Paulaner Salvator

Paulaner Salvator
0,5l 7,9%
As winter is still here though theoretically we are in Spring, it's time for yet another Bock. Though the last one did indeed sorta knock me out and I in my biblical age am not a huge fan of strong percentage beers anymore as well... they knock me out, I am yet again willing to try this beer for you, beloved readers.

It pours dark brown with red hues, I guess it's save to say that it has a rich chestnut color. The foam isn't very strong and dissipates very fast, being of a rich creamy color, unlike the usual white one from Pilsners.

The label is sorta cute (which is why my bros bought it for me).. thanks Frank! It shows a monk handing over a beer to a noble in almost comiclike fashion.

By now all foam has dissipated and it could be mistaken for a Coke, wouldn't there be the distinct smell of a bock. It's very full, very fruity, very malty in the smell and I expect the increased sweetness and heaviness that I like and hate in Bocks. Tart tones of alcohol and chestnut are also present.


The carbonation is pretty perfect, it's a bit stronger than I expected but that's a good thing in this case. It starts with fruity floral tones and ends with bitter malt tones and even hues of savory meat that makes your saliva flow. It's neither as sweet as I expected not too bitter and it doesn't show the almost 8% which is another good thing. The aftertaste, however, shows the typical bitterness.

A nice bock for the cold winter days.. now I just need to lose some weight so I could drink more of those...

DMW 

Faust Pils

Faust Pils
 0,5l 4,9%

And as everything comes to an end so does my Faust designated week. RL is still being a bitch at the moment so I can't promise the daily updates I'd like to write. I can't even make it to the drink shop of my trust to buy more of the stuff that dreams are made of.

Anyways, I kept the Pils till the end.. as most of you should know by now, I am not a huge fan of Pils... not that there is anything wrong with this bottom-fermented stuff... but as it is the most commonly spread beer around Germany, it rarely is 'special' anymore.

The Faust version of Pils pours nicely with a niiiice huuuuge head of foam that dissipates very slowly. (In Germany we tend to say that a well poured beer needs 5 minutes so if you get it faster from a bar it's a rather bad sign)
It leaves an uneven surface of foam, big and small bubbles happily mixed in unison. If only the world would be as peaceful as the surface of this beer. (Gee I'm getting philosophical)
It's very yellow and filtered clear. Maybe a bit more yellow than I thought it would beer. But yeah not much else to say about that..

It's smelling very lemony and doesn't have the usual Pils smell I expected. Floral tones mix with the scent of cane sugar and it's a nice surprise not to smell the tangy smell I thought it would have.

The carbonation is a bit on the low side but surprisingly seems to get more in the aftertaste. (Talking about the tongue sensation here) It has a nice floral tone in the taste that mixes nicely with the hoppy after taste and it even reminds me of some IPAs I have had... funny.  Not as bitter as most Pilsners, the mix of the fruity tones with the bitterness is interesting, alas nothing super special...

All in all concluding the Faust week showed me that I really was never disappointed by them or their pieces of brewed art. If you ever get your hands on their stuff, don't hesitate to try. You can taste the love they put into it.

DMW

Faust Doppelbock

Faust Doppelbock 
0,5l 7%


Sorry for the delay in the continued Faust Week. Those of you who know me irl, know that I am currently having a multitude of issues to deal with.

But anyways, after my liver recovered from my aunts 75th bday I am ready to tackle the goodness that has been waiting in my fridge for a while now.
The dark brown goodness poors with an abundance of big-pored foam, which, however, sadly dissipates quickly and leaves an even, constant layer of bubbles.

Colorwise it reminds me of Coke mixed with Sprite. As I used to be a huge ass (pardon my french) Bock fan I am looking forward to this baby, even though I am pretty sure that the 7% will catapult me into a nice nap.

It's smelling very fruity and fresh with the distinct malt tones being omnipresent. Malty like a Finnish Kotikalja it smells less sweet than that and the fruity tones remind me of a brandy... whyever.

It's a nice mixture of bitter tones with sweetness and a definite present alcohol. I'd suggest this to heavy meals like game. The bitterness is the first present taste but as soon as it mixes with oxygen it turns into a nutty, heavy bitter-sweetness that is worth trying. A worthy Doppelbock!

