Bayernbiere Bought and Drunk

Wait, really? How do we get kegs in the US, but the brewery itself doesn't even offer it?

I imagine this beer would be heavenly straight out of a wooden barrel in Bamberg.

 

According to the US importer (B. United) Schlenkerla Helles is available in 30 liter Wooden Casks:

“30l Wooden Cask Wooden Cask 30l New 1 * 7.9 gal.”

http://www.bunitedint.com/information/brands/description/84/

Cheers!

 

IIRC Cafe Abseits has had a Fass, but it's not very often

 

I hope you aren't implying it is available at Schlenkerla in wooden kegs. Because, if so, once again you don't know what you are talking about.

B United picks up tanker trucks filled with the Helles and likely fills the kegs themselves for other markets. Again, I have never once seen it in the tavern...or anywhere else in Bamberg or environs. Plus 30 liter kegs are very unusual for the German market anyway.

 

Sometimes my memory still works. Just not very often

http://www.abseits-bamberg.de/2011/07/schlenkerla-helles-lager.html

 

Holzfass? Good recall...

 

I'm blown away by this too. What's the reasoning behind it?

I stumbled upon Schlenkerla Helles on-tap at a bar in NYC a couple of months ago and it was ridiculously good, despite the pretentious glassware that the bar serves all of its beers in regardless of style. A little odd drinking it out of a stemmed tulip but I would gladly drink that beer out of anything.

 

Schlenkerlas pale lager found its way to a limited time release at the monopoly which I'm happy about, it's one of those beers which I've been wanting to try. It smells very fresh and clean with just a hint of smoke whereas in the taste the smoke is more noticable, but much milder than in the Märzen or Fastenbier of course. You instantly recognize it as a Schlenkerla beer though. It's a very nice hop forward (in bitterness) pale lager which has a dry finish but also decent body for its OG, which I guess is helped by the comparatively low abv. It's interesting to me that both the pale lager and the Märzen have a lower than average degree of attenuation. It makes me wonder which steps are taken by the brewers to achieve this, whether it has to do with the yeast used, or the yeast in combination with the brewing process. If I can get a beer with a normal body and mouthfeel at a lower than average abv I'm all for it.

 

I see a date on the bottle. I wonder if they're doing that in the US also.

 

I made zero mention of Brauerei Heller-Trum / Schlenkerla in my post. There is absolutely no call for nasty personal attacks you feel the need to make.

 

The original question was about the tavern.

 

Is that from the wooden barrel, cask, draft...etc.? I get confused with German beer sometimes.

I doubt it. It wouldn't make much sense to date the bottles for export.

I believe he was responding to my quoted post about the Helles being available from a wooden barrel. In the US, while we do receive kegs, it's just your standard CO2 driven kegs.

I've never seen it from a wooden barrel here in the US, but if I did, I'd probably do a lot of things I'm not proud of to try a liter of it.

 

Spaten Okto is in my state. Well, one spot anyway -- and 6-packs only. Nevertheless, bottled in June and pretty tasty.

Same rich melanoidin character as Paulaner and H-P Amber Märzens, but not as dry in the finish -- more soft. Maybe a touch darker than the competitors, but I can only confirm with a side-by -- stay tuned.

Bottom line: that great malt character that seems to always elude American brewers.

 

I'll send you a few bottles

 

I had draught Schlenkerla Helles maybe once or twice in Cafe Abseits.
It is really weird how rare it is, I think I've never seen it served this way anywhere else. It is an amazing beer,one of the greats, and I never understood why it is not seen in "non geeky" pubs on draught. It works also quite well in bottled form.

Outside of(some parts of) bavaria it would'nt be too easy as well..
Anyway, my guess would be that I would be able to recognize some stuff by HB and probably all from Augustiner. But the others?Wow. Löwenbräu and Spaten are very similar to me, as well aus Paulaner and HP...

I did something like that once with most of the Oetker group Kölsches (bottled) which all come from one brewery:Küppers,Sester,Gilden,Sion,Dom. Funnily enough, the two cheapo ones were very distinct and I could them apart (Küppers even in a good way But the others were.......honestly kind of identical to my tounge.

 

Andechs or Spaten? No real need, though, thanks. Plenty of other beers to be had around here. Had some very fresh Metropolitan Flywheel last week that was delicious.

 

It might be a stretch, but maybe you could take a stab at why Schlenkerla Helles doesn't see wider distro in Germany? Is it out of character with local tastes in Franconia?

 

Speaking of Spaten. I was perusing the styles section on BA, to check what the ratings were like for Sierra Nevada's Oktoberfest this year, and I noticed that after Sam Adams, Spaten is the second most rated Oktoberfest. As in, most RATINGS, not highest rated.

Granted Sam Adams is over 7,000, and Spaten is around 24/2500ish. But still, I was surprised by that.

 

First of all, are we speaking distro only in Franconia or in Germany? That you can't find it all over germany is clear to me, the german beer market is highly localized. Which is not such a bad thing in my opinion. I mean, outside of franconia, you really need to know where to look to find Schlenkerla Märzen at all. And won't be succesfull everywehre.

So back to the Helles: Well, you see it in Getränkemärkte in Franconia, sure.
I remember even the odd nightclub or two in Bamberg that had it.
So it's not totally exotic. You just don't see it on draught in normal pubs.

Why that is, mh. Many pubs are, in cases of bigger breweries, financially tied to only one brewery they get their beer from, there is no guest-beer law or anyting like that..

Otherwhise, I think even for Schlenkerla itself, Helles is a niche product.
And with some conventional franconian drinkers I know, there is a kind of either-or mindset- either Rauchbier or not Rauchbier.
I also would assume that a Fass of Schlenkerla Helles really has to turn quickly, I mean its a weak, delicate brew.
But those are just a few assumptions I have. I may very well be totally of track here.

 

It's reasonable to think of those number as indicating some combination of how long the beer has been listed on the site and how widely distributed it is.

E.g., both of those beers have been available for review on here for about 15 years and are relatively easy to find in the US.