Bayernbiere Bought and Drunk

A friend of mine posted this to my Facebook. Mahr's is doing a collaboration with the band Hanson.
https://www.facebook.com/shelton.brothers
Mahr's once again proving they're a bit crazy...but in a good way.

 

Been following that story on FB. Stephan Michel (Mahr's owner) said he was at a U.S. beer fest talking to the Hansons, and people kept coming up for pictures and autographs. Stephan asked them if their beer really was so good that people wanted their picture with them, and they said, no, they used to be in a rock band. It was only then that he put 2 & 2 together and realized who the Hansons were. Apparently those kids love Mahr's beers....

 

Hansons? I first thought of these guys...



I think they only like "root" beer.....

 

Having the last Schlenkerla Fastenbier from my stash (though I know where to find more very near by if I want).

Definitely robust, smoky, and more phenolic than the Märzen, but a great Rauchbier for anyone looking to become familiar with the style. Love to sample this in situ sometime.

 

When in Bamberg...

 

Bamberg, Germany
Day #2:

Kellerbier

 

Found some Weihenstephaner Kristall Weissbier on tap and, naturally, had to go for it. Compared to the unfiltered version, at least to my palate, this was an absolute banana bomb of a bier, with a good dose of spice thrown in there too. It wasn't quite as fruity as the hefeweissbier (which was almost tropical in nature), and the mouthfeel, of course, was different. This left an almost squeaky clean feel in the mouth, which I didn't prefer, but it didn't take much away from the beer overall. In general, if you like your weizens packed to the gills with banana flavor, this is your bier.

 

On tap and in proper glassware, no less. Nice find! Did it have a slice of lemon? (I have often seen this treatment with Kristallweizens in Germany)

 

I was actually a bit impressed as well that the bar had the proper glassware. We drink with our eyes, as they say, and my eyes were pleased indeed.

No lemon. Didn't know that was a common treatment in Germany. Only for kristallweizens? Do hefes get a different fruit? Call me ignorant, but somehow it just feels wrong. (Or, more likely, I've seen/had too many orange-slice-laced Blue Moons in my early drinking days.)

 

Hefeweizens = no lemon slice, Kristallweizens = lemon. Not sure why this is. I've never seen a different citrus fruit, always lemon.

 

Good god -- bite your tongue!

Seriously, this comes up all the time and in all my times visiting Germany, drinking Hefeweizen, I was never offered fruit. When I asked some Stuttgart friends about lemon in a Hefeweizen they looked at sideways and said, "Lemon is only for Kristalweizen." But as Gutes says, they couldn't tell me why the Kristal even called for it.

Blue Moons in your early drinking days? Man are you dating yourself!

I can remember drinking Hoegaarden in my early (good beer) drinking days and never being offered fruit of any kind. Wonder where that whole orange thing came from? Coors.

 

You can ‘credit’ Keith Villa (Master Brewer/Founder Blue Moon Brewing Company) for the Blue Moon orange slice ‘thing’:

“Why is it so stressed to garnish Blue Moon with an orange slice?
In 1997, we started the orange slice garnish. A few places would serve it with a slice of lemon. I thought, that doesn’t make sense. We really should be serving it with a slice of orange to highlight the orange peel that it’s brewed with. Bars back then didn’t have orange slices; they had lemon. They had limes because of Corona and Mexican beers. So we had to develop a guerrilla marketing campaign to get people to serve it with oranges. We’d talk to a bartender and say, “We’d like you to do this with Blue Moon.” We’d give them a free bag of oranges. We’d keep doing it for like four weeks. Then we’d stop and get a call. “Where’s my bag of oranges?” They were forced to because customers wanted it.”


http://www.saucemagazine.com/blog/?p=21816

 

Some of my friends over there mentioned that it's somewhat trendy to drink Bavarian-style weissbier "mit schuss." Everything from the normal raspberry to banana and tropical fruits. It's more of a young people and trendy club/restaurant kind of thing.

 

Tons of this type of thing in the student bars: Cherry Weizen, Bananaweizen, etc. Tried the Bananaweizen once; I wasn't a fan.

 

Maybe we ought to spread the quaint old American habit of salting beer to see if we can start a new trend in other countries.

 

I guess it's better than Diesel, but UCK -- just, Uck.

 

Yep, I see it all the time even in America. Cherry Weizen, Bananaweizen, Grapefruit Sculp......oh no wait, that's different.

 

Shortly after we first arrived in Germany die Frau and I went out with her colleagues for a drink. We were probably there less than a week. Being the adventurous sort, die Frau saw a Bananaweizen on the menu and decided to try it. She was warned by her co-workers, but being the adventurous sort, she went ahead and ordered it. It was essentially pureed banana plopped into a wheat beer. She watched the gloop land at the bottom of her glass with a silent thud. Then she drank the beer, and all the gloop stayed right there at the bottom of the glass, leaving behind an unfortunate looking beer-banana sludge. She decided against having a second one.

Ever.

 

A Kristallweißen is just an elegant looking beer - tastes great when lounging in the a Biergarten on a summer day