BEERS #2 - Beyond the Pale

[shoulders]

Bad news as Eichorn and Heller breweries in Franconia are gone. Especially sad about the former as Forchheim's place in the world is centred around the number of breweries in the area. I didn't manage to get there on my 5 visits to Forchheim as it always conspired to be shut.

[Psybro]

Had my belief system shaken somewhat this week when one of my best beers of the year so far was an Abbeydale Absolution out of a can.

[shoulders]

https://www.petebrown.net/2022/02/04/now-disgusting-camra-is-trying-to-destroy-the-country/

[phes]

lol they think being woke is what'll be the end of CAMRA

tbf many of the commenters below the line don't seem to know what CAMRA is. Probley almost zero CAMRA members

[shoulders]

I mentioned to a friend, the 'i cancelled my membership' reminds me of campaigning for Labour where 9/10 times that meant 'I am not a member, i did nothing'.

Perhaps liars do so well because there are so many of them.

[Pink Gregory]

Unfortunately that does seem to be pretty common, thankfully they're mostly beers I have no interest in.

I wish I could find somewhere like Raynville or Trembling Madness around Bristol. There's a few that have a limited selection of German/Belgian beers but they always seem to have the same things in and never anything that exciting. Sainsburys has started stocking Schneider Weisse and Weihenstephaner though, and the Co op round the corner sells ABK so at least I can get an average hell lager pretty easily

We went to I think it's called the Siren's Call in Portishead, on the Marina, and they seemed to have a fridge full of Trappist beers, though I'm not really a head so I don't quite know what you might be looking for.

[Psybro]

OK after slating NEIPA after having an expired one, I shelled out silly money for a good Cloudwater one which was in date with a stupid name and I get it now.

[shoulders]

I mentioned to a friend, the 'i cancelled my membership' reminds me of campaigning for Labour where 9/10 times that meant 'I am not a member, i did nothing'.

Perhaps liars do so well because there are so many of them.

This is an outstanding beer post.

[shoulders]

Utopian and Orbit have brewed an Altbier, 'Olicana' in a rainbow colour type can. Worth looking for.

[Stoneage Dinosaurs]

Just ordered some of those smoked beers out of curiosity as to what they'd be like. Just getting into one now (Schlenkerla) and it's actually proper nice, I was apprehensive about the taste at first based on what i'd heard, but the smokiness isn't as overpowering as I was expecting. Will definitely try and grab some more, even though the ordering beer online thing is a pain in the arse.

[shoulders]

That's great. Very much love or hate beers initially, although as I found the taste can be gradually acquired. My partner is a natural, anything smoked hits the spot for her.

I was in Bamberg in November and they had the Schlenkerla Ur-Bock on tap from the wooden barrel. Easily the nicest smokey thing I have ever had. Ace being in a pub where 100 people are all having the same, this niche within a niche.

My local off license sells 5 year aged bottles of it. £8 a bottle though..presumably it is so mind meltingly delicious.

[shoulders]

https://twitter.com/RobJMacKay/status/1492990167543656451?t=01ONy6RrbjIvRhq-5VwQDA&s=19

The latest attempt for BrewDog to play the little guy

[Psybro]

I had my first Schlenkerla in a long time the other day (the Märzen). Didn't care for the first couple of mouthful at all, ended up virtually licking the glass clean.

I think I expected a sweeter, full-bodied smoke like a whisky or a good porter.  It's actually a subtler, savoury smoke further back on the tongue that I can only compare to sausage.  I'm sure it goes great with BBQ but it's really one of those beers which is like having a bag of crisps in a glass on its own.  It stands as a proper style in its own right rather than a gimmick.

[shoulders]

It might be connected with the flavour you're searching for, but I've generally found the Schlenkerla Marzen the epitome of smoked beer, more so than any porters, which, unless they purposely used smoked malt would generally be more roasty malt/coffee with perhaps a line of low key.

Marzen probably isn't the single smokiest beer out there, as there are extremely strong complex specialist beers, but it is a beer that really uses it as the main event.

[Psybro]

I think what surprised me was how drinkable and moreish it was once I got used to it (still not sure I'd call it sessionable). When I think smoke I'd usually think of those after-dinner cigar style whisky cask-aged double imperial stouts and such, which I love but are more for a special occasion due to the price and alcohol content.

[shoulders]

The old adage in Bamberg is it takes 3 pints to become a smoke beer lover. Not necessary for some people, my partner included who instantly loved it.

[Crenners]

I had one, thought it taste like bbq puke and then had a million more

I introduced it to to the my head carling/boddies drinking mates at the weekend, they loved it from the first sip, ended up on the Urbock and got absolutely cunted and woke up different men

[Pink Gregory]

.

[Stoneage Dinosaurs]

It's the only beer I've had that tastes like being in an old man pub, even if you just drink it on the sofa at home. I like it

[Ferris]

Still not a rauchbier man. Can't do it, booze that tastes like frazzles, honestly.

[shoulders]

You might have heard on the wind but craft beer is reversing in on itself and Dark Mild is now the style of the moment.

