German craft beer

Indeed, I used to see them alot here in Stockholm, around Sergels Torg. How time flies...

 

theyre actually here in sheffield as we speak!

 

The german Discouters are selling their own "craft beer" again. It's part of the deluxe range they all seem to push at this time of year.

LIDL are offering a White Stout and a Whisky flavoured beer, both are billed as bock beers and are around the 7.5% mark. Both beers are under the Maltos label.

For the first time, Netto also has it's own range of craft beer which consists of:

Dolden Amber Lager (5%abv)

Dolden Hand Märzen (6.2%abv)

Dolden Struer Bock (7.5%abv)

 

Can LIDL tell me what the hell a "White Stout" is?

Anyway, i had a big surprise recently.

Zwönitzer Gourmet Beer Blue.
Imperial Stout aged in Slyrs (German Single Malt Whisky) Barrels.
Dirt cheap for a german BA Beer (3,99 for 330ml) and it's great.

 

You might enjoy reading Ron Pattinson's article on the topic of Pale Stout.

https://www.beeradvocate.com/mag/8077/pale-stout/

Cheers!

@patto1ro

 

Well..I sorta kinda had to grab the new Lidl beers. Despite of how much I hated the idea, I kind of enjoyed the first series.
First of all, I have to say... congrats to them for marketing. The first beers were in "traditional styles (pale and dark Bock and a Kellerbier), but with modern hops and dry hopping etc, so yeah. Carefully get the costumers used to it... and now, all are in more "modern, international styles".
There are not two, but three! beers: The whisky flavoured beer and the "white stout", which is not pale but contains wheat malt, as many may have already guessed........and, surprise surprise...
A FRIGGIN IPA, hopped with cascade and amarillo!
Really looking forward to the latter. Now, what are you waiting for, Oettinger?
I will taste them later when some work is done and report back..
Oh funny thing on the side: On the back label of all styles, it still says "Bockbier"

 

I wonder why they haven't advertised the fact that there's also an IPA, I'm looking forward to that one.

 

Ok, I had to crack open one each of the two interesting Lidl craft beers.

First goes the IPA....
Very nice head. Golden color with a subtle amber hint. Almost clear, with a very slight cloudy haze going on.
Clean nose with subtle, maybe a bit muffled, critic fruit notes.
Very lean, and again very clean body. Maybe with a bit alcoholic, warming tastes, but mostly kind of neutral. Aromatic, bitter, even piney hops, wow, long aftertaste, now I am surprised. Maybe a bit to boozy for my taste, the 7.8 abv are kind of detectable in the background and are not really ballanced by malt. So, in short: This one could be more balanced, BUT... it still is more balanced than 90% of modern german IPAs I had.And with 2.19€ for a 3pack, it is cheap as dirt..that means 0.73 cents for a 0.33l bottle...making it the cheapest IPA on the german market right now And: It its clearly recognizable as an modern US-inspired IPA to me.

On to the white stout..
with....crazily enough, actually is PALE!!! Really. Very pale acually. What the..
Again, nice head. Fluffy. Straw pale yellow with slight haze.
In the nose, kinda funky. Not very intense, but a lot of different, non-nuanced stuff is going on...maybe even a bit skunk?grass? In the mouth, wow... this...somehow reminds me of some pale,strong golden belgian ales. even though there is not much funk coming from the yeast, there are several spicy,fruity notes coming from wheat and hops. Not really focused in my opinion, there is a lot going on. Kind of subdued afteraste, fruity, drinks well below its strength of 7.6abv. That and the dominance of fruity/spicy aromas, as well as an underlying sweetness, are what reminds me of the belgian golden ales, I guess. Still, it is drinkable, yes, it is even enjoyable but..I dont't know what it wants to be or why it is even called "white stout":..huh, maybe the name is fitting after all. But I'm not entirely sure I like it. Gladly, I have two more bottles for further research

Some final thoughts: Yeah..
That is a very interesting development indeed. Cheap, enjoyable IPA, distributed nationwide in germany in discounters? Wow... if you told me that like 10 years ago, I would have called you insane and/or laughed pretty hard.
Sure, it's not perfect. But it's nice enough for me.
I wonder though- why only as part of the deluxe line for christmas?......
Why not there everyday??
I even somehow like that they make weird, unconventional stuff like the "white stout"...

