Zwickel (Old Version)
New Glarus Brewing Company

 

 

Pure lager beer! Slightly sweet with a nice balance of hop character and biscuit malt. I agree that each sip beckons a next and could easily see crushing more then a few of this sessionable beer. although, according to the label this is a new beer/new recipe with an old name. so I don't know why the new entry for "Zwickel Bier" which is on the neck of the bottle is marked as duplicate and retired. just curious.

 

Wow what a beautiful lager. Pale straw color with perfect clarity and two fingers of dense white head that lingers. Crisp biscuity malts, assertive hop presence that works in concert with the delicate malt profile, finishes clean. Each sip leaves you wanting another....I could drink this all day!

 

 

 

 

 

12oz bottle poured into a pint glass.

A - Pours a moderatly hazy golden yellow hue that supports a nice white head.

S - Smells of sweet malts with earthy flavors of grain, grass, and maybe mild fruit.

T - Nice and simple here nothing radicall. Earthy flavors of grass and grain that are followed by the sweet malts and citrus.

M - Light bodied beer that goes down easy.

D - A nice session beer for a good summer day. Definatly worth seeking out.

Originally reviewed March 9, 2005. 12 Oz Bottle. Cloudy deep yellow pour with nice white head. Wondeful sheets of broken lacing. Strong apple and wheat aromas, with pleasent rustic cellar background. Sugary and fairly bland on the palate, except for some ethereal depth that I couldn’t put my finger on. Notes of honey and yeast. Palate is too watery. Very drinkable, would try again.

Sweet! Lemme tell you guys about this beer: It is good. I found it similar in flavour to New Glarus's Edel-Pils, just 'more better' for lack of a better description. The bottle fermentation added a nice grouping of yeast flavours without becoming overpowering. Yeah, basically an improvement on the Edel-Pils, so if you liked that, you'll love this.
Then again, if lagers aren't your thing, you will not be won over by this beer. Mightly tastey, but that's tastey as defined by a cool, refreshing taste, not ale complexity.

Yum Yum, gotta get me some.

Cloudy golden color, severely lacking in the head/lacing department. Smells grainy and bready, with a hint of apples and grassy hops. Tastes sweet and cookieish with the barest hint of hops, and then just evaporates--an extremely dry finish. Quite refreshing and clean, very easy to drink, just not particularly interesting. I wish New Glarus still made this, as I'd much rather Zwickel be on tap in every bar in Madison and Milwaukee than Spotted Cow.

Pours a clear golden color with a frothy white carbonated head. Smells of grain and grassy noble hops. Initially sweet and grainy. Bready notes. Grassy hop flavor and bitterness. Well rounded flavor. Very smooth as far as mouthfeel. Highly drinkable as well. Not a bad brew, just different. I used to drink this stuff all the time, it makes a good session beer, too bad it is no longer produced.

Bottle courtesy of BDitty. Thanks man, I needed this after paying close attention to the news today.
The beer pours a hazed, burnished gold, a short white head developing on the pour. Minimal lacing, merely a light spattering here and there, the head maintaining a tenuous foothold like the Sox in the 2004 ALCS series (minus the miraculous comeback). Taking a whiff, I gather what could be an honest to goodness european lager, but with a touch of cookie-like yeast and a brush of honey. Smooth, well lagered malt, very clean aside from a faint grassy/lemon note, with a small pile of noble hops riding atop. Pleasantly floral and fresh. Taking a sip, a smooth, mildly grainy pils maltiness greets the tongue, something more at home on the eastern side of the Atlantic, or closer to the Baltic Sea. Fine, yet assertive carbonation moves the brew easily across the palate. A soft wash of yeasty breadiness throughout, softening the overall feel, and allowing the hops easy access in the finish. Pleasantly and mildly floral, with a soft herbal, peppery tint. A nice enough beer, but really not all that different from any euro lager on the shelf. A very authentic flavor, but I immediately wondered about corn or rice the moment I took a sip, the flavor just seems pitched that way. It could easily be straight pils barley malt, but it almost edges into that adjunct lightness. Good stuff. This is my first zwickel style beer, so I don't have a basis of comparison beyond filtered lager.

Hazy (because I swirled the bottom third of the beer to remove the yeast from the bottle) orangey-gold in hue with a hint of copper. The head was white in color and about one finger in height, the foam quickly faded to a tight cap of a modest size. The head had good retention. It is a good-looking beer, not a common sight, for me at least. Bottle conditioned lagers are not a dime a dozen plus I’ve never had a Kellerbier before. Subsequent lacing was spotty and it clung poorly. The nose is crisply malty like a good Pilsner, toasty biscuit with just a hint of grain. At the back are some lemon and some fruity notes. The nose is nice, it doesn’t say much but I don’t know what to expect. The potency is fair. It is inviting, albeit in a straightforward and simplistic manner. Pleasant, nevertheless! The palate has yet to “wow” me, I’ve tried a few from the six-pack before I sat down to write this review. It tastes like a duller, wider, fruiter version of NG’s Pilsner. But it is not as good as their Pils. Maybe my simplistic definition of this beer is a bottled conditioned Pilsner. The malt has a biscuity, slightly sweet and grainy taste. The malt sweetness plays well with the fruitiness (grapes and pears) and to a lesser degree the flowery, lemony hops. For some reason, as a whole, the palate is only decent. Maybe the sweet aftertaste “ruins” the good vibes. By no means is the sweetness cloying or gross, it just doesn’t work right for me. The fruitiness/sweetness makes me want to think this would be a nice match for breakfast foods like pancakes. Medium/medium-full in body, the mouthfeel is healthy and very pleasant, modest but ideal carbonation. This is a decent and, yes, a drinkable beer, it is very good but I just don’t love it. True, this is an unfamiliar style to me. Maybe it will grow on me. I purchased a six-pack in Milwaukee, WI. It is worth a try.

Hazy goldenrod body with a spittly, tight, white head. A hazy lager, eh...
Smells of sourdough bread malts with a zesty hop backing. Interesting. Sweet, doughy, buttery malt flavors start out and then fade into a clean, spicy hop snappiness. Finish is slightly bitter with a touch of lingering sweetness and cooked vegetables. Surprisingly well-endowed for how light it looks, body-wise. A nice, infrequently-seen style, for drinking out on the dock while pulliing in monster crappies.

12oz bottle obtained via trade with CRJMellor. Thanks for the opportunity...

Poured into an imperial pint glass, formed a 1/4" white head above the light amber brew. Head was gone in scant moments, but lacing was okay. Aroma is a slightly sweet pale malt. Taste is full-on pale malts, with a complementary slight citrus tinge to it. Mouthfeel and drinkability are excellent.

Brief white head over semi-hazy golden liquid. Fresh grainy nose with some light fruitiness. The taste is light bodied with snappy maltiness, some faint sour/tangy notes, and not too much in the way of hoppiness. Finishes on a vague fruity flavor, a decent lawnmower/thirst quencher beer.
Thanks to CRJM for the bottle.