Even comes in those 440ml silver cans.

There's something distinctly sustaining but unfufilling about most dark mild. Generally flavoursome but dishwatery texture.

[king_tubby]

Locals: I have just had an absolutely gorgeous pint of Black Moor Mild in Dave's Pies & Ales.

[Norton Canes]

Far from the most obscure or unobtainable German beer but I've had an Augustiner Edelstoff tongiht and it was absolutely gorgeous

[shoulders]

Oh yes, I have to be in the mood  but it is nice. Slightly pointless to add, as I'm sure it goes without saying, but there are days in the week at several of the Augustiner places in central Munich where Edelstoff is available tapped from the wooden barrel.

With the Lagerbier Hell, Munich is certainly up there for cities with the best, or at least most interesting 'standardly available common beer on tap'.

Let's see:

Munich - Augustiner Lager Hell
Bruges - Brugse Zot
Antwerp - De Koninck APA
Dusseldorf - Frankenheim Altbier
Prague/Pilsen - Pilsner Urquell
Nuremberg - Tucher Weizen
Cologne - Paffgen Kolsch
London - London Pride*
Leipzig - Leipziger Gose**

Big step-down but still worth mentioning:

Timișoara - Timișoareana
Sarajevo - Sarajevska
Podgorica - Niksicko
Salzburg - Stiegl
Ostrava - Radegast 12

Remarkably short list. There are a few beer destinations that are so diverse they don't really have a prevailing brand (eg. Brno, Bamberg, Brussels, Regensburg, Augsburg) but mainly this is because the beer is shit, usually that's because it has been taken over by Heineken or Carlsberg.

France, Ireland, Spain, Poland, Hungary, Italy all total writeoffs for this kind of idea. Can't honestly say anywhere in Netherlands due to the crap lager prevalence. Scandinavia again a no. South Eastern europe vastly inadequate.


*let's try bear in mind it can frequently be good even if it is just as often out of condition. Formerly would have been Porter which would be more interesting

**a bit of a push but a reasonably common sight and most old town venues stock it

[amateur]

London - London Pride*

I'm in the market for a nice pint of Pride in a nice Fuller's pub in nice ol' London. Any recommendations?

[shoulders]

Harp, Pride of Spitalfields or Ye Olde Mitre.

Quality in Lamb & Flag in Covent Garden is better in autumn and winter for whatever reasons.

[Psybro]

After sampling a dozen or so individual German bottles of various styles at random since just before Christmas, I think I've found love with Andechser Doppelbock Dunkel.  100% my shit, like an English strong ale but cleaner.  Goes with cheese.

[shoulders]

It's lovely, hides its strength well too. I sometimes share a bottle with my partner just to make sure neither of us are quite satisfied.

[shoulders]

Something emphatically definitive about Weihenstephaner's 'The World's Oldest Brewery'.

Clearly utter bollocks, indeed a few millenia out, if we are honest. But perhaps one of a few breweries that began producing a more clear  beverage.

Once you remove the marketing crap, it's a decent major brewery, the brewery itself in Freising is well worth the trip from Munich and syncs with the airport well. There's even a brewing college there.

Luke Kennedy from Maine, who had Kennedy's in Nuremberg studied brewing there and made a lovely stout he kept up for a while.

I thought he was German when I met him at first but he also assumed I was, so we spent the first 10 mins talking at each other in Germanised English accents. Ridiculous.

Anyway, Weihenstephaner, one way or another is still a benchmark of quality and the college is such a huge contrast to Zatec in Czech Republic which got bought out by Carlsberg, is right next to the best lager hop fields IN THE WORLD and is total bobbins. The town has a Hop Institute and Museum too, yet market forces and that. Shite.

I hear Pioneer Pivovar in Zatec might be trying to change that. Hope so.

[DJ Bob Hoskins]

Something emphatically definitive about Weihenstephaner's 'The World's Oldest Brewery'.

Clearly utter bollocks, indeed a few millenia out, if we are honest. But perhaps one of a few breweries that began producing a more clear  beverage.

Once you remove the marketing crap, it's a decent major brewery, the brewery itself in Freising is well worth the trip from Munich and syncs with the airport well. There's even a brewing college there.

Luke Kennedy from Maine, who had Kennedy's in Nuremberg studied brewing there and made a lovely stout he kept up for a while.

I thought he was German when I met him at first but he also assumed I was, so we spent the first 10 mins talking at each other in Germanised English accents. Ridiculous.

Anyway, Weihenstephaner, one way or another is still a benchmark of quality and the college is such a huge contrast to Zatec in Czech Republic which got bought out by Carlsberg, is right next to the best lager hop fields IN THE WORLD and is total bobbins. The town has a Hop Institute and Museum too, yet market forces and that. Shite.

I hear Pioneer Pivovar in Zatec might be trying to change that. Hope so.

I obviously do not have the same breadth of beer experience as Shoulders, so not stating this as fact here, but I have yet to find a better and more consistent pilsner or weissbier than the Weihenstephaner offerings. They would seem to be the perfect examples of their respective styles.