DMW

Stadin Panimon American Barley Wine : 0,33 : 8 %

Kevätauringon hivellessä silmälumpioitani päädyin kevät-bipolarian maanisuusvaiheessa painaltamaan linja-automobiilin pimppanappulaa jo kauan ennen kotikontua; sain yllätysherätyksen laatuolutkeikalle Kauppakeskus Ristikon Alkoon. Harmi vaan että muistin jo liukuovilla ettei heidän olutvalikoimansa ole erityis-kummoinen, mutta jotain löytyi kuitenkin. Nimittäin StaPaa, pitkästä aikaa!

BW ei ole koskaan kuulunut henkilökohtaiseen oluttyyppien top 5:n, perusteluna seuraava: ei tarpeeksi kirpakkaa kirpakaksi, ei tarpeeksi tuhtia tuhdiksi.

--

Viilennys, tuopin kastelu, korkkaus, kaato. Vaahto hävisi vikkelästi, ja väri on upea.

Ohraneste vaikutti lähes tahmealta valuessaan tuopin reunoja pohjalle, joten ensi_huikassa lähes poissaolollaan loistanut makeus yllätti positiivisesti. Humalointi iski seuraavaksi kuin .. kuin jokin kovaa iskevä asia, ja otti koko kitatilan haltuun. Nad tuu bäd.

Runkoa, tai jotain, on melkoisesti ja muutaman kulauksen jälkeen makeuskin löytyy; suorastaan tahmeus.

 Äh. Ei oo beer-geek-fiilis, ja kahdeksan tehollista volttia alkaa hiipiä ohimoon.

Mainittakoon siis että kivan värinen, tahmea, joikaavasti humaloitu töttöröö, lähituotanto ja pienyrittäjyys suurena bonuksena.

Ostan uudestaankin, jos haluan vahvaa olutta ilman banaania. Kiitti hei!

-T

Kapuziner Kellerweizen
0,5l
5,1%
Kulmbacher Brauerei

My brother who knows of my nice hobby and has helped with a lot of my beauties, brought me this today and I figured that it's a nice thing to try after a stressy day. Normally I don't do the wheat beers but as you all know that I'm the hugest Kellerbier fan, this had to be done.
I absolutely LOVE the label on it. The retro design is just really cool and would be one of the reasons why I'd try and buy the bottle.

It pours with relatively little foam for a Weizen and is nicely dark cloudy like a dark Weizen... The foam has dissipated by now and it holds the typical smell of a good yeasty Weizen. There is a lot of tartness in it and fine salt notes in the smell.
Sadly I couldn't manage to take a nice or good picture of it as either the label was too dark or the beer ended looking yellow .. as I am a label collector I went for the label.
I haven't been a huge fan of this particular kind of beer but I guess today is the best day to try one again as I used to drink only those.

The carbonation is a bit on the high side for me and it could go with less. The taste is very unusual and interesting. It's filling the mouth with many aspects, a woody, smoky aftertaste among them.
The tartness isn't as bad as on most other Weizen beers and the aforementioned smoky tones coupled with a fine bitterness makes this one of the better Weizens I have tasted. Some gold stars to my brother for finding this baby in the shelves of his local beer dealer.

DMW

Alsfelder Landemmer

Alsfelder Landemmer
0,33l
5,1%

Tonight a short break from Faust...

I stumbled over this when i went to the shop 5 min before it was closing and they had it in their "cheap and take with u" corner for 50 cents as it is expiring tomorrow.

I recently did an article about Emmer already.

And this reminded me of it when I saw it.. God knows maybe it even was the same but I cant be bothered to check.

So yeah it pours slightly cloudy with visible flakes of yeast and with little foam that dissipates rather quickly and is only visible around the points where the glass meets the liquid. It's clear otherwise and bright yellow if not for the yeasty goodness. The smell reminds me of freshly baked bread or maybe the smell of putting a bit of beer into the water tossed on a sauna stove. There are floral tones in it too and a certain tartness.

