Löwenbrauerei Passau Urtyp Hell

Urtyp Hell
Löwenbrauerei Passau

0,5l
4,8%

And we are reaching the end of a kinda mixed series for the Reinheitsgebot anniversary.
I can' say that anything of the beerses gave me a taste orgasm but at least they got me to write again.

Todays Urtyp Hell apparently has won a couple of awards as the rear label shows a Gold World Beer Cup award in 2012 and Gold Beer Stars for 2009 and 2010.

The brewery (again only German) praises itself for how pale their beer is and says it can't be paler than this... we shall see... alas it is rainy outside so I doubt I'll get nice pictures.

Ratebeer once again in the lower area... seems they really don't like German beer.

The bottle is your standard brown beer bottle with 3 labels. I like the minimal approach they have with the label. Modern, nice clear lines, mainly held in brown red and black. Sadly no real information about the beer itself on the back label besides the usual advertisement.

The glass of the day is a Zischke Kellerbier glass that I might have bought at the brewery but to be honest I have too many beer glasses and I lost track...

It indeed is very pale/bright .. they did not lie there. Has the side effect that it evokes me thinking that it might be watery. Carbonation is massive judging from what I see. We shall taste whether the tongue thinks the same.

The aroma is faint but very nice. Fruity tones with floral undertones and a slight umami in the end. Not much yeast or hops detectable. One of the best smelling beers I have sampled.

The head is about perfect, fine bubbles, long lasting, just as it should be.

Carbonation is perfect.

The aroma didn't betray as the taste is nice, slightly sweet floral in the beginning with indeed ripe fruity tones that then evolve into a nice combination of umami tones with very small bitterness, the hops are hinted in the aftertaste but even then stay on the light side. For once I agree with whoever gave out the prizes. This is definitely a good brew. It's nothing super duper out of the ordinary but it is a nice made, rustic, high quality beer with a pleasant all in all round taste. Lover of hops might be sad but I am happy.

Prost!

DMW

Autenrieder Urtyp Hell

Autenrieder Urtyp Hell

0,5l
5%

And another post for the Reinheitsgebot series. The weather outside has been meh and so has been my mood but hey we want to finish this series.

I thought I'd keep the not yeasties for the end, alas Ratebeer has another rather abysmal rating for this brew....but what do I care. :).

The brewery (again only in German) claims to have been brewing since 1650 so beer with tradition.
The three labeled bottle looks rather standard if not a bit old fashioned even. The labels are red, white and gold and somehow it looks like a rather generic brew judging from the label.

For the glass I went back to one of my good ole classic tasting glasses.

It's pouring nice and crisp, looks like a lot of carbonation. The head is not especially much, very fine bubbles, dissipating quickly. Colorwise it is of a rich gold with a touch of red in it. Looks interesting at least.

The aroma at first is very lemony but then fades to a rather unappetizing generic Pilsener smell. Light tones of freshly cut grass and flowers.

OK the taste is off. At first it reminded me of dishwater, then sweet tones joined. The carbonation is good but that's about it. There is a definitive sweet, soap tone in this and it isn't very appetizing. Even the aftertaste stays soapy with very faint hoppish bitterness. It is flat and doesn't offer any full mouth.

Absolutly on the worse side when it comes to brews. I don't loathe it as much as I loathe  Karjala  but it comes close.  Meh.

Prost!

DMW

St. GeorgenBräu Keller Bier

Keller Bier

St. GeorgenBräu

0,5l

4,9%

Finally a Kellerbier. YAY. It is unfiltered and "unbunged," indicating that the maturation was in a vessel open to the atmosphere (ie not controlled by a pressure valve). This makes for a lesser carbonation. With a diminished gassiness, there is less carbonic "bite" on he tongue, so the drinker is more sensitive to the flavors in the beer. (I had to look this up and now I know... )

Alas I am still a bit plagued by allergy and I got my Larp character today so I am all kinds of hyped and not in my best mood to write... alas the brew is cold, it is waiting for me and as I have to work tomorrow, I better enjoy me brew.

The bottle is pretty plain and standard, just 2 labels, no back label. 

It depicts a genuine painted brewery interior, the Font is deliberately chosen to look old. 

The brewery page is in German only again but doesn't say much anyways. 

