Bayernbiere Bought and Drunk

I love that glass by the way. It looks exactly like the Guinness Blonde glass, is it the same type of glass? Here's a photo of my Hofbrau Original poured into one of the Guinness Blonde glasses.

 

I think the HB glass is wider overall -- a little more bowl-like toward the top and wider on the bottom (just from looking at the pictures). Never seen the Guinness glass, where'd you land that?

 

I was given it free along with the new Guinness glass. I don't even remember what I purchased that day either. I think it was a four pack of Guinness, but I may have actually decided on some wine for a gift that day instead of the Guinness and since I'm a good customer they just gave me the glasses anyways. Or I bought both the Guinness and the wine, and one of the glasses was thrown in for free, who knows.

I can't pass up free glassware, I LOVE collecting glassware. Mostly for pictures of the beer in it's appropriate glass, not because I think it makes much difference in terms of flavor.

 

I used to be that way -- I've even designed quite a few beer mugs and glasses for local brew-pub festivals and specialty beers -- but the cabinets started getting overcrowded! Just couldn't pass up these HB glasses because they're unique.

 

You get Schlenkerla Helles often? In good condition?
I love,love,love this beer, if its in good condition my suggestion would be to get it and pass on Mönchshof Kellerbier, which is pretty mediocre imho, one of the most uninspired brews franconia has to offer.

 

Hmm, good to know. It's highly rated on this web site (but, I always take that with a grain of salt, many of my favorite imports aren't rated highly).

Yes, we get Schlenkerla Helles in great condition quite often. It's on tap quite often (for a hefty price tag, upwards of $10+ if I recall correctly, maybe higher some places). There's no bottle dates, but when it first comes in I'll grab a bottle hoping it's fresh. I haven't had any issues, I hold it up to a light too to make sure it's crystal clear.

I don't recall if I've had the Monschof Keller before, so that's why I was going to try it. All the others on the list, while good, are often on tap at many bars including this one. The Hofbrau Maibock I haven't seen yet, so definitely having that one. If the Monschof sucks I may just go with the Weihenstephan. I've had it on draft already, but I enjoyed it.

 

Amazing to hear, I mean even in its native Bamberg, Schlenkerla Helles is more of an "oddity" than anything else..

And, take my advice also with a grain of salt, since Mönchshof comes from the huge Kulmbacher conglomerate and is sorrounded by many outstanding Kellerbiers in the region, which of course alters my subjective perspective greatly. And I had it often in subpar condition with a funny yeast snatch from tap...

 

Their Helles is one of my favorite beers, period. And at 4.3% ABV it's incredibly sessionable. If it wasn't for the price and the fact they don't bottle date, I'd buy it routinely.

I can understand that. It would probably be like you getting something like Stone IPA, which would be something I don't normally purchase because there's so many other local IPAs that are fresher/better. But it's a great IPA nonetheless.

I like Kulmbacher's stuff too. I think I've had a few beers from them, but honestly the only one I can recall, and I've had it repeatedly, it's their Edelherb Pils. Which I find to be fantastic.

 

A restaurant attached to Bill Eye's Bierstadt Lagerhaus is going to be tapping a keg of Andechser Doppelbock to celebrate the Reinheitsgebot anniversary this weekend. This will be the first time I've ever seen it on tap stateside.

In addition to that, they're also featuring an American/German collaboration from AC Golden as well.
http://www.denverpost.com/food/ci_29753475/500-years-after-reinheitsgebot-ac-golden-recreates-old
The guys at ACG make some excellent German styles, so I bet these should be nice too.

 

Having another HB Maibock right now. Although it's probably colder than I usually like this type of beer, it's still tasting quite nice. I see that I haven't reviewed this beer in 7 years, and since this batch tastes so fresh, I may have to update. It just seems much smoother than I remember in the past.

 

I just had HB Maibock fresh on tap this past weekend. It rocked my world, just a fantastic beer. It's clear to me now that my favorite American made Maibock was trying to clone HB's Maibock, and they did a great job of doing so.

 

My thoughts exactly. Probably my favorite beer in the world at the moment. There's nothing I would change about it. Now that I've gone through my Fastenbier stock I think it's time to go back to the Helles.

 

Seems like I got really lucky with my first Schlenkerla Helles that I picked up on Saturday. It was fantastic. The smoke flavor does take some getting used to, but I feel their beers are great beers to eat with meat that hasn't been smoked already. It's definitely unique. I've got a Schlenkerla smoked doppelbock to try as well. The shop I stopped in didn't have any other beers of theirs, oddly enough.

 

Re-reviews are tough. With year to year variation, your memory perhaps playing tricks on you, palates and preferences changing, different atmospheres, bottle vs. draft, freshness, how it travels if it's an import, how it was stored..etc.

I just remember which beers I like each year (these comments are more germane to seasonals obviously), and buy them in hopes they'll be as great as I remember. Sometimes they'e even still great, but in different ways. Whether I'm simply picking up on different flavors, or slight recipe changes. But if it's something I've had before I don't analyze it like I would if I was having it for the first time. If something tastes different than I remember, I typically notice it.

 

Definitely true, but since it's been seven years, I think a new review may be more honest to my current perceptions.

I read my review and most of the observations are similar, but the scoring could be higher. And yeah, I could just change the scores, but having newer comments to support those changes seems more thorough. And more fun.

Whenever I re-review a beer I always keep the old review as part of the body of my info. Just keeps a good record for myself, if not for others.

 

Along with some fresh Summerfest, I finally picked up some Weihenstephaner 1516 (I say finally, but it only dropped here a couple weeks back). Also meant to grab some Hofbrau Maibock, but I realized I read the online inventory wrong, and a different store had it (and, based on it being the only location with it, my guess is that it's old stock. But I digress.)

Honestly, really, really enjoyed the 1516. It's different, to be sure, both in feel and taste, the lemony hops a little more obvious to my palate, the malt less like grainy barley, a little smoother to my taste. Rather big blast of DMS on the pour, but that cleared up pretty quick. Not especially hazy, just a touch, which sort of fits the quote from Draftmag about the beer -- "in fact the beer is centrifuged to a precise degree, leaving only faint haze in its orange-amber color". I dunno, it's just kinda likeable and made me regret only grabbing a single. A fridge full of this and Summerfest sounds mighty nice indeed.

 

Got a chance to try the 1516 on tap yesterday. It's pretty fantastic.
Tasted more along the lines of the kellerbiers from Franconia rather than the hoppier/drier ones around Munich. I haven't seen any bottles around here, but if there are any I'm going to buy it ASAP.

Also got a chance to try the AC Golden and Sandlot collaborations with Andreas Gahr. One was a modern (golden) festbier which reminded me of Edelstoff if I had to make a comparison. The other was mildly smoky kellerbier that doesn't really have a German approximation but still tasted quite nice.

 

Love to hear the comparison, but don't be surprised if your opinion differs. The bottle didn't taste like any Franconian beers (no matter the style) I ever tried.

 

Chris, I would be interested in hearing your tasting impressions of the bottled 1516. I have only had this beer in bottles (I have not seen any on draft yet).

@AlcahueteJ previously posted: "Picked up the 1516 at Downtown on Sunday, I think I liked it in the bottle even more than on draft."

Cheers!

 

I had the 1516 on Saturday in celebration of the 500th anniversary of the Reinheitgebot. I enjoyed it. It's nice to be able to get a relatively fresh German import. Especially since the local distributor didn't get any 2016 Fastenbier. My wife is going to pick up a couple of more sixers today.