Bayernbiere Bought and Drunk

Thanks for looking up that information Jack, I hadn't come across it myself. That makes sense, I was thinking "how come I can't remember reading about it being bottled, I'm sure I've read the blurb several times over?". I have to applaud the importer that they were so quick to pick up on it.

Yeah there's no specific mention of the Hell but I figure it has to be. The slightly higher abv being the result of the kräusening, and the unchanged stammwürze being the stammwürze of the Hell (the gravity when kräusen is added wouldn't be the stammwürze after all). But an interesting beer for sure.

 

That Kräusen is one of my favorite beers in all of Bamberg. I'm more of a Spezial fan than Schlenkerla, but once I discovered that beer I've been back to Schlenkerla more than anywhere else in town. The smoke is there, but it's much milder than the other rauchbiers they serve.

I wonder if we'll see it in the States at some point soon? The canned helles is apparently a B. United thing and they actually can it on the East Coast. That at least shows their dedication to the Schlenkerla brand.

 

Chris, earlier today checked the B. United website and they presently just list the ‘regulars’:

“Aecht Schlenkerla Fastenbier

Aecht Schlenkerla Helles

Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier Oak Smoke

Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier Urbock

Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier Wheat

Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier Maerzen”

Hopefully in the near future they will import the Krausen?

Cheers!

http://www.bunitedint.com/information/brands/description/87/

 

If I am lucky, the Krause will still be on when we make our August trip to Germany.

 

It should be there. I've been to Bamberg in mid-August twice and it has been on both times. I might be imagining this, but I think it's on from May-September.

 

It was gone early/mid Sept. last year.

 

Headed to the next county over to check what the other distros might be providing. Found a case's worth of Ayinger Jahrhundert and took a chance on a bottle.

No gusher, pretty smooth, but seemed a little lacking -- even verging on sour -- from past samplings. Sure wish Ayinger would date their bottles.

 

Do they have a BBD on the US bottles?

Their german BBD is usually 9 months from bottling for the non-seasonals.

 

No, thus my comment that I wish they'd date their bottles. In a mini-defense of Ayinger, I have the feeling the fault for freshness dating lies in the hands of their U.S. importer, Merchant du Vin.

 

So, who's had an Aventinus recently? I was in a semi-local retailer looking at the wares and didn't see much that grabbed my attention.

Wandering back to the German imports (somewhat of a crap-shoot at this spot) I noticed a good stash of Aventinus -- as if they'd just stocked a new case -- clean bottles, no dust. I hadn't had one of my favorites (4.8 rating) in a long while, so I decided to honor my browsing with a purchase.

So I'm enjoying the Weizen Doppel-Bock now and wondering just how fresh their stock was/is. Not to disparage Schneider in any way -- after all, they market "Vintage" Aventinus, but this just doesn't seem as smooth and rich as what I always remembered.

Age? (mine and/or the bottle) Change in ingredients? Couldn't begin to hypothesize. And while it's not as good as I recall from years past, it's certainly not a horrible, undrinkable beer... in any rating I might give.

Maybe it's a little drier and more grainy -- even lightly astringent -- than the last Aventinus I tried. The alcohol bite seems a little strong. The Weizen yeast nose and flavor seems a little subdued, as well as that rich malt sweetness I always remember.

Did I get old stock? Am I getting old? Is Schneider twisting their recipe? Throw out any and all opinions -- once a real favorite that seems sort of "different" to me today.

 

I tell you, after having started brewing commercially -- and as a result tasting beers at literally every hour of the day and under multivarious circumstances -- I am amazed at how much one's palate can change and affect taste. That said, this time of day should be a good one for having a receptive palate (in my experience). Other than that, dunno.... Haven't revisited Schneider in a while.

 

I can completely understand that -- especially with other drinks and foods traveling down your gullet.

I used to drink a lot of Aventinus because I liked it so much, so I had a good idea what to expect as I cracked this bottle -- and it's not all bad, but just not the same. I honestly believe this bottle has some age on it -- it's not quite gone, but it's not just right. As mentioned, the establishment is a little out of the way and not always fresh with their beers.

 

For what this is worth, at the end of my sampling (In my nice, big Libbey Weizen glass), I took my last inhale and got a lot of soy -- thinking the bottles are on the verge of bad.

 

Managed to dig up a little more info on those Schlenkerla Helles cans that started popping up stateside earlier this year. It's part of B. United's "Tank Container Project" which in addition to the Helles includes a few Italian beers being canned as well.

The draft beer is shipped overseas in temperature-regulated tank containers and is kept cool all the way through canning, which takes place at B. United's headquarters in Connecticut. Travel time from filling in Europe to arrival in the US is 2 weeks. B. United takes pre-orders ahead of time and cans are shipped to wholesalers within 48 hours.

