Meinklang Ancient Grains Ale
Brauerei Gusswerk GmbH

330ml bottle - some kind of hippy-dippy bio-dynamic brew, by the sounds of it, and a cursory Google-fu engagement.

This beer pours a clear (but with swirling sediment), medium golden yellow colour, with four fingers of puffy, finely foamy, and mildly bubbly off-white head, which leaves some decent roiling cauldron profile lace around the glass as it slowly sinks out of sight.

It smells of bready and grainy malt, some weird toasted crackers, a bit of earthy yeastiness, and very, very, very tame leafy, musty, and floral noble hop bitters. The taste is pretty much just the same, with a bready and doughy mixed malt, wet Bretons, an indistinct fruitiness, subtle yeast, and more well-understated earthy, herbal, and floral green hoppiness.

The carbonation is quite laid-back in its insouciant-seeming frothiness, the body a so-so middleweight, and generally smooth, as nothing exists here that might be considered to be out of line. It finishes off-dry, the malt pretty much running the lingering show.

Overall - yeah, this is certainly a malt-forward offering, and not really evocative of the style it is listed as on this site. I'm not complaining, as there isn't a category existing for this yet, even though more and more of these kinds of brews are being produced. As for this one, it's not bad, but not particularly balanced.

Drank from an 11.2 fl.oz. bottle purchased at MOM's Organic Market, Fairfax, VA
25.03.18
Served in a Willi Becher

My wife and I are huge fans of Meinklang’s biodynamic wines and were excited to find this beer on our recent trip to Virginia. Here goes.

Light brassy yellow appearance. Even with a very careful pour, a bit of the loose yeast particles on the bottom of the bottle snuck into the glass and slightly clouded the liquid. The body was capped by a frothy, near finger-tall, bright white head that quickly fell to a bubbly collar. Spotty lacing trickled down the glass after each sip.

The nose was signature German Pilsner. Really snappy and clean. Loads of bready, biscuity malt character. Big noble hop presence. Crisp and grassy. Hint of sweetness. Bubblegum came to mind. As the beer warmed, some unique grainy and/or nutty notes appeared. Although this beer’s label states that it was brewed with “Spelt, Emmer-wheat and Einkorn-wheat,” I probably would have guessed rye or spelt. Pretty interesting.

The flavor profile was similar to the nose minus the unique grainy notes. This drank just like a typical German Pilsner. Bready, biscuity malts came through strong. Crisp and clean. Bright and lemony in the center. There was a big grassy hop character on the back end. Subtle earthy hop notes lingered after the swallow.

Decent mouthfeel. Medium bodied for the style. The liquid contained a fine, moderate effervescence that turned frothy and slick on the palate. Not quite as crisp or as snappy as some of the more authentic takes on the style.

Meinklang’s natural and biodynamic wines are always so interesting and unique, and this beer unfortunately did not exemplify a similar spirit. That said, this was a nicely done take on a traditional German-style Pilsner. In the future, however, I would love to see Meinklang experiment with styles of beer that try to match the excitement of their wines.

Described to me as a beer made by this Winery to drink after consuming wine all day. This is all malt. Brown malt forward, a bit earthy, a bit fruity. Fairly dry finish. Short finish. Not too sweet. Flavorful for a session beer. I would drink this after consuming copious amounts of wine.

 

In one bottle, this lager is an interesting glimpse into beer's history.
Back when beer was a culinary response to purify contaminated water (and make one feel good about the dark ages), local ingredients got thrown into the brew kettle. Not corrupted by modern science, the grains were wholesome and the spicing mild so that wholesomeness made us feel good.

Fast forward at least five hundred years and those pre-modern grains from east Austria (center of the European continent) end up in a bottle store in Chicago (the center of the New World's continent.)

And through this time warp, I'm supposed to describe this beer. Well...
Ancient Grains Ale Looks like nothing I've ever seen. The head dissipates and goes flat incredibly fast.
It Smells like no beer I've ever smelled. Malt, seemingly with little barley and mostly wheat's parents.
Its Taste also is like no beer. A mild yeast has little help from the spicing and even fewer hops.
Feel? It is not full or bubbly or sweet or dry. What is it?
This is what beer was before we got spoiled and demanded the intense flavors of hops and high alcohol and ridiculously flavorful yeasts.

So how do I rate it? There is no comparison in a time warp. Except to say that I'm glad I'm in the here-and-now and not back-then.
Will I have this again ? Possibly. But, I also have been spoiled by the options before us.

 

 

I will preface this by saying this bottle expired in june of 2012 and I drank it tonight, so its a little past its prime, but a biodynamic brew using uncommon malted grain from Austria? I had to try it even despite its age. low alcohol means it probably didn't keep well, but I liked it a lot as is. golden color with the shortest lived head ive ever met. bubbly and white but its gone in just seconds. fish food looking yeast floats around aimlessly and settles in the bottom of my wine glass. the nose has a lot of funk from the yeast, not sure if its gone off or not, but its quite enticing. a richer and fuller malt body, earthy and bigger, a lot like spelt beers ive had, but I don't recognize the grains specifically. its got a grassy hop aroma and flavor that have both held up pretty well too. a good mix of funky ale yeast and malt sweetness carry though to the finish, where mild acidity and tannins take hold and dry the palate. not a ton of bubbles, but enough to prevent if from being dull in terms of feel. I would wager that this was outstanding and unique when it was fresh, but even way old it tastes great. my girlfriend absolutely loved it, and that fact that its basically free being this old means it will end up in my fridge again. quality stuff, I am surprised it has such little attention, especially given its environmental mission.

 

 

(3.5) A: Cloudy and sediment laden with a deep amber colour. Moderately high foam head that quickly recedes to a glass ring.

