Irlbacher Premium Exzellent
Schlossbrauerei Irlbach GmbH & Co.

 

 

 

 

Chill hazed light gold. Malty and light bready aroma and flavor. Good balance with light sweetness. Light to medium bodied, crisp, clean, and refreshing.

This one is has more of a malty taste than I would like. Overall it isn't bad, but isn't great either.

 

Review: 2507
Name: Irlbacher Premium Exzellent
Brewery: Schlossbrauerei Irlbacher GmbH & Co
Location: Irlbacher, Germany
Style: Festbier
ABV: 5.6%
Canned: 04 January 2025
Date: 10Nov 2025
Festbier is my favorite fall beer besides stouts. I am using a tulip glass and serving the beer at 44 degrees. The pour created a frothy, creamy, one-fingered white head with above-average retention. The somewhat slow dissipation left bits of lacing on the glass. The color is straw yellow with a light golden hue, clear, and charts at SRM 5. The beer's color is a bit lighter than I expected, but overall, the appearance is above average for this style.
Nosing the beer, I detect notes of bread, lightly toasted malts, floral esters, light caramel, a grassy note, light apple, and malty sweetness.
The flavors start with light toasted bread, floral and grassy lightly toasted malts, malty sweetness, a hint of apples, and subtle earthiness.
The mouthfeel is soft, finishing crisp and clean. The body is medium-light and medium-plus-carbonation.
Final Thought: I am enjoying this festbier; it is not heavily malty but does have a solid malt backbone—a delicious beer to finish the long work day.

 

Schlossbrauerei Irlbach GmbH & Co. "Irlbacher Premium Exzellent"
500 ml can coded "P: 20/05/2025 E:20/11/2026 09:28:41 23". Sampled on 15/10/2025
$59.99 / 24 can case - Costco's Biergarten Collection, Costco, Christiana, DE

Notes via stream of consciousness: This is canned by Privatebrauerei Eibau I.SA.HMBH. It's labeled as "festbier", not spezialbier, but the label is otherwise the same. It's poured a clear deep golden body beneath a short head of white foam. It delivers a malty aroma with some apple-like fruitness and moderate floral hop notes. The taste is mainly of sweet white bread and grain backed by some apple, and both herbal and floral hops. A moderate bitterness balances it but leaves some sweetness lingering in the finish along with the floral and herbal hops. In the mouth it's medium bodied and crisp. The head retention and lacing were both very good, and it's well-brewed. Despite it being a little on the sweeter side it's still a very decent beer.
Review #9,292

Clean gold pour, two fingers if foamy head. Nose shows malt and apple.

Taste brings bread, crisp apple, light herbal, touch floral, light kilned malt. Light to medium mouthfeel. Finish is malty with a nice crispness.

 

Clear dark yellow brew with abundant foam in the Kölsch glass. This is pleasantly aromatic with green herbs and fresh hay. There is even a hint of Weissbier yeasty spice. It's fairly sweet to start, but malty and spicy. There is a welcome hoppy note and a modest bitter aftertaste to make this more of a Festbier, as claimed on the label. Overall, this is highly drinkable with plenty of German character. From the 500 ml can included in the Costco Biergarten pack. Canned by Eibau on the same unlikely date (01-04-2025) as most of the beers in this box.

From the half liter can in the 2025 Costco Biergarten Collection, it pours a clear light golden amber color with a large, long lasting white head. The nose gets some spice and sweet malt. The mouth follows with a lightly malty slightly spicy brew that is extremely easy to drink. Mild aftertaste.

 

 

50cl bottle from Munich Airport (€1.60):
Clear golden with some visible carbonation & a foamy, wavy white head with lacing on the sides. The nose is light & slightly grainy with the odd grassy hop & earthy touches then a bread or doughy sweetness at the end. It tastes quite sweet & basic with corn & a few light adjuncts, bread malts & hay. There's not a lot of variety with the taste & it seemed overly sweet with a smooth, light-medium body but it wasn't a particularly good one really.

L:
-pours a clear deep golden with a medium to big,foamy,white head
-medium to high carbonation visible
S:
-acidic,metallic,spicy,smokey,red apple
T:
-malty,spicy,bready
-Finishes dry
F:
-medium carbonation
-light to medium body
O:
Surprisingly poor "Festbier" for a Bavarian Brewery.Unpleasant smell and absolutely dull on the tongue.
i had higher hopes since i really like Irlbacher's Hefeweizen

 

Poured into a Weißbier glass, half inch head. Slightly on the dark-yellow/orange side of a lager.

I don't have the vocabulary, or beer knowledge to describe this smell accurately, but it does have a smell. :) but not one i particularly like. and it's a smell i've only smelled in other german beers... hmm.

Initially it's not so flavorful but smooth, but after you're done sipping, the slightly bitter flavor sits at the back of your mouth. It's definitely a different taste, not what I expected from the smell. Somewhat sweet, but not in a good way. Quite different from other lagers I've had. Oh wait, the bottle says it's a dark lager ("Kühl und dunkel", cool and dark), contrary to "style" it's been classified under on this website. Or maybe that's refering to the way it was brewed, my german isn't so great.

On one hand it doesn't feel so carbonated, but on the other there's a slight, smooth tingling happening that you can sometimes feel. The way the after taste sits in your mouth isn't particularly pleasant.

If someone offered it to me, I would drink it again, but I probably wouldn't buy it again.