Bayernbiere Bought and Drunk

So, last weekend, I visited Bayreuth in franconia, where I used to live for 7 lucky years.
And, I bought and consumed a lot of beer, naturally:
The first 2 beers I had on the trainjourney from Nürnberg to Bayreuth were Zirndorfer Landbier. Sadly, I only had a few minutes before I had to catch the train. Nothing to special, but tasty enough.
When I arrived at my destination, I had several Seidla of Mann's Bräu Dunkel. Very good stuff, yet... I have to admit, the first Seidla was a bit of a shock. It is a beer that is heavy on malts, but also has a strong, spicy hoppy backbone. It is still ballanced, but very rustic and intense. After the first two seidlas though, I felt back at home.
More Manns was consumed.
BUT I also visited a local Getränkemarkt, and....wow.
I picked up some old favorites and some,to me, new beers.
2 mixed sixers I mixed myself and 2 singles bockbier. Here is what I bought:
Weizens:
Krug Bräu Breitenlesau Weisse
Stöckel's Weisse
Vierzehnheiligen Nothefler Bio Weisse
Kuchlbauer Turm Weisse
Brauerei Hartmann Felsenweisse
Nankendorfer Schroll Bräu Weisse (they didn't make one last time I was there)
Dark Lagers:
Nankendorfer Schroll Bräu Landbier
Büchenbacher Vollbier
Wagner Merkendorf Richward Wagner Dunkel
Held Bräu Altfränkisches Bauernbier Dunkel
Leupser Dunkel
Held Bräu Festbier (Also new to me, very tasty)
Bocks:
Wagner Merkendorf Bock Dunkel
Aufsesser Bock

And....the real shocking thing for me: All these beers, 14 different bottles of excellent beer from mostly small breweries,cost..
10.80€. INCLUDING deposit. So basically, less than 10 Euros. Crazy..
There were also several new Ales from local breweries around, but honestly, decent Pale Ale, I can get almost anywhere in germany. Decent Dunkles- not so much.
So yeah, pretty shocking to see the diversity of excellent brews, which used to be "normal" for me.

 

That just doesn't seem right.

 

I have to add though: I think my subjective standards for a decent dunkles are a lot higher than my subjective standards for a decent pale ale.
Meaning..........yeah, I can get Aktien Landbier Dunkel from Maisel's in a lot of places in germany, but that does not really scratch my itch for a nice Dunkles.
Though I can get Maisel's Pale Ale in a lot of places in germany, and that satisfies my need for Pale Ale pretty much...

 

Fastenbier is back and this year I'm glad to be able to compare it to the Märzen which is back on shelves once again. This year I find that I can pick up on the hop flavor moreso than in previous years, and in this respect I'm also reminded of the homebrew I made this winter using beechwood smoked malt, brown malt and Hallertauer Mittelfrüh hops. The malt, hops, bitterness and smoke is well held together and harmonious.

 

Time for a side by side comparison. Drinking both beers side by side a few things become apparent. The hop flavor is significantly more prominent in Fastenbier, though you find traces of it also in the Märzen. The Märzen tastes lighter bodied compared with the Fastenbier, which in turn is fuller bodied and verges on displaying a malty sweetness, but the hop flavors and bitterness keeps it in check. After drinking on it a bit more the body of the Märzen seems more normal, the difference on the palete isn't as stark, though the difference is still there. The most prominent flavor of the Märzen is the smoked malt, and there's also a slight burnt element, which in this respect reminds me of the two porter brews I've made using a small amount of black malt. I have wondered in the past how they get the dark color in this beer, and I wonder if what I'm tasting is in fact a coloring malt (farbmalz). Either way, once you become acclimatized to the Märzen after having the Fastenbier it starts to shine and be more like the beer I remember it to be: smoky maltiness but without sweetness and a good balancing bitterness. And, taking the comparison even further, going back once more to the Fastenbier after drinking on the Märzen the hops immediately stand out. This has been a very interesting and enlightening side by side comparison imo, and I applaud the brewery for making such fine beers.

 

They do use a portion of roasted malt to achieve the dark color. You can taste it pretty clearly when fresh. It's very deftly used.

 

Patrik, the ‘balance’ that Fastenbier has is an extremely enjoyable quality in my opinion.

As I summarized it in a past New Beer Sunday thread:

“Overall:

In my opinion all of the flavors and qualities of this beer work so well together in this beer. In music terms this is a masterful symphony!!”

https://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/new-beer-sunday-week-526.271134/#post-3442852

Cheers!

P.S. I have yet to see Fastenbier on any of my local beer store shelves and since I was unsuccessful in buying this beer last year I do not have high hopes for this year either.

 

Thanks for the input. It would seem like the most obvious explanation, but since they make the malt (for the Märzen) themselves and don't say much more about it other than that all of the malt used for the Märzen is smoked malt, one is left to draw your own conclusions.

 

Agreed, it's a well rounded beer.

I guess the market has spoken to some extent, rauchbier is as you often point out a polarizing style of beer. If it wasn't for the monopoly at times ignoring trends and instead launching beers with the express purpose of offering variety I don't think we would see Fastenbier as a recurring release (having been released three years in a row so far). The Märzenbier lost its place at the monopoly last year or the year before that, no doubt due to slow sales, but now it's back and that's clearly no accident, the monopoly requested a tender for rauchbier in spite of having delisted the style a year or so prior, and released the same beer once more.

 

So, let me tell you a story.

I got to know one of the managers of a local beer store and a few years ago I asked if he could obtain Fastenbier for me. I was lucky that he did me this favor. He e-mailed me when he received that delivery and I came over that day since I was real anxious to buy some bottles. I showed up and the box was still closed and he opened it for me. As I reached in for a few bottles (I bought 3-4 bottles) he said to me: you can have all of the bottles (12 total I think) if you want them. Those bottles were expensive (over $5 a bottle) and I replied: my wife would kill me if I bought all of the bottles (a slight exaggeration; I don’t think I would actually be dead). I replied: you won’t have any problems selling the other bottles, will you? He responded with a ‘look’.

He (his name is Joe) no longer works there but even if he did I would not feel right asking him to do this again. If I ever find a beer store that just has this beer on the shelves I will buy a few but I really do not feel comfortable asking my other contacts to special order this beer for me.

Yes indeed, smoked beers are a polarizing beer style much to my non-joy.

Cheers!

 

We got Fastenbier here in 2015. I drank a bunch of it! But when I got some in 2016, it was still the 2015 release so I doubt we'll ever see anymore fresh stuff locally.

 

A relatively newbie here. Usually order from Beers of Europe for my fix but find their offerings very repeat.

Anyone have a site/sites that might offer me some different offerings for my fix delivered to my UK house?

Great thread by the way! Education at its best.

 

If you know the brewery you want to buy from, check their website. Schlenkerla and Kneitinger take orders online (in season, so don't expect Schlenkerla to offer their Dopplebock in May, for example). If you aren't sure what you're in the mood for and feel like picking something at random, Biershop Bayern and its sister website Biershop Braugasthöfe will deliver to the UK.

 

Beer duly ordered!

Thank you.

 

Report back! We all like to live vicariously.

 

Will do.

How the hell do you post a picture?

 

You have to place your photograph on a web hosting site (e.g., Photobucket) and then you can copy that photograph into your post.

Cheers!

 

Which is a royal PITA! I have so many I could post if I could just download them in 1 step....

Prosit!

 

Dave, I can't argue with you here.

It is my guess that this saves memory on the BA server; the photograph (and other media) is hosted by these other websites.

Cheers!

 

Found Ayinger Pils 4-packs locally -- not seen around here in the past. Outstanding to-style.