Altfränkisches Klosterbier
Klosterbrauerei Weißenohe

 

De OkassionalBeer. En copa hefe de Bavaria. Leyendo sobre patrones de microservicios. Se acaba en 0, Muchas malta fresca que entra con gran facilidad. Se queda corta de cl

From the half liter bottle, it pours a clear golcen amber colow with a nice white head taht slowly reduces and leaves lacing. The nose gets some malty scents with a touch of hops. The mouth follows with an easy drinking lightly spicy malty brew with notes of toast. Easy drinking and enjoyable.

Bought from UtoBeer in London's Borough Market. My first from Weihenohe, I went on their website and noticed two negatives. First, there are no photos of monks in their Cloister. So immediately I wonder if this is the real deal. Related and second, there is no English button; a typical Bavarian bias. So I don't get the whole history and can only speculate how much monks are involved in the really skilled stuff: like perfecting the recipe and protecting the yeast.

That said, I very much like Alftrankisches. It shows that someone learned how to brew from generation to generation. Very subtle. More amber than the typical Keller. More malty aromatics than certainly typical. More like the maibock or marzen. Tastes are balanced. My buds are treated the same way from beginning to end. Medium-mouthed, but I want it to sit there so I can enjoy the fullness.

I wish American crafters had tasted this Altfrankisches before they embarked on brewing their own Keller. While the style is becoming more popular in the States, they could have learned a lot from these masters. Prost !

i feel like i give every kellerbier i have the same rating, they’re always pleasent without really ever being of note, they’re the median beer, this is enjoyable enough to be fair, with the sweet bready malt flavours standing out as being quite nice, although it doesn’t make for particularly interesting drinking, light bitterness on the finish, light bodied, medium to high carbonation, crushable enough, it’s grand like..

Pale amber with fluffy taupe head; caramel, bread crust and soap on the nose; lager grain, hints of toffee + pretzel crust, slight apple esters, and big tingly grassy end; clean, lt-med, solid bitterness.

4 4 4.25 4 4.25

So the interweb doesn’t know what to say about this Franconian lager: kellerbier here on BA, amber lager on RB, and Marzen on untappd.
In the glass, it’s too clear to be unfiltered, and tastes like none of the above. Instead there’s a delicate and very pleasant balance of melanoidins, Munich malt-type sweetness, and assertive hop presence.
Dead easy to drink, enough character to keep you interested, endless potential to pair with food - fine example of good German craftsmanship + possibly this brewery’s best.

 

 

Malty yet balanced. Toasted but Very drinkable. Not bitter.

 

 

500ml brown glass bottle with a faux-traditional label design and a branded pry-off crown cap purchased at Ambrosetti in Berlin. Best before: 09.04.2016. 5.10% ABV. The label offers only "Traditional Franconian beer," with no overt indication of style. I guess I'll decide the style as I go along, which is always fun, but it seems the internet has already decided this is a kellerbier - with no sources provided to back that up.

Reviewed live. Served chilled into a pils glass in Berlin.

APPEARANCE: Pours a beer indicative of low carbonation (with a present but not full or thick head) - which would be consistent with a keller or zwickel - if not for the pale copper body, which is clearly clarified/filtered, has no cloudiness, turbidity, or haze to it. Its clarity and transparency alone rule out its classification as a keller or zwickel, so I'm not sure what to consider it as I press on. Some mild lace does stick to the sides of the glass as the thin head recedes, which takes maybe 3 minutes.

AROMA: Caramalt/copper malt, barley, buttery character, vitaminy yeast. I don't get any of the bung-y damp basement character you'd expect in a keller or zwickel. Hop character is herbal (if anything), but muted and minimal in presence. Usage of CaraMunich and/or crystal malt(s) wouldn't surprise me. Aromatic intensity is average.

I detect no off-notes (unless you're willing to make the leap that the faint buttery note alone is indicative of actual diacetyl), nor booze. Yeast profile is consistent with a keller or zwickel, seeing as it's quite present but also quite plain, pointing to rich vitaminy biscuity character but unclean attenuation. Given the lack of obvious wheat in the malt aromatics, I'm willing to contend that if it is somehow a keller or zwickel that it's not a top-fermented one (as per my understanding, top fermented expressions of the style always use wheat in the malt bill).