Ratebeer for a change thinks highly of this bottom fermented beauty. 

Under normal circumstances I'd drink this out of a stein but that would mean not being able to take a nice picture so I went with a small stein-like glass-glass. 

It is golden brown, actually browner than I expected, with very little head. Almost no foam, but a small fine layer of mix sized bubbles.

The aroma is very sweet, mouth watering with citrus tones in the aftermath. There is something in it that I can't describe very well and if I say dusty like flour it's a mere pitiful attempt to describe it. Very fine soap tones mixed wit fresh cut flowers present as well.

It has a very full mouth feeling, starting with slight sweetness that then mixes to bitter, yeast tones only to then explode in a little hop. The citrus tones are present throughout, albeit slightly drowned by the hops only to end in a marriage of bitter lemon. The carbonation is OK. I would have preferred a tad bit more but it's OK.

This is nice! I wouldn't have thought that this is a Kellerbeer as they are usually more umami, but this is definitely nice. Maybe even so far the best of this series. I really like how this plays with sweet, sour and bitter tones, mixing them together only to hold them apart. Maybe a tad bit too bitter but that could be simply my expectations which expected something else.

Grand brew!

Prost!

DMW

Arcobräu Urfass

Arcobräu Urfass Hell
Arcobräu Gräfliches Brauhaus

0,5l
5,2%

So sadly someone cleaned my table and they took my beer fact sheet with them... So unfortunately the information about how much original wort this brew has is gone to the paper recycling bin, together with the information which prize it had won. Sad and shitty but alas just a piece of cardboard and we shall live without the info... basically as we don't have any other choice.

Arcobräu for once has English Information on their website, so feel free to prance around there, checking out all the wonderful tidbits of knowledge they give you.

So apparently the brewery was founded in 1526 by Warmund Count von Preysing back then under the name Moos Schloßbrauerei... the rest of the history can be found on the webpage but it's always nice to know that something has been happening for many centuries. Also yay nobility.... It's still called the Count's Brewery (Gräfliches Brauhaus).

The bottle is of standard form and it has 2 labels. Now the front and back one are pretty standard, though the front is circular in shape which is at least not as common as the classical rectangular ones.
It's held in white, gold, blue and red, the name in gold on blue.

The upper label is using something that was more common a few years ago though I haven't seen it recently much. It's made out of metallic foil, wrapping around the whole bottleneck and also encasing the cap. In my youth they used to say that men who play with that foil are sexually frustrated.... I always thought it's mainly to make sure that there is no foil ending in ones mouth but hey...

For the heck of it, I chose the glass that came with the whole box so that it gets some usage... as this isn't a yeastie baby and also filtered I guess it shall serve.

No information about top or bottom fermented alas the style Helles hints at bottom fermentation and then filtration as it is filtered.

It is pale golden, clearly filtered and pours with mediocre amount of middle sized bubbly foam, which dissipates moderately fast. All in all it pours like a good beer should pour.

As hayfever / allergy hit me I don't trust my nose too much but let's talk about aroma: Not very appetizing, moldy, damp, strong umami tones. Heavy floral tones of the not so yummy sort.

Ratebeer is -again- rather low in their ranking.

It taste's rather sweet in a sticky way that remains for the aftertaste. There is almost no bitterness but very faint tones in the aftertaste. Pretty watery. Sadly no distinguishable hops, instead a sweet umami taste.
The carbonation is pretty perfect ... but that's all I have to say to this. It's -again- a well done beer, alas missing complexity. Easy to down thirst quencher? Yes. Enjoyable taste adventure? No.
Sadly it's missing the certain je ne sais quoi. It doesn't even try.

Prost!

DMW

Irlbacher Hefe-Weissbier Export

Irlbacher Hefe-Weissbier Export
Schlossbrauerei Irlbach

0,5l
5,4%
12,7% original wort

Way too long name for a beer and I bet people will file it under a different name when they write about it... So yes. Another yeast thingy happened... simply because I want to get rid of it. LOL.
I had a non alcoholic one yesterday from a major brewery and it was OK. I guess my dislike stems from the mucho calories these babies bring with them. Anyways their homepage was being refurbished when I tried to access it so not much I can say about them. one of the traditidional 3 labels tells me that they are of some noble family and couch for their beer with their good name... yeah color me not impressed.
Ratebeer which I didn't forget this time like last time, is rather low about it.