The carbonation is nice and so is the bitterness that initially strikes but then quickly vanishes. I do like the slight hoppy taste mixed with fine yeast tones. It's very fresh and delicate with loads of aspects on the tongue. A great beer to drink that leaves the craving for more. Sadly I only found the 0,33l bottle.

DMW

Faust Schwarzviertler

Faust Schwarzviertler
0,5l
5,2%

As I heard that a good friend of mine died, this beer is for him, thank you Taneli for the years of friendship and the conversations we have had. I drink for you!

Another day, another Faust. Today I chose their dark beer specialty which I remember drinking when visiting their brewery but can't remember the taste.
Like all their labels this one comes in their uniform design, this time maybe a bit darker to represent the dark beer. It advertises with dark malts and roasted aromas... let's see.

For once this is a beer that almost has a bit too much foam for me.. if you have to wait till you can drink it without getting a mustache it can be bothersome.. The foam itself is nicely cream colored and consists of nice small bubbles, paired with bigger ones.

It's not smelling very intense but there are noticeable yeast tones in it, paired with fruity, roast aromas.

The beer itself is clear but dark brown with red hues but well yeah mainly dark brown.. reminds me of something nutty why ever...
Time to taste... Taneli... for you!

Its very nutty with decent smoke aromas around the palate, a bit like a smoke beer but more decent and not that prominent but yeah definite smoke aroma there. Carbonation wise it's perfect, it tickles the tongue a bit but doesn't hurt the mouth. its slightly sweet in the beginning with very decent bitterness tones in the end. The yeast isn't really taste-able, instead there are fine fruity tones in it.

As I personally am not the greatest fan of smoke beer it gets a 'Oh Well' on my scale though it is definitely a well made solid beer and I can imagine some nice evenings with friends and a case of it.

DMW

Faust Festbier

Faust Winter Festbier
0,5l
5,5%

And part 2 of the Faust week. As Spring starts or has started it is high time that I open  the Winter Beer... It deviates from the usual Faust labels a bit and depicts a fluffily cute Christmas Village.

So time to bring summer into life. It pours nicely clear and amber colored with a nice foamy head and loads of yummy white foam. (It's funny that in Finland eg. the Bartends tend to get the foam out of the glass when I order a beer.. over here in Germany I'd prolly return the beer if it wouldn't have any foam..

It smells very fresh and fruity with light malt tones that are very sublime. The yeast also is noticeable but blends in nicely with the fruity tones. All in all it does smell very appetizing.

It's nicely sweet and slightly yeasty, it could go with a bit more hoppy bitterness but as it's a Christmas beer that's OK as it should help warming your insides on a cold winters day. The carbonation is about perfect and it leaves a pleasant warm, slightly yeasty aftertaste. This is good drinks definitely and another great brew by Faust. Slight honey aroma tops off the whole composition

DMW

The Faust Series... kicking of with Kräusen

Faust Kräusen
0,5l
5,5%

Apparently Blogger found my Cherry porter so bad that it automagically deleted the post.. or I managed to click a wrong button... SIGH half an evening in vain.... alas see the Strawberry Porter and You should have the article... replace strawberry with cherry though..

Right after that unsuccessful flirt with the porters I was looking forward to start my FAUST week.
To honor someone, I herewith dedicate the Faust week to Felix, a friend who grew up next to the brewery.

I picked the first one because I never heard of 'Kräusen' and the cloudy unfiltered part sounds very interesting.
Wikipedia states:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brewing#Conditioning 

Kräusening is a conditioning method in which fermenting wort is added to the finished beer.^[80] The active yeast will restart fermentation in the finished beer, and so introduce fresh carbon dioxide; the conditioning tank will be then sealed so that the carbon dioxide is dissolved into the beer producing a lively "condition" or level of carbonation.^[80] The kräusening method may also be used to condition bottled beer.

So yeah let's see.
All Faust beers show the same design for their labels which is a good idea as it keeps corporate design going.. I like the bit old fashioned way they design their labels.

Pouring very bright and only a tad bit cloudy like stained glass windows, this beery goodness holds a decent foamy head, just like German beers are supposed to. The yeasty smell reminds me more of freshly baked bread than of the usual beer yeast smell. There definitely are fruity tones in it as well as well as the crisp tartness of good beer. Enough said.. mouth is watering, time to try...