(4.0) S: Multi-grains, wheat qualities, fruits including some sweet banana and tart apricot, cloves, and floral elements. Requires a bit of digging, but aromas are varied and coalesce nicely.

(3.5) T: Grains and seeds (much like whole grain toast bread), banana, spices, milky nut qualities (pinenuts maybe), and floral elements. Still can’t decide whether I’m a fan of the finish or not. Might be an acquired thing as I’m detecting a lingering dry and rooty vegetable-like taste. Nonetheless, the majority of the taste profile I’m liking.

(3.5) M: Medium bodied with a moderate-high carbonation. Smooth and buttery texture.

(3.5) D: Definitely lives up to it’s name as an ancient grains ale. Not all that familiar with this category but could see this being something that grows on me over time. Definitely worth a try.

Poured from the bottle into a standard pint glass.

Appearance: Pours a slightly cloudy amber color with just under a finger of off white head that goes away completely.

Smell: Sweet from the grain with a hint of fruit and honey.

Taste: Again, the grain really takes center stage. Pilsner malt along with some honey like sweetness. The finish has just a touch of bitterness.

Mouthfeel: Medium body with tingly carbonation and a dry finish.

Overall: This beer is very average. I wouldn't search it out in the future.

 

A cellar temperature bottle with a best by date of 2012-05-31 poured slowly into a glass mug, keeping the sediment in the bottle.

The beer is translucent and golden orange in color. Lots of carbonation can be seen within, both clinging to the bottle of the glass and rising to the top. The head is large, white, foamy, and made up of many sizes of bubbles.

There area lot of grassy hops in the aroma, as well as many different grains. There is some citrus and some sweetness; the overall aroma reminds me of lemongrass.

The beer certainly has an interesting malt profile, thanks to all of those uncommon grains. The sweetness is subtle, and the bittering hops are especially strong. They seem to fade out after I swallow before the malt flavors do, which is rare. Although different from any other pilsner I've had, I like this beer.

The beer has a medium body and a lot of carbonation. In fact, there was so much carbonation, it was hard to determine the level of body. There is a lot of coating, but its not too sticky. The carbonation does tingle my tongue.

As I said above, this is a different kind of pilsner, but I enjoy it. It's worth seeking this one out, especially if the odd grain bill grabs your attention.

The pilsner pours a clear yellow/golden color with a 1 1/2 finger white head, with a decent amount of carbonation bubbles.

Plenty of floral and light grassy hops with substantial toasted grains and ripe citrus as well. This is a surprisingly good aroma, coming from a pilsner, what with the perfumey florals and the nutty malt character.

Light sweet toasted malts make their presence known upfront, but this is soon followed by the flowery perfume of the hops and tartness of the wheat. A light bitterness rounds things out.

The light mouthfeel is kicked up a notch by the peppery carbonation which also provides a bit of burn in the throat.

I was pleasangly surprised after reading some of the less favorable reviews. This is a worthy, lighter offering with plenty of taste and aroma to please. It's an easy drinker.

Most definitely not a pilsner, but what the heck.

Pours a slightly hazy (full pour) bright golden color. A soft white cap of foam, about 1 finger, settles out to a light dusting.

Floral and citrus aroma. A hint of grapefruit persists and the malt is clean and soft. The florals aren't all that perfume-y and do not take the lead. Rather, they provide a hint of spice on the end.

Flavor follows the nose. Grapefruit and orange zest come into play a bit more without dominating. Easy going malt and grain undertones. Almost like buttered biscuit. Quite nice. Some 'ancient' style beers are out done by their spices, flowers, or what have you. This one is quite well balanced. It's light and very drinkable.

Picked up at a random wine store in Vermont during a beerventure.

A - Poured into a Duvel tulip a glorious golden hue with small particles suspended amongst. A one finger white foamy head faded to leave a nice halo and cloud. The bottle did start to foam up once I cracked the cap though.

S - Interesting...some sweet malts but lots of honey on the nose. There are some light skunky hops in the background, but, flowers (honeysuckle like someone else had said) overpowers that. Super unique.

T - Nice flavour profile here. Sweet malts and light flowery hops are present. The main flavour for me though is honey, sweet and rich.

M - Very nice carbonation here, which is what brings this semithin beer up to a 4. Super light in the mouth too.

O - Overall, I really enjoyed this beer. Its definately not a pilsner, but thats fine with me as its quite tasty if you like beer with honey qualities (which I do). A bit steap for a bottle (paid either 3.99 or 4.99) but would reccomend it to others looking for something different.

I poured this average beer into my tumbler at 45 degrees. Too cold I'm sure. The beer was really cloudy looking too me. The did pour a nice poofy white lustrous head that looked really inviting. The smell of the beer was kinda bready or like biscuits, so I'm guessing all that cloudy stuff was yeast. I guess I'll try try it again.

A slightly hazy pale gold color, lively look, 3" pure-white and a tower of foam.

You can really smell the earthy mix of grains, wheat and certainly the Einkorn and spelt. Very unique and interesting aroma from this one. Classic musky, earthy yeast, slightly nutty from the grains.

A very hearty and natural flavor, crispy and earthy, light and zippy approach, grains and wheat pop out and combine with a slightly nutty effect but crisp and very clean with a decent balance of flavor's.

I thoroughly enjoyed this one, unique with it's grains and damn easy to drink.

Pours a cloudy whitish-blond color with a one-finger head into my glass. Normally, pilseners aren't cloudy but this is something different.

Smells more like a hefeweizen in nature with sweet bready malt and clove. A bit of citrus as well.

Taste is full of clove and sweet malt. It's not that forward though and a bit bland overall.

Lingering clove and malt but nothing else. A bit thin too in the middle.

I'm not sure what they're trying to do with this beer. It's certainly not a pilsener so I cannot rate it on that scale.