It's top fermented in the bottle and also won a European Beer Star (for a link see the last blog entry as I cba to check it again... sorry.. no I'm not) - this time the European Beer Star in Bronze in 2011.

I did plan to use the olde normal pint glass again but it irked me so I dug out my maybe oldes glass again. It is hand blown as one can see because of its little impurity and made for a brewery that ceased operating in 1989 the Würzburger Bürgerbräu (more infos sadly in German only can be found here.) My aunt wanted to toss the glass when she moved and offered it to me as a vase... I have better usage for it.

As mentioned the bott le has the classic 3 labels, held in gold and blue and white... yay for Bavarian colors. (*rolls eyes*) Not much information present on this bottle.. so I can't give you fancy yeast strains or hops names... not necessarily a bad thing as these do cater to the hip craft beer hipsters.... No I'm not one of them... I was retro when it was still 'out'.


It pours with little and pretty white foam, something I am not used from yeasties. The foam also decides to disappear quickly, leaving the very yellow brew. Now when I say yellow, I do mean yellow. This is like Fanta,

The aroma wasn't present when pouring so let's see what the glass offers. Interesting mixture of freshly cut grass, a fine vinegar and a fruity yeast tone I can't recall having smelled before. The yeast isn't imposing but playing along nicely with floral notes. All in all a very fine aroma. Not imposing, not blocking ones nose. Just nicely being there.

The carbonation at first seemed to be to little, only to then explode in an acidic way like strongly carbonated mineral waters, almost hurting the tip of my nose. The main taste is of ripe bananas, which then shifts to floral and hoppy bitterness. Sadly the acidic sharpness of the carbonation ruins this for me a bit. There are many really interesting nuances present but they are all covered by the sting of the tang carbonation. The banana wins in the end though the end tones are rather distant.

Siting outside in the sun like I do, I can, however, imagine this to be a grand thirst quencher, thus leading to drinking another and another. It's refreshing and summerly and not as yeasty as I had feared at all. The sourness does grow on me though.

All in all I am a bit torn apart. It's definitely nice and refreshing and I did grow to like the tartness. Sadly the other facets of the taste are hiding behind it and aren't easily lured out.

Prost!

DMW

Tannen Hell

Tannen Hell
Hohenthanner Schlossbrauerei

0,5l
5,0%
12% Stammwürze

Aaaaaaalrighty. You have reached part 2 of the mighty 7 part 500 years Reihnheitsgebot series and today we tackle a bottom-fermented, barley malted baby from the Hohenthanner Schlossbrauerei (German Only again (BOOO!)). The brewery has been founded in 1864 and is still family run and owned - by now in the third Generation. The Hell I'll try today is hopped with Hallertauer Tradition and Tettnanger Hops both grown in glorious Bavaria (snort).
Let me know what you think about more or less links within my entries. I personally am not a huge Hops specialist so as I look em up I thought I could as well just link and share em with you but I'm happy for input!

The three part label depicts the actual brewery building (so I assume), as well as the crest of the family or the brewery.. who knows. The back label holds some information about the brew as in what hops, what malt and so on. I have seen this occurring more and more on beer nowadays, simply because people get more informed and more interested in brews, which is a grand development. Though hey, I wrote beer blog before it was hip and in anyways....

The beer had won the DLG European Beer Star in Gold in 2013! (I sadly must admit that I had never ever heard this award being mentioned anywhere but hey the site says it's one of the most important beer competitions in the world and as we all know, the internet doesn't lie...)

I went for ye goode ole classical pint glass for this one, mainly as I have no idea whether it should be poured all at once (like yeastie beasties) or artsy degusted sip by sip from a tasting glass...

As I talked about the label already (it has the omnipresent Bavarian blue white diamonds on the back), it's time to tackle the aroma and the color.

It is clearly filtered as it is clear (ba dum tsih) and nice and golden in color. It's actually really nice golden with mediocre to little foam that dissipates fast, leaving behind one thin fine layer to top off the gilded liquid.

The aroma is very deep and sweet, weirdly once again reminding me of fresh meat (Ewwww).
Fine bitter tones mix with the slight acidic tone of carbonated water and the sweet smell of fruits that are just beginning to get more than ripe.