Sadly not as cold as I'd like it, this is very good. A perfect blend of fruit, tartness, bitterness and yeast tones. To be honest there are too many aspects for me to write about but it does remind me of a good Kellerbier. It's sweet in the beginning, great in between and slightly nicely malty bitter in the end. Absolutely a beer that gets my seal of approval. I would heighten the carbonation a bit but that's just unimportant when considering the multitude of aromas in it. Sadly I never found a perfect translation for 'süffig' as that's a very good word. My beloved Co-writer Pasi once translated it as 'quaffable'.

Anyways... absolute highlight and on my top lists. Well done!

DMW

Lausitzer Porter

Lausitzer Porter
Bergquell-Brauerei Löbau
0,5l
4,4%

To end the Porter series by this particular brewery I never heard of before, I chose the untainted Porter they make.. I'd wager a guess that it's the same brew I had the last few days which in those cases was mixed with artificial aroma.. so now wondering what the real Mc Coy will be like. They use the same design as the fruity variants, a red PORTER logo, this time branded with 'Lausitzer'.

The foam is a lot better and more stable on this version and also a bit more cream colored, alas not as fine as I'd have expected it from a porter. It's dark brown/reddish but not as dark as one would expect.
It smells fruity with distinct yeast tones and a slight malty, smoky smell. The whole smell is rather fine and not very intense.

Let's find out whether their porter really needs to cloud its taste with aroma...
Well as I just found out they already add sugar to it which - as most of you might know by now - isn't my favorite. They aim to balance the bitter tones with the sugar but I am not a fan of the outcome. I think the beer would benefit from leaving the sugar out of the mixture. The tartness there and would be nice but also is mainly clouded by the added sugar.

So a 'meh' from me.

DMW

Strawberry Porter

Erbeer Porter
Bergquell-Brauerei Löbau
0,5l
4,2%

Before I start the Faust week I make a short detour to Lausitz where I got 3 kinds of porter from.
Kicking of is the Strawberry Porter... like I mentioned with the Honey beer, this again is a mix beer and not brewed with cherry but simply has added cherry something in it. Too sad.

Already after opening and during pouring this reminds me of some cherry vanilla coke.. the color is pretty much the same and the foam consistency as well. The artificial smell is very intense, even if I haven't even put my nose over the glass yet.
It's very cherry intense and I can barely make out the beer tartness under the sweet strawberry tones. All in all this smells like a soft drink not a beer but we shall see whether the taste breaks these assumptions.

This drinks suspiciously great actually, Not too sweet though I could go with a bit less sweetness but a nice composition of berry and beer... though I wouldn't be able to identify the beer used as a porter.
Also the taste isn't as artificial as the smell and I got a very round mouth experience with it. The malty tones fill the upper palate while the sweeter aspects stay on the tongue. I'm not really sure whether I would have identified it as Strawberry though.
In any case it's worth a try though I'd encourage them to use the berries in the brewing and not just add the juice afterwards.

P.S.: Also I am REALLY not happy with that phones camera when I look at those pics...
P.P.S.: After studying the bottle I found out that the closest strawberry this beer has ever seen was the Strawberry Chewing gum of the Apprentice... as they have artificial this with artificial this in there and even label it as  'With Strawberry-taste'... Huge minus...

DMW

Odin-Trunk

Odin-Trunk Schloßbräu
0,5l%


http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/furstlich-drehna-schlossbrau-odin-trunk/44513/

I have been knowing this baby for a couple of years as it is served in a local wannabe Medieval Bar. I did like it back then. Like the upcoming strawberry and cherry Porters, I sadly had to realize that this isn't brewed with the honey but simply has it added to the beer... So technically it's more like a beer mixery thingy... Which makes me a sad Panda but oh well.. You can't have it all. The label is sorta archaic with the huge Odin dude on it and has a slight weird connotation for me but well its Wednesday tomorrow and as that name stems from Odin (Wednesday Wodansday Wodan Wotan Odin) it's the fitting beer for tonight.
I chose the handmade glasses I found on a fleamarket for it as they have the same archaic, back to earth feeling for me as the label.

