrau Forsterpils (German pilsner, 4.9%) - *****
Gampertbrau, Weissenbrunn-Kronach

According to the bottle this brewery made it into the Top 12 German breweries in 2019. Their location north in the rural Oberpfalz which borders Czechia is a fair sign that this one might be a goodie. And it is.

This is a really fair approximation to Pilsner Urquell. Slightly less bitter but also less buttery/diacetyl. In most other respects very similar. A mouthfilling texture and substantial bitterness leaves an aftertaste that is bright, bitter but warm - not sharp. The head on the beer remains in place and just like Pilsner Urqell the froth bathes your tongue every time. So well balanced, pointedly bitter.

If this beer had a Czech label and purported to be from over the border I honestly wouldn't be able to tell. This is what German pils should be like, but mostly isn't. This is what all pils should be like, but mostly isn't. Every single fucking drop of this is gold.

Shoulders?-Stomach!

As these reviews seem to get more interaction than those I write about late stage capitalism, I will continue:



Rawetzer Zoigl (5.0% Zoigl/Kellerbier) ****
Brauerei Nothhaft, Marktredwitz

Here is a pale zoiglbier, showing once again that the 'style' refers to the tradition not a brewing technique or anything specific. A zoigl so far has been anything from a thick almost chalky dry black beer to a zesty citric pale lager. Mostly somewhere in between, but that's quite a gap.

What we have really is an attempt at kellerbier. It has a vibrant amber colour (much more so than the image above indicates) and fairly cloudy with just a little light seeping through. An aroma is not really detectable, by me at least. In the mouth there's a lively zesty effervescent bitter note right at the front of your tongue. The unfiltered element provides it a lovely mouthfilling texture and a quite classic kellerbier aftertaste with spicy, faintly floral/agricultural notes. There's an element in there that feels quite masculine. Hard to describe. The oddly exotic experience of the past when trying a Fisherman's Friend or Victory Mint. Not in flavour, but in.... out-of-time, out of style.

Nevertheless, the distinct feature of this beer is the carbonation and up-front bitterness which gives you instant hit upon arrival in your mouth. This is an element which only really mellows towards the end as the beer loses its carbonation. You can really imagine this one being served in a stone mug and smashed, garrotted and left for dead on the picnic tables of Oberpfalz biergartens.



Shoulders?-Stomach!



Schubel A Frankish (4.9% Vollbier) - *****
Brauerei Schubel, Stadtsteinach

Of all the Franconian styles the one that's been a reliable but not show-stopping one is the sort of coppery brown vollbier. Usually plenty of flavour and well-brewed but fewer knock-your-socks off examples. You may remember this brewery were behind the lovely Nordeck Trunk Kellerbier. This one definitely is in that category, possibly better.

A woody mid-brown colour and quite hazy/unfiltered. There is a faint smell of resin and sap in the aroma. Not strong, but almost like tearing some bark away from a tree. That fresh. The mouthfeel is out of this world good. The flavour, the bitterness, the full texture pings around like you're racking up bonus points on a pinball machine. It wants to be hoppy, it wants to be malty, it wants to be thick, it wants to be complex yet it also wants to be light, delicate, mellow, subtle and drinkable. It succeeds at - everything.

What a jacuzzi and end-wank massage will do for your body this does for your mouth. You are drinking harmony, but not low-risk low-reward harmony. This reaches for the sky to pick a star out while its feet is firmly planted on the ground. You've got the admire the ambition, and doff your cap at the sheer ruthlessness behind wanting to make a beer that's this packed full of flavour yet high volume drinkable.

The mission behind this beer was to create the ultimate marketable Franconia beer. The beer that shows off everything Franconia does from light to dark. They've done it. Einer noch mein Herren!

Shoulders?-Stomach!



Weiherer Landbier (4.7% Landbier) - *** and a half
Brauerei Kundmuller, Weiher

"A beer just like our home. Golden like the sun, soft like our hills and fine like our grain. Brewed from Franconia's best raw materials using exclusively renewable energies. The Weiherer Landbier, literally "country beer", is an easy-drinking beer that goes well with the typical home-made specialties of our brewery inn. For our environment, our home and for you."

Brewed just outside Bamberg, Weiherer really know what they're doing if the Rauch and the Dunkel are anything to go by.

This beer shares quite a few similarities with English golden ale, albeit not quite as harvesty. If anything, this is what golden ale is striving to be, but trapped within its ale confines.

The first few sips weren't outstanding, a hint of gloop and cloy at the back, however once you get into it the hops start sticking out. There are some bright fizzly hops that sparkle around the centre of your tongue, which offsets the golden gentle sweetness. It really is aiming for high drinkability, and bittersweet balance.

As for malt character a nice grainy, bready base to the flavour develops over the course of it (a bit like with Kaiser Heinrich Urstoff).

I wouldn't say this was a killer beer personally, but it is a nice lager that's very close to Helles style. It evolves over the course of the drink. Starts off sweet and cloying, then in the middle becomes beautifully balanced with the refreshing and bitter sparkle, before that recedes into a gentle, pleasant and faintly floral/herby lager.


Shoulders?-Stomach!

Just to prove I'm not just an over-excitable hype merchant* I'm drinking a Gunther-brau Lagerbier Bernstein and this one is not very good, as in genuinely not particularly well brewed. Unbalanced malt bomb. Not sure why Hier-gibts-bier.de stocks this.

*all the time, at least

Shoulders?-Stomach!



Fassla Zwergla (6.0% Munich Dunkel) - ****
Brauerei Fassla, Bamberg

Now, this is a brewery I'm familiar with through trying a couple of their other beers, but further still, I have actually been to their pub in Bamberg (directly opposite Spezial).

I had heard this one was their best and it certainly is a notch above their pale lagers. The colour is chestnut brown, the aroma is incredibly autumnal. Roast malt and nut.

6.0% is quite strong so a few may be worried about this becoming overly sweet, however the roast malt here lingers at the back of your tongue and gives it a dryness and nuttiness that really prevents any cloying at all.

Great balance of complexity and drinkability. Not one to knock back, but very steady all the same. It's really nice!

Shoulders?-Stomach!



Honig Posthornla (5.2% ...err...honey smoke beer?) ****
Brauerei Honig, Tiefernellern

I had vaguely heard of this beer as being a well-reputed regional favourite, so this isn't as obscure as some. It is still the first time I've had it.

Half of it has been donated to my missus as she likes sweet beer/smokey beer. I wish I hadn't only bought one of these. So here you have a brown, slightly ruby full bodied beer with a generous sweetness but offset by nicely bitter quite assertive hops. It is bittersweet, and within all this already joyful mouthful there are gentle infusions of smoke among the roasted malt and floral honey tones that are so subtle they couldn't possibly cause any upset in and of themselves.

While there are some clearly Franconian elements this one is a one-off, not sure I can think of a beer quite like this. Perhaps a few amber Czech lagers have this depth. It's lovely.