Fischer Bitter
Brasserie Fischer / Fischer Biere d' Alsace

 

 

 

 

 

The only reason i first bought this beer was for the flip top bottles which I figured would hold my home brews rather nicely. At first I wasn't too thrilled with the taste, but by my third glass it started to grow on me. Smells like a european pale lager for sure. There was more than ample head provided with lacing that clung to the glass the entire time. The taste is above average and certainly different to what I'm accustomed to. This is generally not my style of beer but for some reason I really enjoyed this beer. Too bad that I haven't been able to find it for some time now I sure would like some more of those 22 ounce flip tops. Besides the bottle has a very cool shape to it.

Pours a slightly hazy deep gold with some off white head. Nose is heavy towards apple. Flavor is quite smooth with, yes, a bitter tone in the background, though not predominately so. At the start you get what seems like a bit of a sweetness. Feel is slightly watery with a slight carbonation to it. Very drinkable, though for some that "bitter" might detract. For it being this style, I am impressed. Worth a shot.

Poured into a pilsner glass. Poured a straw yellow color with very little head. Looked like it had a moderate amount of carbonation. Tasting confirmed it. Nice fizziness about this beer.

It had a yeasty, sour smell. Slighty bitter or sour flavor. It is very crisp and refreshing. Interesting floral quality on the far back palate. Like muted wild flowers.

Overall, a nice beer for a hot summer day.

Swing top bottle pours an effervescent lemon.golden with 3 fingers of white head. Stellar lacing & head retention

S: Slight malt sweetness & iron

T: Malt sweetness, a little grainyness, & slightly grainyness up front. Slight butterscotch & cardboard as this continues. Finishes with a little honey malt, grapefruitty, quenching & a little dry

MF: Medium bodied with okay balance

Drinks alright, just doesnt quite come together. Worth a try, would let this warm up a little more next time

eyes....
nice size green swingtop bottle, straw to more golden in hue, chunky 2 fingers of craggy head, retains decently enough, lacing is OK, some carbonation rising up. yep, everything I just described is pretty much average.. and this is pretty much average for the style...

nose...
my first thought was keller beer for some reason, I suppose the lager yeast? a decent mixture of mild grassy hops and sweet malts and just a hint of skunk.. I kind of enjoy it, butter me noodled and call me alphonso...

taste etc...
I like where the carbonation is at on this one, it prickles just enough and is refreshing, a very light tasting beer with just a hair above light body, some lingering bitterness in the aftertaste but not overly so (especially if you are used to al the american IPAs etc). Almost a honey like flavor to the malts. A very easy drinking brew.

verdict?
a nice beer to have at the ballpark on a summer day.. if it were BYOB... Sure, do I usually gravitate towards something more complex and challenging? yeah but most beers do have their place.

I bought this mainly for the swing-top bottle for homebrewing. I figured instead of paying $3 for an empty bottle I'd put down a dollar more and get a brew out of the deal. It wasn't worth much more than that empty sterilized sparkling green bottle I would have gotten plus I'd still have my hard-won buck-a-bill. I remember my brother collected beer cans when I was a wee little animal and many of the names of the empty cans come flying through my head at odd moments for no particular reason. Schmidts. Rolling Rock. Red, White & Blue. Old Frothingslosh! But the one that came to mind when I tasted this one and still does is Champale! I think there was a standard version and a pink concoction. I never tasted them but this is what I would imagine that it tasted like: a beer and a cheap champagne spilled into the same bucket and consumed by the deprived and the profane. A limp-wristed little back biter that gives you the throw-up face with a little lemon squeezed into the bile.

An attractive green swing-top bottle makes me favorably disposed toward this brew, though I know this could make it a bit skunky. Yet upon pouring it offers a big bitter aroma, a bit skunky indeed, but not off-putting. Color is pale yellow, with a slight haze, and a frothy head. After getting a noseful of bitterness, the first taste is actually somewhat sweet. Despite low ABV, it’s actually rather warming. Taste becomes bitter as you go further down, then brings out some dryness and finally a touch of champagne. Hop bill goes straight for the bitterness, with a little pepper. I dunno, I just liked this.

Poured from a beautiful resealable bottle a nice golden color with a huge head almost 2inches into a pilsner glass. The head stuck around for a couple minutes and left a really wonderful lacing. This beer gets points for presentation, but unfortunately goes down hill from there. The smell is of light hops and sweet malts. Almost a little fruit lingering behind the overwhelming musky smell that I think is characteristic of the Euro lagers. Taste: is of mild hops on the tip which quickly diminishes into a malty body, and a slightly bitter after taste. The carbonation appears to be much more than it actually is(it is moderate, but looks high in the glass) I had kinda high expectations for this beer, I had always heard good things, but I am slightly disappointed. I guess that it just doesn't stand up to some others of the style in my eyes. Overall this beer is fairly easy to drink, and the bitterness is not too overwhelming. Not bad, but not great. I wish the taste stood up to the presentation.

1 pint 6 oz green swing top. Minimal label on neck. No freshness dating.

The beer pours a bright gold with a massive white head. Sticky lacing.

The beer smells of floral hops, grass and bit of sulfur.

The taste is somewhat grassy with a bit of light bitterness and floral hops. The sulfur taste lingers barely noticeable in the background. I was hoping for a bit more bitterness from a bitter …. Turns a bit sour late.

