Bayernbiere Bought and Drunk

What no Dopplebock?!?!

 

Yes, once a year. The brewery is rather large, given that they only sell the beer at the restaurant and the Keller. Georg Höhn brews about 10 times a year, one brew is Bock.
The brewery is also old style: wood fired, uses a coolship and so on.

 

I recall watching this video a while back which I thought was interesting:

 

Very cool. I had never seen that before...and to be honest, I had no idea that Hoehn used such a cool, old system. Guess their very modern-looking building facade belies what's inside. Cheers!

 

Yeah, I see it all the time and usually grab it before the Märzen -- a tasty Rauchbock to be sure.

 

In the winter! Or maybe Thanksgiving.

 

I was aware that the brewery was wood fired. I would have liked to have seen it. But I guess the chances of being there on a brewing day are pretty slim.

I'm surprised that they would have been out of the bock that quickly. Or maybe I had to ask and I didn't know I should.

 

I got back in Germany this morning after a 12 hr long trip from the US and thank god...!! Finally some delicious Oktoberfest bier and half a Knusprige Hähnchen from the mobile grill outside REVE.

 

Kaiser Bräu from Neuhaus in Mittelfranken (their major brand is Veldensteiner) started a "craft beer" brand last year named Veldensteiner Bierwerkstatt. Their first beer was a Hefeweizen with Mandarina Bavaria hops which was quite nice. The hops was kind of subtle, yet clearly recognizable and the beer was different from other Hefeweizens while maintaining to be a Hefeweizen.

Now, yesterday I saw their latest offering and grabbed two bottles of it. The newest beer from Veldensteiner Bierwerkstatt is called Imperial Pils. It has 6.3 % ABV, a cloudy light golden color. The hops mentioned on the back label are Green Bullet from New Zealand and Citra from Yakima Valley. It is definitely a very tasty beer, the fruity and spicy aromas of the hops (without being too bitter) are truly great. But still this nice taste of hops is stronger than the malt body which is hard to recognize. Overall, it's quite a good beer, but it doesn't have much to do with a Pilsner for my taste. The kind of "foreign" aromas of the hops are decisive: they taste excellent, but they don't stand for a Pilsner. It's a very interesting kind of beer, probably more an "Imperial Pale Lager" than a Pilsner.

 

I've had Veldensteinier pils once, late in my time in Germany. I'd always avoided it before because it struck me as a sort of Fernsehbier, but it was actually not bad at all. I could believe their Craft line could be impressive.

 

I wouldn't call Kaiser Bräu a Fernsehbier, but certainly a bigger brewery in Franken. They also have a number of contract brews and brands that used to be proper breweries in former times.

 

New beer pick ups (hey, one is Bayern the other is from a place that starts with s "B"):

 

Yeah -- the Animator is supposed to be the next in H-P's specialty series over her in the U.S. Probably see as much of that as I did the Festbier.

 

this bottle has US labeling so, should be landing soon. I'll swing by the local Getränkemarkt some time soon and see if the local version is any different - I highly doubt it tho

 

Maybe. But the distros in my area are horribly lazy and I doubt I'll ever see it. They told a local retailer that the Festbier was draft only and taverns were the only account. Really? Why do all my friends in Minnesota have cases of bottles -- just like the Maibock and Weizen you delivered earlier in the year?

 

Did another blind tasting last night of 3 Helleses (Helli?).
#1 Spaten- That makes three in a row for Spaten. Am I the only person that loves this beer? Being InBev owned doesn't help its brand image in Munich...
#2 Weinstephan- Nice, but a bit of what I thought was a mineral taste. Very drinkable, but not quite as clean as the Spaten.
#3 Hacker Pschorr- The new 330mL swing top bottle wasn't enough to distract me from the caramel/honey notes that dominated this beer. A distant third.

I'm considering getting a Spaten tattoo.

 

Spaten is pretty much all I purchase anymore (except for Olde Mecklenburg). Their Helles is top-notch, and their Oktoberfest/Ur-Maerzen and Maibock are hard to beat...especially for the price. Love Spaten.

 

I am a big fan of both Spaten's Hell and Oktoberfest beers. Certainly their Hell was one of my favorite Getränkemarkt Hells. Andechser Vollbier Hell is also very good. Hacker-Pschorr is not the same in a bottle as it is at Der Pschorr for some reason.

[German nitpick: out of habit or perhaps deference to the German language, I've decided to use the word "Helles" if I follow it with "Bier" or "Lagerbier", which is how a German would say it. When I use the singular now I just say "Hell". So I would use Helle Lagerbiere as the plural. Yes I realize I'm a nerd.]

 

Have you been able to find the Maibock? I haven't seen it in about 6 years.

 

I have an original Hohlwein, hand-pulled lithograph, 36x40 inch Spaten advertising poster from the mid '30s. Probably cost as much as a tattoo.