Fastenbier

Better, actually. Perhaps my palate was adjusting? Perhaps I just needed to get used to it? Perhaps this was the infamous third 1/2 liter? Perhaps there really is something wrong with my Paulaner mug!

It's still hoppier than what I remember at the pub, particularly in the aftertaste. Again, maybe drinking it while eating has something to do with it. Maybe I'm just remembering poorly (I was with a friend and not exactly taking notes). I can't explain it, I can only report it.

Schlenkerla tulip next!

 

It might be that the increased carbonation carries more of the hop aromas and bitterness. The bottled versions have some strange qualities sometimes when compared to the (wooden) kegged versions. Something I've never been able to put my finger on precisely either.

 

Herr B - any idea where to find this around us? I checked Greens and Total yesterday w/o luck.

 

Haven't seen it. Some buddies of mine who work at Morganelli's are keeping an eye out, but no word from them yet.

 

Picked up 2 bottles of a special little beer called Fastenbier today. I plan on cracking one tomorrow....will report back.

My store only got 9 bottles (no limit as no one really knows what this beer is, I find this amusing) but I snagged 2, could have got more. If they're still there later this weekend might grab another.

The distributor was there and said the state only got 11 cases total, just to give the rest of you an idea how limited it might be in your area.

 

No limit by me, either (eyeball count was ~20 bottles on the shelf at my place, plus they are getting a keg). I also get the feeling that no one really knows this beer. I'll count them up again when I go back and see if anyone else has bought any. This place has Uerige Sticke on their shelf and I think I'm the only one who's ever purchased any.

 

What price for those bottles?

Cheers!

 

$5.74......what do you typically pay for Schlenkerla?

 

14.99 euros for 20 0,5l bottles for the märzen, i think 16.99 for the same amount of urbock.

 

While I find this prohibitively expensive, it is simply a reflection of what the current U.S. "craft" market will take. Before all the new bombers and stuff started hitting the shelves around here about 5-6 years ago, a bottle of Schlenkerla was $2.99. Over the course of 1-2 years, the price had jumped to $4.99 (which is obviously not a simple matter of inflation). Same thing for Celebrator: it used to be a bit over $10 for a six pack here; then over the course of that same 1-2 year period it jumped to around $16.99 (and now it's in 4-packs for about the same price). There are some who argue that such price increases would benefit the German beer market. And while this may be true in a theoretical sense, I can't see the German public putting up with such drastic increases.

 

surely not,esp. not in franconia, were 15 euros for a case is already considered very expensive, and older people moan when a seidla in a biergarten is over 2 euros.
most local beers lie in the 10-13 euro range per crate. rising them higher would ruin the brewers business.
i think it is this way because beer is not seen as hype accesoir there, something to obsess over, but as a part of a daily healthy diet,like bread, which needs to be affordable for everyone.

 

I am unsure of "typical" but my last Schlenkerla purchase (a few months ago) was $3.99 for a bottle of the Urbock.

Cheers!

 

I just got 2 today as well- the guys at the store said they just came in yesterday. I had no idea of how limited it was, or I would have asked if it's the same in NY. These were just on the shelf alongside the other Schlenkerla bottles, so you'd never notice them if you weren't looking specifically for it.

 

Luckily many aren't.

 

Finally.

Color was a dark reddish brown, not nearly as dark as the Urbock, which if I remember correctly I couldn't see through. The nose and first sip were a huge wave of smoke. Then I got hit with a moderate amount of bitterness from the hops, and remembered @mjtierney2's review detailed above in this thread. I feel your review is spot on, so I won't wax on during this description. Sweet malt in the finish, and a very drinkable (süffig as you guys would say, I used that correctly right?) beer.

Smokiness was in between the Maerzen and Urbock. Not sure how I would rank this one among the Schlenkerla offerings. Definitely still prefer the Maerzen over all of them, but I'm not sure if I prefer the Urbock or the Fastenbier. I feel the Eiche and Helles are different enough to be separated from the others, especially the Helles obviously.

In terms of a bottle limit, I went to another store yesterday and they may have had 20+ Fastenbier's, but at $5.70 each, I don't know if I'll be purchasing more than these two bottles. I'm curious how the second will be for me, the Schlenkerla beers tend to get better with each one.

 

The eagle has landed in SE Michigan. Picked up four bottles yesterday and have a case on order. Mahlzeit!

 

You are a wise man.

 

what about the weizen. for some time this was my favorite of the line, just because how weird the combination was,yet still very fitting somehow, in a strange way.

 

The weizen is the only one that so far has escaped my grasps. I've seen it, I just wasn't sure of how fresh the bottles were. I e-mailed Schlenkerla a few months ago so I knew bottles of their offerings were fresh. They use a two letter code the back of the bottle that allows them to know when it was bottled. Unfortunately this dating changes year to year, so the code is meaningless going forward for us.