Anna Festbier
Brauerei Josef Greif

 

Shots out to PapaGoose for the beer. 500ml bottle at my home bar in the Alps. Pours a nice deep dark amber. Aroma is Malt, plum and a little alcohol. Taste is nice sweet malts, grain and fruit. It is very bubbly for style and ends in a bit of bitterness that counters the sweetness. Almost to the point it seems like a different beer. Seams like the beer is having a party in my mouth. Nice but also different for style.

You think you know about Bavaria because you've owned one of their cars (40 years ago) and tasted hundreds of their beers, but then suddenly you open one bottle and you don't know Bavaria. Celebrated in July only in Forcheim (a royal and pre-modern town of 35,000), The Anna Fest does not drive German history say, like, Oktoberfest. (If you're wondering like me, Anna is the mother of Mary, the one who is the mother of Christ.... so pay attention, if you want to get to Beer Heaven.)

Now, about my review... I've avoided it purposefully because I bought a not-so-good copy. (After opening it, I thought I was going to have a volcanic event, but it settled down.) This affected its Looks, which are a pretty amber but otherwise shows a limited life. Smells are average, a muted sweet malt. Tastes improve, I can tell lots of history has gone into blending these malts and spicing. Finally... despite the eruption, its mouth was medium and its Feel soft.

Thanks for the experience. Prost to Mary !

L:
-pours a clear amber with a medium,foamy,off-white head
-medium-to-high carbonation visible
S:
-malty,spicy,yeasty,plums,rose hip,caramel
T:
-caramel,spicy,lightly syrupy,lightly bready with a hoppy finish
F:
-medium carbonation
-light-to-medium body
-light alcohol noticeable
O:
A really good old-style Märzen

 

From the half liter bottle, it pours a clear amber color with a very nice off-white head that slowly diminishes. The nose gets a dose of caramel malts and a touch of hops. The mouth gets a nice malty brew with notes of caramel.

Pours a crystal clear amber color with a bigger, fine pored head atop.

Aromas are defined by a coppery toffee and matured, dried herbs interplay, topped off by a note of melting, sweet caramel.

The beer’s mouthfeel turns out to be quite refreshing with a bubbly effervescence to it, while remaining light bodied throughout.

Tastes of blood pudding, old kitchen herbs and oven warm bread among earthy sweet toffee. Develops an intriguing, lasting grain rusticness, together with a soft caramel undertone, as well as dusty hay. Finishes heavy on the malts with a prevailing hop dryness among an aqueous softness.

In comparison to the Annafest Hausbräu version I think I like this a little less, since the Hausbräu is not only well balanced, but also manages to unfold a unique richness of flavors, while this is pretty streamlined and foreseeable.

 

 

500ml brown bottle, taken at The Cask Pub and Kitchen, London.

Liked the look of this beer, good amber almost copper in colour, clear and clean: the off-white head full and lasting (I poured it vigorously myself).

The smell was of light flowery hops and malty molasses, each mild and yet powerful, those aromas stayed throughout the pint.

More malts than hops in the taste, not the sweeter malts, bread and biscuit compared to caramel and toffee flavours which were there, but as a secondary feel. The hops held it together nicely coming towards the end of the mouthfeel to give a semi-bitter finish.

Would take this over almost any Pilsner/Lager/Helles I know.

Regular 0.5L bottle with a scenery shown on the label in which J. Greif's beer cellar is opposing a beer tent and many rows of benches, somewhere out in the woods.

A deep amber liquid and a tiny off-white head fill up the glass, plenty of lace. Unfortunately the beer starts looking a bit dull halfway through the first glass.

The nose is filled with a grainy and sweet aroma of malt that is slightly toasted as well. Hop presence is minimal, as is a faint forrest-like impression. A nicely balanced, not too sweet aroma (almost that of a Bock).

The flavour brings out more nuances. It combines a sweet and toasty malt characteristic with a strong accent on the hops. A more salty, slightly liquorice-like note can be found also. It finishes rather clean in a bitter fashion.

Carbonation is a bit low, giving a soft mouthfeel to the beer's medium body.

A terrific beer, very friendly and quite complex.