The audience for Schlenkerla

Spezial+garlic=awesome tri-tip marinade

 

Agreed. Often times, the reason a given brewer is consumed in large quantities by tourists is because they are so good at what they do that they've become popular outside of their home market. I was going to bring up the exact point you did about Cantillon.

Personally I think any statement that goes something like "[type/brand of beer] is for [group of presumedly uninformed/noob consumers]" is stupid and mostly baseless.

 

While it doesn't have much to do with what the Shelton Brothers supposedly said, one thing I always liked about the Spezial Rauchbier is that their default base beer was essentially a dunkel. The bases for Schlenkerla's lagers are maerzen and bock, which give both of them a sweeter and more caramel character. For me at least, that tends to lead me down the BBQ sauce path, while the dunkel base for Spezial tends to be more of a pure smoky flavor.

IMO, both taste different on tap anyway. I think the bottled versions of Schlenkerla (all of them) seem to concentrate that sweet smoky character and make it even stronger than it should be. In Bamberg, it's still smokier and sweeter than the Spezial, but not quite as much.

 

Have you had Göller's Rauchbier? I tried this for the first time recently and thought it was really good. Hard to go wrong with a Franconian Rauchbier.

 

Nah, the only Franconian rauchbiers I've had are Spezial and Schlenkerla, although I hope to try the newer one from Greifenklau next month.

 

Is this true, though? The Helles** from Spezial is pretty widely available over here and about the only one I've had (outside of Bamberg).

So true.

*Oh -- and the only tourists I saw at Schlenkerla were from... Berlin!

**Okay, I guess you can't really tell what style it's based on, so back to the debate.

 

I've never had a helles from Spezial before. Their normal one ("lager") is labeled as a dunkel on the bottle over here in the states. Over there it's just their house rauchbier...but I don't think I'd call it a helles, even if the Franconian helles versions tend to be more amber.
They also have a maerzen and bock, just like Schlenkerla, but I think that those are only seasonals. They weren't on the menu when I was there at least. They had the house rauchbier, the rauch weissbier, and their "U" ...which I'd also declare to be amazing, but unrelated.

 

It states "dunkel" on the above beer bottle label.

Cheers!

 

Well, the one I linked to above I described as "Clear, deep gold bordering on amber..." not at all how I'd describe a Dunkel, so I'm not sure which beer is which.

 

It has "dunkel" on the label, but it says Kühl und dunkel lagern = Store cool and dark. If it was labeled as a Dunkel, the word -- a noun -- would be capitalized.

 

True. HOWEVER......I was in Bamberg not too long ago, staying in a hotel whose restaurant advertised "Spezial Dunkel". The restaurant was closed that day, so I walked over to Spezial's take-out window and asked them (in German) for their Dunkel. The woman asked if I meant the Rauchbier. I said, "no, the Dunkel" and she replied, "our Rauchbier is a Dunkel." Take it for what it's worth, my German is not that good.

 

...sorry, I can't get the image to link correctly.

Try this -- http://beerme.com/graphics/brewery/6/6540/10327.gif

Not terribly dunkel to my eye.

 

Did it look dunkel?

 

My pictures of it are definitely darker than that picture.
Here we go. This is beside their pale U. I'd say it looks like a dunkel to me:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/domingo_x/9195606206/

 

If Spezial make a Helles, that beer should be added to the list of beers on BA:

Spezial 475 Jubiläums Festbier
Rauchbier
?
4
1

Spezial Rauchbier Bockbier
Rauchbier
4.60
3.92
13

Spezial Rauchbier Lager
Rauchbier
4.60
3.69
260

Spezial Rauchbier Märzen
Märzen / Oktoberfest
5.30
4.09
31

Spezial Rauchbier Weissbier
Hefeweizen
5.00
3.98
14

Spezial Ungespundetes
Keller Bier / Zwickel Bier
5.00
4.1
8

Spezial Weissbier
Hefeweizen
5.30
3.45
3



Cheers!

 

Not to me -- looks about the same - like an amber Märzen.

This is Dunkel: http://www.bavarianbiercafe.com/media/cache/lrg_HofbrauDunkell_r175x0-1q100.jpg

Or this: http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-FiJSWdbbXbw/TaZZvJVKwZI/AAAAAAAAAC4/llBmlB-Rf5A/s320/Hofbrau+Dunkel.jpg

 

There's no Dunkel on the list either.

 

Those are Munich versions of dunkels - they're darker than the ones from Bamberg. I keep forgetting that German beer only has 5 styles

 

Schlenkerla also has a Helles and a Weizen as base beers.

 

Hah, so that's the disconnect!

But it doesn't explain why the Spezial "Dunkel" is so close in color to Schlenkerla's Märzen, you know?

One thing's for sure, this thread is making me damn thirsty for a Dunkel or Rauchbier -- or both!