Very thin mouth. A somewhat drinkable beer, but not one I would search out on a regular basis.

I know they call this a beer of Alsace, but any area once part of Germany should be able to produce a better beer!

What’s with all the low marks on this one? Fischer’s Bitter is a nice drinkable beer. From the outside in we start with the classy flip-top bottle that every home brewer has dozens of in their basement. (I do.) Popping the ceramic cap results in a gushing of suds spilling out like jubilant champagne. The beer glugs awkwardly from the bottle but soon forms a very white, airy head with clinging suds. Despite the initial surge of foam, the carbonation soon turns sluggish.

The lightly clouded, lemon-yellow body yields a dull bitter aroma. The taste is simple, bitter, refreshing, and inspires the appetite. This is a nice, mellow summer beer (an ale?) that would serve admirably on a picnic with a piece of cold chicken and some cucumber salad. I’m with Jason on this one.

Thought I'd give this a try. Upon opening its burst out all over my friends floor leaving me with about half the bottle. wtf!? That was odd and I'm pissed, I know it wasn't shaken or anything. After I can finally pour the beer it comes out with a huge head. Slight red tint to the otherwise pale yellow body. Very, very carbonated. Aroma is kind of skunky and a little grainy. I guess I get bitterness too, but it's mostly skunky to me. This bottle could be old but with no dating I can't tell. Flavor has a little malt but barely any. A decent fruity hop flavor is there but its mostly bitterness. Finish is acidic and unpleasing. The start is alright really but I can't take the finish. Not too good. Atleast the bottle is cool.

Golden color with nice lacing and good head retention. Slightly hopped in the aroma. Traces of flora hops drift to the nose. Taste is disappointing. Hop is very mild for something called a bitter. Aftertaste is very pleasing and smooth. Beer is actually well balanced and overall pleasing. If I wasn’t looking for a bitter, I would have been extremely pleased.

The pour was a light golden yellow with a good two finger choppy white head that quickly dissapated and left a thin white lace on top of the beer.

The smell was a pungent pilsner smell, very heavy in sour hops and light skunk. As the beer warmed a sweet malt scent crept into the nose.

The drink started with a thin offering of sweet malts with a slight fruit kick. The middle was a quick hit of light hops followed by a clean watery finish. There was a complete and total lack of flavor that lingered after the drink.

I was quite unimpressed with the watered down flavors and light nose. Still with the clean finish it was a refreshing beer. Might hide one or two of these in the beer fridge for a lawnmower beer this summer.

Presentation: A very distinctive 1 Pint 6 fl.oz. (22 ounce) green glass bottle which has the words ‘FISCHER Bière d’Alsace’ embossed on the neck, with four large oval motifs embossed on the concave body. The unique look is completed with the used of a ceramic swing top. No freshness date, but there is a smudged black ink mark on the ceramic cap that may well have been a legible date at some point. Only a thin orange fading to green top to bottom paper label that covers the swing top decorates the bottle. Listed as ‘Fischer Alsace Bitter’, and 4.9% alc./vol.

Appearance: Light yellow-golden body, macro lager look overall that is far from offensive but leaves one with some trepidation about what to expect once this gets in the mouth. Exceptionally lucid body reveals many a streamer, again supporting the macro look. The massive frothy and crusty off-white head however forms a rocky floating mass from the fiery carbonation as this is poured into my Imperial Pint Glass. It soon relaxes to meteor hit surface which in turn eventually settles down to a thin ¼” but not before it leaves some very nice looking lace on the Glass walls.

Nose: Sharp floral hops and some cheap white wine like character. Extremely light toasted malts mingle with some fresh cut grass which lead you back to the floral aspects of the hops, or hop oils that are used.

Taste: Classic French Hop profile, they are there, but they are typically restrained in character and add only a floral-bitterness. At times, this drinks like a perfumed cheap Champagne of sorts. Lively, zesty feel on the tongue pin pricks the cheeks with grassy hay like bitterness. The malts are exceptionally mild and always take a back seat. Finishes with a very dry end, Brut-ish; again the finish reminds me of a super dry White Wine. A little off-putting at times. Realtively clean but not that appealing on a few levels.

Mouthfeel: Strange feel overall, typically Euro-Lager like in consistency, spritzy carbonation on the tongue leaves some floral bitterness on the cheeks – which yet again, feels closer to a cheap sparkling bubbly for me.

Drinkability: Easy enough on the senses, but not something that I could drink all night; I could only handle a couple of these to be honest on a hot day, and maybe even with a spicy meal.

Overall: The word Bitter can be misleading if you are unfamiliar with French Bière, but in the context that it is set in, this *is* a relatively bitter offering, though nothing outstanding, and it most certainly should not be confused with the English interpretation of the style, or the levels of bitterness seen in some US hop-monsters. Not that bad, but nothing that would have me jumping on a plane to Charles de Gaulle Airport, nor even crossing the Channel from England come to think about it. Clean and worth a try, but just the once.

Yet another Euro-Lager masquerading as a something more...

Lovely bottle and poured a delicate hazy pale straw with a rocky thick lacy head. There however is the apex...the smell is rather musty and citrusy the taste is definitely tilted to the hoppy end of the spectrum to the extinguisment of all other pretense of balance. Mouthfeel was thin and effervescent. Drinkable but only once in a while. There are better Euro-Lagers for less money.