Bayernbiere Bought and Drunk

Indeed I was.

 

In a mixed batch of bottles I bought at my local drink market last week I just tried a Mönchshof Mönchsbräu (from Kulmbacher Brauerei AG) bottle tonight.

From reading the label, I guess this is a limited edition unfiltered Export Beer. I am not sure how it meets the original 1910 recipe with Hopfenextrakt in the beer, but I did enjoy it and it met my standard of "something different" to experience and enjoy.

Anyone else tried this one? I just added it to the BA beer list, but since I don't think I have ever had an export beer I listed as one because I don't know any better, and I am new to enjoying/describing beer in general, I am not sure about my interpretation.

 

To my limited knowledge, these days Export simply denotes an ABV strength band...usually around 5.5% or so...Andechs makes an Export Dunkel and lots of brewers have their golden Pils/Hell/Export offerings (Furstenberg, Heidelberger, and others I'm sure). I think there are several examples of brewers using "old" or "found" recipes, I think most of them are fanciful tall tales at best.

 

I had read in a book the export label came simply from something that was a different quality. With your confirmation, I guess is it is a Landbier that is unfiltered and a bit higher alcohol percent. With that said - here is what the label reads in German:

Schon im Jahre 1910 war das unfiltrierte Mönchshor Exportbier weit über die Grenzen Deutschlands beliebt. In Erinnerung an diese Zeit hat Mönchshordiese BrauSpezialität als streng limitierte Sonder-Edition wieder aufgelegt. ... a bit more marketing BS.

 

I'm not sure, but I don't think Landbier actually means anything.

 

Buy one and try it - I don't know what a Landbier is suppose to be, but from what I have tried this fits the bill. I guess from the aroma and the feel. Hard to describe... so I guess the translation of Land to English (my native language) makes my impression .. country i.e. simple yet grand.

 

Mönchshof has a Landbier which I've had a few times. My guess is that your beer is probably an unfiltered version of that beer. I am no longer in Germany (despite my user info, which I haven't bothered to change), otherwise I'd happily buy one and give it a go. Last year Paulaner introduced their "streng limitiert" Braumeister series, which sounds a lot like what Mönchshof is doing.

 

Some BAs like to ridicule the German Beer Institute website but for your consideration:

“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 German.”

http://www.germanbeerinstitute.com/Landbier.html

Cheers!

 

The reason people call into question the GBI's legitimacy is precisely for entries such as this. One of the better known "Landbiere," Veldensteiner, is quite earthy-hoppy as German "styles" go (as are many others I have tried). Also relative to other German styles it (and many Landbiere like it) they do not carry any distinguishing characteristic such as "session" or "quaffing brew." The real complaint, however, is that there is nothing about Landbier -- or for that matter about this entry -- that qualitatively differentiates it from Kellerbier other than the marketing term -- so why even try and point out these supposed distinguishing characteristics? Really misleading IMO.

EDIT: the real danger is when people equipped with the "knowledge" provided in this entry make it prescriptive (instead of just descriptive)...

 

Not to mention that the author of the "GBI" has been discredited so many times it's plain ridiculous to reference anything he's written -- and I, unfortunately, own 2 of his books. Added to my collection before I knew how out-of-touch he was.

 

I love this small excerpt from Ron's BLOG:

 

Some further research around the web, from a Franconian beer blogger:

(*He's referring to the GBI)

The tap-dance continues.

 

I'd always interpreted landbier to be the German equivalent of "table beer" or something to that effect. It doesn't really mean a whole lot, but it carries some implied feelings of home and something that isn't freakishly strong.

 

Not sure what you mean by "table beer" here. Are there some specific equivalents from other brewing cultures you can provide? Must say, I have never gotten the sense that this is what is intended, but it's an interesting idea I suppose.

 

Certain Belgians are labeled as "table beer" since they don't necessarily classify everything by BJCP'ish styles either. They're usually what we'd probably lump into the saison category, but aren't over normal strength. I've noticed some of the craft community picking up that nomenclature with more sessionable beers that aren't just watered down versions of other styles.
With the total lack of a real defining characteristic to the term landbier (other than the "country beer" label) I'd always taken it to be similar. Probably just because it's so vague while nearly every other kind of beer at least provides some kind of insight as to what's in the bottle. Either color, strength, style, or ingredients. Landbier doesn't really mean a whole lot and if people struggle to define it, I figured the name must be evocative of something like that. Rustic, simple, easy drinking, etc.
Just personal interpretation, though.

 

I guess we start lumping in Farmhouse beers too?

 

Yeah - that's part of that whole thing. Beer "styles" that aren't really much more than a vague adjective. I understand the desire to classify things, but sometimes beer descriptions in the old world don't define much of anything. That's fine and dandy until the internet desperately tries to make a BJCP style out of every old world beer adjective in existence.
Whenever I see that term I think of this place: http://www.hallbrewingco.com/
They literally label everything they make a "farmhouse" beer since their brewery is an old farmhouse.

 

I was known for brewing very successful Condominium Ales & Beers.

 

Well, that still doesn't differ in the least from Kellerbier. Which Landbiere have you had?

 

I've only had a few that used that name. Kapsreiter, Aktien, Zirndorfer, and Leikeim. I believe they were all (or at least 3 of them) filtered. Flavor profiles were different from one another, but that could possibly be chalked up to draft vs. imported bottles, too.