Hausbéier
Brasserie Bofferding

 

A-Golden with a bit of orange in the body as well. Head grows quickly then pops away. Chunks of lace.

S-Skunky. A more fleshed out maltiness than I was anticipating. Still manages to smell somewhat crisp.

T-More skunked out flavor. Hops are a bit deeper, they taste grassy. The malt is crisp, and lager-like but also it has a denser caramel flavor.

M-Reasonably drinkable. Not very enamored with the flavor.

O/D-Probably will never try this again, still happy to try it. A Luxembourg original.

 

500ml Tin; taken on my mates balcony in Luxembourg (Remisch) overlooking the Mosel river and Germany on the far bank.

The white head stayed throughout the tasting, the amber body being bright and clear, sadly everything went downhill once I stopped looking at it and started to sniff/sip it.

The beer is almost completely odourless and tasteless: as it warmed some weak/thin hints of hops and malts might have entered my nose, but I think I imagined it.

There was no taste: semi-sweet liquid with no measurable amount of malt or hop content at all, even the alcohol appeared to have left the scene as well.

This beer filled a gap between lunch and our evening meal, water would have done a better job: below average in all aspects (apart from looks), and I’m being kind.

Sampled on 30 April 2008 from a swingtop 50 cl bottle. Available in most Luxembourg supermarkets for about €1 a bottle.

Beer poured a light brown, iced tea like body. There was a slight off white head that leaves quickly and gives way to a spattering of islands on the top. The nose was malty sweet with some citrus and scotchy notes. The taste had a bit of pepper on the tongue. The malt was present and sweet and the beer was rounded out by a decent hop presence in the background. Overall I think my favorite Bofferding beer.

Despite the sense of it's name and the fact that the country is so small and rich they should afford making quality microbrews, this beer was rather crap, watery and a one-timer. Golden translucid pour with a fizzy white head, immediate aromas of malt and a hint of metal. The taste and body, certainly carbonated, is bitter, watery and somewhat metallic, perhaps proper in its genre, but undesirable for me.

Appearance: Sparkling dark golden color. Slightly off white, almost cream colored, head that rises large at first as the beer is poured, but it soon settles to a thin collar and does not last long. Carbonation is high when initially poured from the bottle, but it soon rescinds and just leaves a few slow streamers.

Smell: Superb! A lovely strong malt background that has a spicy lemon hop odor in its aromas. Impressive - and totally unexpected - especially as it was so close to drinking the (albeit above average) Bofferding Pils. The nose was much stronger in comparison, but contained many facets that added a real beer dimension to this most interesting of Luxembourg lagers.

Taste: Biscuit is not my favorite of flavors, but in this instance, mixed with a lightly roasted malt background and a spicy, zesty hop flavor, it works well. Slightly husky grain finish that fades with a spicy bitter hop twang.

Mouthfeel: Has a good solid “I’m here” attitude. The tongue initially picks up the hoppy aspects of the beer, the top of the mouth tingles with a peppery spiciness, whilst the cheeks are left with the biscuit malt aftermath. Nice.

Drinkability: After I overcame the shock that this was not just another Euro-Pils, I came to appreciate this beer and enjoyed what it had to offer. A slightly complex mix of Malt and Hops, all amalgamated into a spicy Lager with attitude. It knows it’s better than all of the other bland Pils on offer and doesn’t mind showing off and letting you know this. Its cockiness was appreciated and well received.

Overall: Bofferding Hausbéier demonstrates that the Breweries in the Grand Duchy are capable of producing good Lagers, as well as bland Euro-Pils. Whilst Brasserie Battin has its ‘Urtyp Pilsener’ as its premium offering; Bofferding prefers to refer to its premium lager as just, well “House Bier”, but it is far from it. It seems to only be available in Grolsch style green stoppered bottles. An accomplished brew, it has to be said that this beer is quietly impressive. I took a bottle of this back to the Hotel one night - it never made it out of Belgium.