It starts rather sour on the tip of the tongue, rolls back with finer bitter tones, till a nice wave of bitterness fills the whole palate. It's indeed a nice combo of different tastes although in the end it doesn't convince me. It leaves me with a rather flat feeling and I can see that this might make an excellent fresh out of the cask beer, alas it is not making a huge OMG OMG OMG explosion in my mouth. It kinda reminds me of my genuine around the corner bar Finnish Lager... so it's nice, it has alcohol, it doesn't taste like Karjala (Shudder) but that is about it.

A solid, well made beer that fails to produce any AHA moment.

Prost!

DMW

P.S.: I totally forgot Ratebeer...

Grünbacher Altweisse Gold

Schlossbrauerei Grünbach

Altweisse Gold
0,5l
5,0%

Pole position for this 7part series is this Wheat-baby. I have mentioned more than once that I am not a yeasty fan though funnily enough it was all I was drinking when I was younger. Now this baby comes in a bit smaller bottle than the average corner standard bottle. It's broader instead. The glass I chose is something special and something I hadn't taken out of its package in many, many years. It is a traditional yeast-beer glass, alas from Ritzenhoff and it was a birthday present from Sebastian and Pia from another time and another galaxy far far away. It depicts my zodiac sign, Aquarius.

I never heard of the brewery (Schloßbrauerei Grünbach in German only) but with 1274 breweries in Germany (give or take some) that shouldn' be a big surprise. The promise full yeast and thus full fruity flavor and unfiltered goodness.... Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah not a big yeast fan .. oh wait I mentioned that before..

Ratebeer is in the lower percentages when it comes to this baby, alas the packaging mentions that it won a gold medal from the DLG 2015.

The label is your classical minimalist style 3 part label, mainly in green, depicting a horn and the logo of the brewery. The net tells me that this used to be their premium, only brewed for special happenings... yeah sure... :P

The aroma is very acidic sour, not unpleasant, mixed with the expected yeast tones. Hints of fresh bread dough and oranges are hidden in the rich aroma.

The color is nice cloudy unfiltered yellow with seemingly rich carbonation and a just about perfect white head of fine foam.

The skeptic in me wonders whether the carbonation stems from being too strong, the form of the glass or the fact that I just cleaned it... as they say that only dirty glasses show loads of carbonation... I definitely cleaned it well so maybe it is the traditional form that presents us with the bubbly goodness.

It starts very fruity on the tip of the tongue, melting down into citrus notes, coupled with a fine yeast note that isn't as bad as I expected it to be. The carbonation is pretty perfect if maybe a tad bit too strong for me. It's nice and foamy, filling the whole mouth with it. Parts of hay, lemon and herb-medicinal tones in the aftermath.

Now I do like this. I must admit that it fits the whole Bavarian Beergarden tone. The weather is nice, the sun is shining and this is a refreshing brew, not as yeasty as I feared.

I'm drinking this for those of my friends and loved ones who left me and this world the last year.

Kippis Mazzon! Prost Frank!

You are missed!


Prost!
DMW

500 Years Reinheitsgebot:

 
So here I am again...

As some of you know I had a lot of stress in my private life and though things are still not too grand but when I today stumbled across a nice 7 bottle gift pack from breweries I had never heard of, I decided it is time to write again. The 7part series I will start from tomorrow on will all be from this nice package I got me today. It even included a glass and a semi nifty replica of the Reinheitsgebot... the law that imho has done bad for craft beer in Germany. The TLDR version of this law is that the only ingredients allowed in beer are water, barley and hops as well as yeast to brew. Apparently some see it as a marketing thing and proudly mark their beers as according to that standard, even when brewing outside of Germany. So in 1516 some Bavarians.... the Rednecks of Germany... started their crusade for the purrrrity of Beerrrr and we still have it.
Alas pardon my ramblings. So I went to get the pack basically because it will give me 7 new log ins in Untappd and because it was as good as any reason to start writing for you again.

The beerses included look interesting and going by my old 'the stuff I like least first' rule, I will start it off with a Yeastie Beastie because: well I'm not fond of yeast beer. So maybe this will get my mouth watering.

Look forward to tomorrow peeps... The Beer-afficionado is back.