 

Perhaps if these beers sell well and they receive positive feedback they might consider making these year round? If there is a market for these beers they will likely will produce.

Cheers!

 

Thanks for the write up. I'll grab some of these in the next few days.

 

Looking forward to the 10 EURO Kasten....

 

Sorry Lurchus, can't agree with you on this one. Got a three pack of each of the three beers. I thought they ranged from ordinary (the IPA) to only just drinkable (the whiskey malt). Give me a Reidenburger Dolden Sud or one of the Maisel & Friends beers any day. (In fact you could give me a Dolden Sud every day )

 

Why sorry? taste is subjective. The whisky malt I had yesterday,totally agree with you there.
The IPA though- Maisel's is superior.
But Doldensud, in my opinion, has consistency issues.
The first Suds I had (from Sud 2 onwards) were awesome, but somewhere around Sud 30 or so it got ugly, and the last ones I had were for me barely drinkable.... so I stopped buying it.
Mind you, I didn't say the LIDL craft beers are world class or amazing, but they are what they are- and the IPA, as you say, is "ordinary". Which for me, is not a bad thing given price and aviability. (Were I live, Maisel's IPA is sadly barely found..)
It may sound weird to some, but: I am happy to get "good" examples of styles, easily available, for a price I can afford. Sure, for instance, Päffgen Kölsch is one of the best classic german beers I know. I drink it every chance I have, but those are rarely.Maybe 1 or 2 times a year. In my usual drinking routine, I drink Reissdorf,Früh or even Gaffel, which I can get near me, which are aviable in bottled and in canned form, and which are cheap. Not the best Kölsches, but good enough...

 

Luckily in Bamberg Maisels is easy to come by!

I haven't noticed any consistency issues with Dolden Sud. Haven't had one for a few months now but drank them reasonably regularly over a fairly long period. Weird. Maybe storage issues at your getränkemarkt?

On a completely different topic: Looking forward to getting me some Eiche fresh from the tap.

 

Lol,srsly, in Bamberg, I personally would not bother with Lidl beer.
Oh and I love Eiche, I think I only had from tap only once
Oh, and I am not the only one having issues with Doldensud, it has been topic in several german beer nerd groups and from people across the country.
Maybe it's good again- I might try when I visit my bio market next time and can avoid buying Pinkus Orginal or Hellers Kölsch

 

Well next time you're in Bamberg, let me know and we can discuss how to save the German brewing industry while having a Schlenkerla from the tap.

I'm always willing to try something new even though I have great local beers, a cellar well stocked with Belgians and some fairly decent (if I do say so myself) homebrew... And if that's not enough there's even the Bierothek.

 

Terrible headache the next day though... I have some bottles left over if anyone wants them.

Picked up a few Eiche and some Veldensteiner Saphir Bock today.

 

So after being burnt by those Lidl beers, I picked up some of these new (to me anyway) Holsten ales. You know they must be good, they list the type of hops they use on the can! We'll see..

 

so, trying the stone arrogant bastard ale tonight which is now a german craft beer like the ipa i had previously, although the brewed in berlin thing is not featured on the can at all on this one except for in the small print. to answer a previous question, there is a "canned on" date on it, october for this one so quite fresh i guess? enjoyed it, i dont know if its any different to the us version but its a solid beer.

i really dont get the pricing/size of these stone beers though, the session ipa i had was around 5%, came in a 330ml can and was £2.50, the arrogant bastard is 7.2%, comes in a 500ml can and cost £3.20. i feel like ive had a lot better value for money tonight!