Deutschland Bier bought and drunk (2020)

In my experience the big breweries can turn out really pale beers if they want to even at a higher gravity, so when you come across a darker shade, it means they've used Munich and or Caramel malt for the color and or flavor. The color in those cases is intentional, and not dictated by the higher abv or the like. All of the Swedish macros produce circa 7% lager beers alongside their regular Export beers around 5.2-5.3% yet some are amber and some are pilsner pale, some of them being darker than the same brand's Export version. Big breweries are very particular about the color of their beer, it's not left to chance.

 

Yeah, I get it. I'm also assuming that Bitburger doesn't generally use Munich or Caramalts, and surely no standard (lighter) 2-row. Wondering if your Swedish macros are using simple fermenting sugars too...I've brewed 7%+ beers with only malt and it can get pretty bready. Just hypothesizing.

 

In times of corona, it is a good idea to drink strong beer. This is my collection of Ator's from Bavaria. My personal favourite til now: The Zwergator (Staffelberg brewery) for pale doppelbock, and the Raucherator (Hummel brewery) for a smoky doppelbock.

 

I also don't think caramel malt is used by Bitburger gruppe for pilsner beers, but they are clearly using it in their Kellerbier, so in terms of degree of separation that's pretty close.

Some of those extra strong Swedish beers are all malt (from breweries that brew according to the reinheitsgebot), at least one uses sugar, there's no correlation between color and use of sugar however, and brands from the same brewery brewing all malt beers can be differently colored (which is the point I was making, the color is not the result of it being stronger, but of the decision of the brewer).

Btw I found this press release from Bitburger about the new beer and according to it the original gravity of the beer is 13.8% and the IBUs 46. Sounds like a beer with some heft to it.

 

We visited the Staffelberg brewery in September on a rainy day. Good bier and it looked like a nice place to spend a weekend afternoon.

 

lockdown treats tonight!

 

I had to join the coronavirus German bier antidote club as we are going into expanded lock down/stay-in-home, so after the obligatory 2-weeks of food supplies, stocked up with a few more biers to enjoy.

 

Nice! Is the HB Maibock a 2020 beer?

 

Resounding answer of silence...

FWIW, I found 2020* HB Maibock locally... last 6-pack in the store.

*Look for the 'T' in the code on the back label -- 20th letter in the alphabet.

 

Yeh know, looking at that label close-up (and compared with some of the others) it looks awfully faded out -- as if from too much light over a long period of time. On a shelf.

 

I almost got fooled a few weeks ago. Was excited to see it and had it in the cart, but then checked the back only to see an 'S' as part of the packaging code. Quite disappointed.

 

Had it been on the shelf for a year (see that around here a lot)? Or was it shelved as new stock for this year?

 

I can't say for sure. I don't think it had been--I don't get to the place that often, but I do get there enough to know that most imported seasonals don't usually sit on the shelf year round.

 

You guys are shaming me... I moved my Corona Bier Collection around and dug out that six-pack and guess it is a Aug 18, 2019. Still tastes rather good. It was in a case box of dunkel below 3 or 4 other cases of beer in the back of the liquor store. Was happy to find it as I am suffering not being able to travel to Germany (actually Bavaria) and Hungary this May due to the Covid-19 disease. My buddy and I were looking forward to drinking a lot of good Maibock on tap or barrel. This store does stock some Weltenberger which seem regularly fresh enough but not a lot of single. We go to another store for those but they don't carry many of the 6-paks that I favor.

Another area store used to be tops but their inventory declined in the past year. Also have this issue with distribution in Maryland the past two years where New Belgium 1554 and Uinta Baba have been discontinued. Plenty of juice beers available

 

It's not you we're shaming, but the distros and retailers who are deceiving their consumers with old stock. This has been an ongoing discussion over a few years (look into some of the other threads in the Germany forum) and it seems like the HB handlers are the worst culprits.

Last year I called out stacks of HB Maibock at 2 stores in the same local chain that were previous year's brewing. One beer manager looked at the 12 or so cases of the beer and shrugged. The other checked his resources and found I was correct in my translation of the date code. He was immediately on the phone to the main inventory manager and the distributor hauled the old stuff away and brought in new stock. Consumer advocacy at work.

FWIW, the HB code reads as such: L 37 Q. The L is a bottling or filling line, 37 would be the 37th day of the year, and Q would be 2017 -- Q being the 17th letter of the alphabet corresponding to 2017. Info thanks to @FBarber and his correspondence with HB.

I've also contacted the HB importer on this old stock being sold off as new, but received no reply. So yeah, buyer beware.

 

Pretty sure HB is in charge of their own distribution now - FWIW

 

I think you're right, I contacted S&H back when they were the importers, have to see who I can contact direct these days.

 

They dropped S&H a while ago. In speaking with a few HB customers, they're not very happy with the current situation. The HB USA solution has been a rocky road, and has cost a lot of money (and misery) moving away from previous distro partners.

 

This must be why the HB seasonals have pretty much dried up around here. No Winter Spezial Doppelbock this year and it's not looking good for Maibock.

@steveh The place I saw the old Maibock was in Wisconsin.

 

Looks like I contacted S&H in early 2018 and I'm betting they still had HB on their site at the time. FBarber contacted HB America in early 2017 with questions about bottle dating, so I'm guessing the switch-off was between 17 & 18.

Regardless, it shouldn't take away from the point that there's a weak link in the distribution chain somewhere and customers are being sold old stock. Makes me wonder why HB didn't plan this out better.

Very odd circumstances for you up where there was always a good supply of imports. We saw the Winter Spezial down here in "some" abundance. Maybe not as much as years past, but there was enough for me to snap up a fresh six-pack.