The audience for Schlenkerla

Spezial has the Tap room in front, and the Keller is up the hill. Herr Marz has the Brewery, his Sister has the Keller and he must supply it, and I got the impression that does not make for a happy relationship. The brewery is just in back of the outdoor seating area/courtyard.

Yes you see tourists at both, but more at Schlenkerla. Sat next to a large table of Japanese ladies and an elderly Man, who had the desire to drink Rauchbier there. Let me just say that they did not all enjoy it.

 

Spezial brews thre Rauchbiers:

Lager: 12º Plato, 4.7% ABV and amber in colour;
Märzen: 13º Plato, 5.3% ABV and dark in colour;
Bockbier: 16º Plato, dark in colour.

I'd classify them stylistically as Amber Lagerbier, Dunkles Märzen and Dunkler Bock.

 

If you ask a waitress in a German restaurant if a beer is "dunkel", the answer you get generally indicates that the beer IS "dunkel", i.e. "dunkler" than a Pils, not necessarily that it is A Munich-style Dunkel.

 

Yeah, I think that's probably what all of this comes down to. On sites like this one, German beers (and Belgians, too) tend to be lumped into 5-6 style categories, which aren't always universal. There are probably 25 German lager styles if you want them to be. Most of the beers in Bamberg in particular don't seem to fit neatly within the BA style listings.

 

Landbier, Lagerbier are what I think of as the base bier for Spezial's Rauchbier.

 

Absolutely intentional. In fact, JackHorzempa posted a better description of how they impart that smokey characteristic: http://beeradvocate.com/community/threads/the-audience-for-schlenkerla.99885/page-2#post-1471526.

The Helles is probably my favorite of Schlenkerla's offerings.

 

I have asked for a Dunkel in Germany, but then -- I was in Munich!

Most other times I've specified, such as Dunkelweizen (I was once offered a Dunkelweizen, stated in that term). But most often it's been "Helles bitte, Dunkel bitte, Pils bitte, or just plain - Bier bitte."

 

That's an awesome glass! I don't care too much for "brewery glasses" or anything with logos for that matter, but I would love to snatch one of those glasses up. Beautiful.

 

I've been given Salvator several times when I've asked for Dunkel. Not that I complained.

 

There's a German-themed bar on Chicago's north side that used to sell Optimator as Spaten Dark -- was sort of fun to watch people try to stand down from a bar stool after a liter.

 

It's a half-liter Willi Becker. You can find them on eBay once in a while.

 

What's Landbier? Seems like every brewery that brews a beer with this name interprets it differently. Sometimes it's clear, sometimes cloudy. It might be malty, sweet, hoppy. Dark, amber, light. I haven't figured out yet what it's supposed to be. Could it be, it was only invented some time in the last 10-20 years?

 

I think you have it right there!

 

Still, I refuse to acknowledge this as a beer style. Most are just Kellerbier/Zwickel or plain Export.

 

I agree with your statement of: “I refuse to acknowledge this as a beer style.”

FWIW, below is what the website German Beer Institute states on this topic:

“LANDBIER

Definition:

Literally "country beer," Landbier is a general term denoting a simple everyday session or quaffing brew. As an easy-drinking beer, it is usually not too hoppy. Its other characteristics, however, are fairly undefined. A Landbier is usually golden-yellow, but it may also be dark; it may be filtered like a Pils or unfiltered like a Kellerbier, and its alcohol by volume level may range between 4.8% and 5.3%. For many breweries, the term Landbier has more to do with branding a particular line of beer than with brewing a beer according to a style definition. Landbiers are made throughout Germany.”

Cheers!

 

OK, some of the Landbier I have had around Bamberg.

Edit -a beer with more color than a Helles, not hoppy enough to be a Pils, not malty enough to be a bock, but too light to be a Dunkel or Schwarzbier. How is that.

 

Scintillating

 

I think it's best to call it the "house" beer, usually the oldest beer brewed by the brewery and a favorite to the regular customers.

 

Some stuff I've read implied that landbier was usually just a broad name for whatever the local style of choice was. It was essentially just the local everyday "table beer." Some other articles mentioned it was a filtered version of a kellerbier, which definitely doesn't seem to hold true most of the time these days.
Seems like another situation where a description became a beer style, which in turn might no longer include other beers that have been using that name.

 

This is one of my favorite Landbiers, from a rather bigger brewery in Bayreuth. But even though they label it "Landbier Fränkisch Dunkel", it's just a perfect Dark Lager, close to the Munich Dunkles. So malty, so "grainy".
http://www.bayreuther-bier.de/unser_bier/bayreuther/landbier_13.html

Still, I can't help feeling that that term "Landbier" was just invented not too long ago to sell some kind of beer that was either forgotten or to promote a new beer (that was pretented to have been forgotten).