Their Instagram page also shows a tanker with St. Georgenbräu Kellerbier arriving last week, so it looks like that's the next Franconian lager to be canned. They seem dedicated to getting the beer here in the best quality possible and the Helles cans I've had were very good, so I hope this continues as a regular thing. Additional info for anyone interested on B. United's website and in this article.

 

Thanks for the link to that article, it was an interesting read.

Kudos to the efforts of the B. United folks but I must confess I was a bit taken aback upon reading (with emphasis in bold by me):

“Before we did the tank containers, we brought the beers in kegs,” Matthias says. “We realized that many of these kegs over time became so highly carbonated that they became un-pourable because of too much foam. Refermentation was going on inside the kegs.”

In effect, B. United is operating as a quality control arm for the foreign breweries. “Many of our breweries are tiny and can’t afford to invest a lot of resources into quality control, which is extremely important when you talk about complex refermentations,” Matthias says.”

Regardless I will be buying these canned beers. I have already enjoyed one 4-pack of Schlenkerla Helles and I hope to be able to purchase the other brands that B. United will be canning.

Cheers to B. United!!!!!!

 

Love to see that one return to shelves around here.

 

I find this to be an interesting point of view in that it is interesting to consider how the demands placed on shelf life and shelf stability might dictate the beer being brewed. A beer sold locally by the case as a standard item (i.e a local brewery in Germany with their consumers closeby buying their beer as their go to beer) can afford a shorter shelf life and perhaps needn't be pasteurized whilst having a higher than typical residual extract, but if that same beer is meant for international shipping to fickle niche consumers who pick up a bottle once a month, or once a year, the demands placed on that beer will be much greater. From a quality control perspective it might make sense to alter that beer to suit the requirements of the market, leading to a greater level of quality control, but the actual quality of the beer, or the enjoyment thereof might suffer as a result. That's not to say that B United are changing the beers, or that the brewers are, and maybe by simply keeping an eye on the beer bacteriologically they are able to keep the beer intact and stable for their destined US market, and if so that is of course great. But if quality control comes to mean greater shelf life and shelf stability at the expense of the beer, then I question whether it is worth it.

I remember a while back I was surprised to see that the UK brewed Coors Light that they now sell here contains an added stabilizer, which I doubt is found in the Coors Light sold in the US, and I'm guessing its use comes down to the percieved need for a shelf life of one year for the Coors Light sold in the EU, a shelf life which the American version is not brewed to keep for and so it (probably) does not require the use of a stabilizer.

Maintaining and adhering to product appropriate shelf lives and cold storage is I guess the best recourse for allowing foreign markets to experience local beers the way they were meant to be experienced by the brewer, albeit perhaps an expensive and unrealistic one alot of times.

 

The breweries have the option to refuse to sell the beer for export. Nobody has a gun pointed at their head making them sell beer.

If they do choose to accept the business (i.e., money) to sell their beers overseas then they really should provide acceptable product.

Cheers!

 

I agree with you as to the first question, but to the second question I would posit that the product they produce and offer might present itself well under certain circumstances but not under different circumstances. One could say the same for other product categories, fresh fruit vs pasteurized fruit juice for example. And it is of course up to the brewery and the exporter to understand this and to be conscientious about this. But the solution to a problem will depend on what is percieved to be the problem, if the problem is a lack of quality control then what is the solution to that problem (increased processing?)? If the problem is unrealistic expectations about shelf life and shelf stability of the beer, then what is the solution? I'm not arguing that the consumer should buy subpar products, I'm saying that it's the responsibility of the producer and distributor to understand the product they are selling, but I also think that it is worth keeping in mind the different market dynamics of a product's home market and its export market. If the beers weren't as fragile, would they not be different beers I wonder,more akin to the larger volume producers' products, which have have much better shelf stability (or quality control). Yet these beers also offer something which those products do not, which makes them desirable. I can't help but think that the properties which make them desirable are in conflict with the demands which are placed on shelf stability of larger producers' products, and so there is a trade off that I as a consumer feel as though I must be aware of here. But those are my personal musings of course

 

Patrik, I agree with you here. If the European brewery is of the opinion that their beers are 'fragile' and would not present them well in export markets they have a number of options, for example:

• Don't sell their beer in export markets
• Improve their products so they will taste well in the export market

There is a 'shit ton' of old European beers at my local beer retailers. That is just the way the export market is here. One example of how one brewery 'deals' with this situation is that Jever uses a 15 month best by date on their bottles. In my opinion a 15 month best by duration for a Pale Lager is crazy!

Cheers!

P.S. An example of a brewery that is even a worst offender than Jever is Ayinger since they refuse to put dates on their bottles. In the recent past I decided to no longer purchase Ayinger bottled beers since there are no dates on them.