Bayernbiere Bought and Drunk

Another sham in the German beer business is the "Ettikettenschwindel" - fraudulent labeling. Same beer, many different labels. This could have come from any of their breweries. Happens quite frequently.

 

In case of Zirndorfer it is likely to be brewed by Tucher in Fürth.

The Etikettenschwindel thing is true and can be complicated. I recently did some research about former breweries in Mainz and Wiesbaden. People now always say "oh, this is a wine-drinking area, so of course there are no breweries" and take it for granted. Hoiwever, German cities -even in wine-growing regions- were full with breweries in days long gone by.
For example, in Wiesbaden there was a Germania Brauerei from the 1880s to the 1970s. When I did my research I stumpled upon the Facebook-site of "Germania Pilsner", a sad Billigbier that's available in the southwest. I noticed how they use a vintage beer label of Germania Brauerei Wiesbaden as their background picture and wondered if they had acquired the rights of the Germania brand. So I did some further research and found out: Germania Wiesbaden was bought by Henninger in 1972. At the same time Henninger also owned Eichbaum Mannheim. In 1973, Henninger closed down Germania in Wiesbaden and passed the Germania brand on to Eichbaum in Mannheim who brewed it at Brauhaus Frankenthal. They closed down Brauhaus Frankenthal in the 80s, became independent again in the 2000s and obviously still have the old Germania brand from Wiesbaden. On the label it says "Brauhaus Frankenthal" although that is long gone and the stuff is brewed at their main site in Mannheim.
See the similarity in the labels between the old original brand from Wiesbaden and Eichbaum's Billigbier from today:

 

I am not 100% sure, but I believe that Germania is now considered a "generic" name, similar to Bürgerbräu. There may be others. This simply means there are no trademark laws in regards to those names.

 

And you still frown at me when I say that Capitalism is bad for beer ?

 

I'm sure there's a certain demographic who just loves to drink that stuff...

 

Another bier from Klosterbrauerei Weltenburg!

Tonight it's Anno 1050, a Maerzen/Festbier at 5.5%abv



A - Copper coloured body with excellent clarity. Creamy head has relatively good staying power with good lacing.

S - Toasted maltiness, caramel sweetness, biscuity. All wonderful malty notes without being overbearing

T - The biscuity/toasty side of the malt comes through first and graduates to the sweeter toffee like notes to a crisp clean lager finish. It's sublime! Lot's of malt character without any horrible cloying malty sweetness.

M - Medium body with crisp carbonation but retains a delicateness. Hard not to drink it down in one.

I'm a proper Weltenburg fanboy but this is everything I want in a Maerzen/festbier style. In the pale "Oktoberfestbier" end of the spectrum, I always find the maltiness becomes too sweet and syrupy but this has it just right. Wonderful depth and a crisp refreshing quality. Weltenburg need to move the brewery and get a tent at the Oktoberfest!

Prost!

 

Yeah, I don't know what the hell drives them to write MADE IN GERMANIA on that label!

 

It's been there for a Millenium, it'll stay where it is.

 

The right wing crowd is always thirsty

 

Probably one of my favorites too. From my own review:

 

A couple that belong in this thread and a couple that don't -

Represenitives of my latest acquisitions:

 

ahhhh...

Tonite's celler selection - Aecht Schlenkerla Eiche Oak Smoked Doppelbock

 

I look forward to reading your description of this beer.

Cheers!

 

Did you find this in Germany? Schlenkerla stopped selling these around the new year, I think.

 

No - I picked this up at Le Village De La Bière in Strasbourg, France - the shop owner had quite a few bottles left.

 

Wanted to ask the same. I've never seen this around anywhere although there are a couple of places that usually sell the full Schlenkerla lineup.

 

I'm just having this one in my glass. Saw this in an Edeka today, and was surprised I hadn't seen it before anywhere else, given that almost every supermarket across the country carries Paulaner.
I don't know about the Pilsner Urquell though, to me it's smooth and malty enough to be a Helles. It rather reminds me of a good Export Dortmunder style. The overall hops-taste is definitely stronger than with a standard Helles, but not necessarily more bitter. Just more aromatic, they dry-hopped this one with Saazer. That's where it comes to Pilsner Urquell again...
Their regular Helles is just extremely boring, this one here is quite okay. I think I can taste the dry-hopped Saazer, but it's quite subtle, you wish you could taste more of that. On the other hand, making this one more hoppy wouldn't be an hommage to a Münchner Helles anymore, so I guess it's okay. 3/5

 

What is the best-by date on yours if you don't mind me asking? I bought mine many moons ago at this point, as far as I can tell when it was first released, and I wouldn't necessarily use "malty" as a descriptor. Maybe I'll have to go back and try again, I have been known to get things wrong from time to time.

 

Not sure, the bottle already went down the hole in the deposit machine today. I think it was May or June this year.