German Beer Appreciation 2025

Weihenstephaner Hefeweissbier. Cheers.

 

Trying Rothaus Märzen which showed up as a limited release here. The beer has a light golden color. The aroma is quite fresh and clean, a mix of pale malt maltiness (there might be a couple of percent of Munich malt in this but the taste and aroma is that of pale malt) and herbal hops. The taste is a nice balance of rich pale malt (you can taste that this is a 13.1% plato beer, it has some definite heft in the malt department), some tasty and aromatic herbal hops and a balancing hop bitterness that helps to keep the beer quite refreshing. The hops keeps it from being sweet, instead it tastes quite balanced in my opinion. It is also very clean.

The best before date is 22.03.26 and according to the brewery they use a 6 month best before dating system so that would mean this beer was bottled around September 22nd which is alright for an import.

This is a really tasty and well made beer with a lot of drinkability I would say. Stylewise this beer has alot in common with the Export style which is one of my favorite styles. Only with a more historically accurate/older original gravity (just over 13%) compared to the modern circa 12-12.5% original gravity Export beers. The extra body and malt backbone is something I appreciate, especially when it is balanced with enough hops as it is in this beer. I have some more bottles left and I am happy I bought a few, they wont last long.

 

FWIW, I can find the Pils at my local Retail Beer Distributor but it is quite pricey and far too often too old.

Prost!

 

I enjoy both of the Rothaus beers (Tannen Zäpfle and the seasonal Eis Zäpfle) that we get in the NYC metro. Pricy, but I find them to be pretty fresh as far as German imports go. The pils is near ubiquitous on tap in good bars in Brooklyn.

Here’s a decent article on the phenomenon from a half dozen years ago. https://punchdrink.com/articles/cult-of-rothaus-pilsner-beer/

Personally, from my travels in the Black Forest and adjacent areas in Baden, the brewery that I’d really love to see imported over is Alpirsbacher.

 

Been to Wurstfest a handful of times. I remember the 50th anniversary was crazy, I got their commemorative anniversary stein/mug then



and got a little carried away if I remember correctly

 

I see it around Northern Illinois.
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/2629/7410/

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/2629/7464/?ba=steveh#review

 

To this day? It looks like almost all of the American reviews are quite old. If so, that’s incredibly cool.

 

My latest was just last year, but I haven't gone out of my way to look for it.

 

Thanks. Good to know.

 

This is one excellent Helles, so flavorful. Bought it with the mug in Asheville a few months ago. Canning date is 3-20-25.
Cheers!
Tom

 

Cross post from WBAYDN...
Making it a Weihenstephaner afternoon on this very nice 70-degree day just south of Asheville.
Cheers!
Tom

 

Saw this "on sale" locally the other day. Still couldn't coax me into dropping the cash they were asking.

Sorry you high priced imports, I just can't do it.

 

You and @AlcahueteJ need to start sending me beer. Or just money.

$13 for a six of Weihenstephaner Festbier locally.

$17 for a 12 of Paulaner Fest at the same store.

Easy choice for me.

 

Paulaner 4-packs are $6 around here and Weihenstephaner $9.

I'm just not that impressed with Weihenstephaner that I'll grab it over the likes of Paulaner, Hacker Pschorr, or Spaten (when I can find it) beers.

I think they're pricing their beers on perceived reputation more than actual quality. Which is not to say their beer is bad, just not any better than other beers I can get at better prices.

 

I like HB a lot too, but they've also been inching their prices up over the past couple years.

I'm fortunate to have some really good locals brewing great German styles, so if I want to spend more I justify it with the real freshness.