TASTE & TEXTURE: Sweeter and more caraMunich/caramalt-forward than any keller or zwickel I've ever had, though there is a hint of that classic keller damp taste, and the yeast presence is consistent with the style. Having sampled it's taste finally, I'd accept it as a keller, if only because it isn't consistent with any other style I'm aware of.

Hop presence is higher than anticipated, with some faint herbal character coming through. The indication is that this is more keller than zwickel - a contention supported also by its merely weak carbonation (where a zwickel would have hardly any at all).

Unbunged basement dampness strengthens in intensity as it warms - or, it could be merely that since I've accepted it as a keller, my brain's tricking me and really I'm just full of shit talking about this beer (maybe both, who knows?).

In any case, for whatever reason, I can imagine its wort having sat in a cellar exposed to the air for 40ish days, so I guess I'm on the right track. It's not a clean beer (except in appearance), but I do suspect lager yeast was used, especially given the low attenuation. I also detect no overt esters, so ale yeast is unsuspected.

I wouldn't call it imbalanced, but it's unbalanced. Certainly simplistic, but it's to style.

Texture-wise, I find it soft, weak, somewhat thin yet medium-bodied, and well-carbonated. Smooth and wet, but unrefreshing. Has the mouthfeel you'd expect in a Middle Ages version of the style, so I suppose that makes this somehow authentic?

OVERALL: A seeming attempt at a traditional kellerbier, Altfränkisches Klosterbier is a drinkable enjoyable brew with plenty of elements of the intended style.

Its clarity and obvious filtration remain a mystery to me, and from the faux-Franconian font on the label to its dubious classification as a klosterbier (after all, when was the last time this brewery was genuinely monastic?) to the strangely irony-unaware quotation from an ostensible beer authority regarding this beer on Weissenohe's website ("Your Altfränkisch has just that taste I remember from 50 years ago"), I find it ultimately a rather disingenuously marketed brew. Weissenohe really wants us to buy that this is authentic and organic and made by monks or at least in a (formerly) monastic brewery and so on.

Really, though, it's just subpar fare in a misunderstood (and vaguely defined) style that isn't all that unique or special, and comes from a brewery at least commercial enough to have negotiated prominent product placement in organic grocery stores across Germany. Americans: imagine Buckfast being sold at Whole Foods stores across the U.S., and you start to get an understanding of the tacit lie at the heart of how this beer (and this brewery) is presented.

In short, it's fine.

C (2.89) / AVERAGE

Pours an amber-bright brown, filtered color, with a medium sized, pillowy white head.

Smells of wood bark and whole-grain bread, wrapped up by toffee and a whiff of hay. Features a convincing bread impression, due to its profound maltiness.

Drinks very easy, staying focused on the malts, together with a medium, slightly metallic carbonation.

Tastes of a soft aqueous quality, immediately accompanied by toffee sweet malts. Malts grow more profound, while getting breadier at the same time. Finishes with a bubbly carbonation, revealing a caramel sweetness, among the beers mellow breadiness.

Perfectly well put together, with a great bread profile to it, while it drinks very easy.

 

 

 

 

 

L:
-pours a clear deep amber with a medium frothy white head
-medium carbonation visible
S:
earthy,grassy,big caramel,bready,licorish,roasted malt
T:
-caramel,substantial grassy hop note,bready,spicy,clean finish
F:
-medium body,medium carbonation
O:
This is a Vienna Lager,not a Kellerbier.
And its a good one

on tap at jakes in littleton. this one is a classic, and its nice to see it coming around a little bit. this is a traditional german style we hardly see any of in american craft brewing, so its nice to have something like this periodically. it sort of has the malt build of a maibock, lighter bodied and less caramelized, but still in that mid crystal malt range, very german in the nose, and quite clean, less residual sugar than others. its got some haze to it, but still appears rather bright. bready fresh baked aromatic, with a cool old world yeast strain that is not all the way familiar to me. ancient i assume. there is some sweetness here, a breakfasty sweetness, maple or honey, lighter than other german malt driven brews, but pleasantly distinct too, not so heavy. medium body and fine carbonation, this is a refined and subtle beer, unlike anything available made here in the usa. you have to appreciate stuff like this when it shows up.