It's pouring with a red brownish hue that I am not a huge fan of.. maybe if it weren't filtered and would be cloudy then yes but this way it reminds me of Cola Beer or something... No huge head on it, instead more fine bubbles like from a soft drink, though they stay relatively stable. (The little of them that are present that is)..

I can smell the honey and also soft tones of cinnamon in it. Funnily the smell reminded me of the cookie beer I had a few weeks ago. Some smoky tones as well as sweet christmas candies come to mind when smelling it. The tartness of the beer itself is present as well though, making it on of the best smelling beers I have had... let's hope the taste holds what the smell promises.

Wonder why I used to like this.. pretty bland with some metallic side tones, trying to be covered up by the honey and the sugar. The second sip goes a lot better and I like the cinnamon parts of it that I find on the upper pallate, alas I'm still not a huge fan of the mixture of bitter hoppiness with added sugar though the honey in this case makes it better.

This could be a good beer if the sweetness would be toned down a bit. It's definitely interesting but the sweetness is too much for me today.

DMW

Faust and Porter

Though I'm a tad bit stressed atm as real life is taking it's toll, I managed to squeeze in a visit to the local beerery and buy next weeks blog material. Not trying to go along topics but as I liked the Scottish series I just finished, I thought I'll go with a similar topic as the local shop just had 1 bottle of everything that the Faust Brewery brews. So that shall be a topic and also some Strawberry/Cherry/normal Porter I found from a Brewery I never heard before.
Sadly the camera in my new Nexus 4 needs some getting used to for me, which explains the rather bad pic.
Anyways the beers to expect in the next week or so are 5 Faust, 3 Lausitzer Porter and a Honey Beer Ialready tried but didn't write about in a medieval pub.

Looking forward to broaden your horizon!

I live to serve, I aim to please...

DMW

Pfungstädter Edel Pils

Pfungstädter Edel Pils
0,5l
4,9%

In a back to the roots series we got a 80 cent beer of classical brewery origin. Which I write about so that you don't get bored.
Like all German Pilseners this pours with a lot of foam which gives a nice full head of foam which dissipates very slowly and ends with a nice little foamy beard after the gulps.
It smells classically bitter and hoppy like a good crisp Pilsener should with some yeasty tones embedded though there also seems to be a sweet element.

It's a nice mixture of hoppyness and yeastyness just like a good Pils should be. Funnily though I chilled it for ovre a day I still didn't like the temperature  of it as it seemed too warm. The carbonation is decent to too little. It's an OK summery Pils with too little carbonation but I found it surprisingly refreshing to try a normal, boring Pils again.

DMW

Fraoch

Fraoch Heather Ale
330ml 5%

Sad day to end the Scottish quadruplets. Fraoch the Heather Ale it shall be today. A friend of mine told me that she has it shipped to her place in cases because it's the only beer she enjoys so this might be interesting. On a side note I got my Nexus 4 phone today and already had a Nerdgasm so I wonder whether it can get better.
Again I like the label a lot. They do invest in their labels and  design.. though the English labels are a bitch to peel of (I collect em so I'm a master at detecting labels..)

Aight, it has been chilled, I'm on the sofa..(And prolly won't get up to take a nice pic so the couch desk will have to do) I got a glas and the fun may begin.

It poors nicely with a slight foam head which isn't totally white but holds a creamy hue.
The beer itself is partly cloudy which is interesting as I usually just know filtered or unfiltered beauties but this one is just a tad bit cloudy.

It smells more or less like a standard Pilsener but has some fruity tones in it. All in all it doesn't have a strong smell, unlike the other beers I tasted out of the series of 4.

The taste isn't very strong and has some weird bitterness that doesn't seem to come from the hops. It's more watery than I expected and also I'm not too happy with the carbonation. I dislike the bitter tones that are present. I can guess where a fruity taste should be expected but the tones are so subtle that they do not outweigh the negative aspects.
Sadly I'm a bit disappointed by this but as 3 out of the set were superb It was pretty OK to find one that I didn't like. I originally thought I'd keep the best for the end but I was proven wrong.

DMW