Bayernbiere Bought and Drunk

I was under the impression the Urbock was released seasonally at Schlenkerla, but I could be wrong.

 

In Franconia, yes -- but I thought the Urbock was year-round over here... but as said, I may just be seeing it sitting on shelves for a year (or more) -- when I see it, that is.

 

My soda pop is always diet too, but it still has that sugary sweetness. I drink Vitamin water now and again and don't find it as sweet as soda. And OJ and cranberry are more tart than sweet to me. Sounds like my "sweet" palate is calibrated to a higher sweetness.

Agreed -- and I'm not a big fan.

I was going to ask what you thought of Export Stout or some Imperial Stouts -- I can find them sweeter than a Doppelbock, even though there's usually a fair amount of roasted malt to balance the sweetness.

 

So I found some Schlenkerla Helles at a local retailer that used to keep good track of their beers. I stopped in to see if anything had changed, but I wasn't sure. Popped for the Schlenkerla because I haven't seen it anywhere else and was intrigued.

Typical Schlenkerla woody, smoky nose. More smokiness in the flavor than I recall from my last sampling of the beer -- in fact, it's pretty much all smoke until the spicy hop bitterness in the finish.

There's some bready malt trying to fight thru the not-quite astringent smokiness and spicy, bitter hops, and the mouthfeel is soft and smooth.

Overall, this is a nice Rauchbier and seems to hold up a little better in balance than I recall from past tastings (maybe it's more fresh than I think). I always thought higher malt character worked better with the smokiness, but this is very drinkable -- just don't give it to Rauchbier Rookies -- they'll turn off immediately.

 

Funny, it’s technically not even a rauchbier since they use no smoked malt. It picks up all the smokiness from the equipment and presumably their yeast. Really hope the cans land here in the Twin Cities

 

Every brewery I know cleans after each brew. I don’t think the Stainless Steel equipment has any smoked character after that. Filters may have residual smoke character. How often do the change the filter material? Pitching yeast from a Rouchbier fermentation will give a Lager good amounts of smoke. A friend did that with his hombres, the result was Smokey on the second one.

 

Right, but it was most definitely smoky -- could this be a sign of freshness? Maybe a sign of age? Don't know. I remember drinking the Helles on draft a few years ago and the smoke didn't seem as strong as the bottle I had last night.

 

For what it's worth, the Schlenkerla web site brings up the equipment in the description of the beers character -- in a rather vague way, but there's still some allusion there. And they mention copper, not stainless -- maybe the softer metal hangs on to the character?

“Schlenkerla Helles” is brewed with fine Bavarian aroma hops from the area around the city of Nürnberg. It's lagered in century old caves underneath the historic Schlenkerla brewery and maltings. Schlenkerla Helles is boiled in the same copper kettles and bottom fermented by the same yeast as the historic Schlenkerla Smokebeer. Its subtle smokiness without using smoke malt makes “Helles Schlenkerla Lager” a unique representative of the classic lager beer style “Bavarian Helles”.

 

Jeff, below is what Ron Pattinson posted on his blog concerning Schlenkerla Helles:

“Aecht Schlenkerla Helles Lagerbier 4.3% 11.5º Pale lager. Bitterness 30 EBU.

Coriander grass and smoked aromas; bitterish taste with pepper and smoke aromas; bitter finish with pepper and bacon.

A very interesting beer - a smoked helles. It has a good combination of smoked malt and spicy hop flavours. Very full-flavoured for its strength. It doesn't contain any smoked malt in the grist, but picks up its smoky character from the filter”

Cheers!

@patto1ro

 

Surprised not surprised they still have a copper brewhouse.

My money is on most of the smoke character coming from a repitch of yeast.

 

I have suspected the filter. I will have to ask someone who has toured Heller-Teum often what he thinks.

 

The label for the cans of Helles says that it is unfiltered. I wonder if this will make the canned version less-smoky.

 

We had this locally on tap about 3 years ago. Was surprised at the amount of smoke. We just started getting bottled Andesch Helles here. Still no Fastenbier but my homer version is very close, just a bit more sweetness, @herrburgess

 

More sweetness in the Fastenbier or the Helles? Or both?

 

I haven't seen their filter, but assume it would be a DE one. Guess, then, that there is a chance that would impart the smokiness. But my bet is on a combination of things (everything from yeast repitch to filter to any number of other places the beer comes into contact with lines that primarily transport Rauchbier). Maybe if the unfiltered version tastes smoky, then it can't be solely the filter....

 

I emailed Stefan at Mahr's and he said they hadn't ceased production of der weisse bock, since it's only a seasonal they haven't put it in their website.

Phew! One of my favourite all time beers

 

That's good news. I wonder if they plan to brew it in Bamberg or if Gutmann will be taking it on. Either way, I'm glad that it's still around.

 

Not sure where I got that from - it's a long time ago.

 

Fastenbier is back at the monopoly and the newly established tradition of me trying it continues. Tastewise it's still fullbodied and rich with a smoky malt sweetness which is combined with a very satisfying hop bitterness, aroma and flavor. It finishes bittersweet as well. It's very much full flavored and a top notch lager beer in my book.

 

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A true gold standard classic.

Velvety mouthfeel. Waves of malt complexity - bready/chocolately/toasty. Goes down like milk.

Brings back great memories of drinking at the Kneitinger Gaststätte.