Gänstaller Bräu Smoked Imperial India Pale Ale

Whilst in Bamberg recently, one of the bottled beers I managed to get my hands on was the delightfully named "Gänstaller Bräu XL4 (experimental lager series) Smoked Imperial India Pale Ale - bottle fermented".

This little mouthful comes from the Gänstaller brewery in Hallerndorf, Oberfranken. The brewery is only 4 years old, so this beer is quite new to the world.

Quite wonderfully, when searching for a "marketing image" of this beer I found the following poster. The fact that the New Zealand flag is proudly crossed with the German one in this image convinced my to stop my search and provide a copy of this little image here. Unless perhaps one of the brewers is a Kiwi, I suspect the flag is a reference to the New Zealand (my country-of-origin) sourced hops which are used in this beer.

The poster gives us a few key facts too, identifying our ABV at 8.2% and conveniently pointing out the bitterness by way of 76 IBUs. As usual, I have taken my own amateur photo of this beer, sitting once again on a porcelain dish, beneath some kitchen lighting.

The beer is a deep orange yellow. Much too dark for a typical lager or even IPA, yet not quite the burnt colours you'd expect from an "ale" ale. No doubt the smoke has had something to do with this.

The nose then, is noticeably smokey. But it isn't overpowering. There is still enough hops and sweeteness coming through. The smokiness seems to be more of a homage to the Rauchbier than a full blown dive off the deep end.

The "smoked IPA" concept is a great idea. I'm generally a fan of experimentation when it comes to beer. There are enough pilseners and lagers in the world. Smoking and IPA is new to me, and I was quite excited to taste this one. In terms of flavour, obviously we have smoke. It's a tiny bit sea-foody too, as one might expect from certain Belgain beers. The combination is excellent. The hops are dancing a merry dance in there too, and not your typical "no holds barred" IPA dance either. These hops are the girl who knows how to dance, but she doesn't make a big fuss about it. This dance is restrained, yet it is not lost in the smokey haze. The balance of these difficult elements is, for me, impeccable.

If this beer is an "experiment" then my advice is to stop the test right now. This little gem needs to be taken out of the lab and released into the wild.

I give this one a 6 out of 7, and I wonder if maybe it deserves a 7.

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Schönram Obergäriges Starkbier

Tonight I had the sumptuous delight of opening and tasting a bottle of the Schönram Obergäriges Starkbier. "Obergäriges Starkbier" is, for the non-German speaker, an Imperial Stout. And oh!, how Imperial, and oh!, how stout!

The Schoenram brewery is located in southeastern Bayern, in Oberbayern, almost on the Austrian border. It has been operating since 2006, and is one of the modern generation of "micro-breweries" that have sprung up all over the beer drinking world in the past 15 years.

The Obergäriges Starkbier is, according to the advertising people, supposed to look like this:

When I take a photo of it, on top of a porcelain cooking dish, next to my 1970's styled kitchen wall-tiles, it looks like this:

The beer is tar-black. Deep, dark and probably quite naughty. It reminds me of a double espresso, but not nearly as tiny. At 9.5% this is truly a Starkbier. Smashing a 330ml of this is similar to downing half a bottle of wine... so.. tread carefully.

The nose of this beer is a delight. Rich and malty. Zingy hoppy hops. It is a punch in the face of willful wonderment. The flavours are, quite surprisingly very tangy (like a freshly brewed milk-free coffee) at first, followed closely behind by a deep and rich maltiness. The combination of the zingy flavours and the light carbonation creates a sparkle as it rolls down the throat, after which comes a creamy salve.

I cannot speak highly enough of this treat. It is as good as any Stout I have ever had. On Sesame Street, they would refer to this beer as "nom, nom, nom". I confidently grant this beer a 7 out of 7. Full marks.

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Beer Heaven exists and its name is Bamberg

I've just returned from a two-day visit to the town of Bamberg, in northern Bavaria. Bamberg is located within Upper Franconia (Oberfranken) which is an area which, in all likelihood, boasts the highest concentration of breweries per person in all of Germany (and possibly the world, depending on how you draw your geographical boundaries).

Bamberg is a beer drinker's dream. Without even consulting any kind of beer guidebook, or beer-related tourism tips, I managed to walk past no fewer than seven breweries during the two day stay. There are, apparently two more which I did not get around to finding. Not bad for a town with only 70,000 inhabitants!

The local specialty is Rauchbier (smoked beer). Many beer drinkers will already be familiar with the Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier which is the most famous of this particular style. This Rauchbier is commonly described in superlative terms by many who try it. However, for me, Bamberg was about the other less famous Rachbiers. In particular, just a few doors down from the Aecht Schlenkerla pub is another Brewery called "Ambräusianum". This site has only been operating since 2004. Inside they will serve a 3 x 100ml taster ("Bierprobe") of their Helles, Dunkles and the Rauchbier. Not as heavily smoked as the Schlenkerla Rauchbier, I found this to be the most pleasant bier in the smoked style on offer.

One absolute highlight for me was a shop called "bierothek" which is located on the north bank of the Main-Donau Canal, near the centre of town. This little shop was incredibly well stocked with hundreds of beer varieties all in bottles laid out with (minus a couple of exceptions) a maximum of two facings per type. I've posted some photos below from inside this shop, which the gentleman behind the counter kindly let me take.

 

I returned from Bierothek with this little stash of goodies (all Bavarian) which I shall be tasting and reviewing over the next couple of weeks. So, plenty to write and read about in the upcoming days. Stay tuned! 

Ehrenberger Pilgerstoff

In the last hour I have had the pleasure of enjoying an Ehrenberger Pilgerstoff.  This beer comes from the far northwest of Bayern, namely Oberfranken. When bottled, the beer arrives in 500ml serves. The ABV for this beer is 5.2%.

I was unable, in the 20 seconds that I typically give myself, to find an advertising photo if the beer in a glass. I did however, find this image online;

My own image is somewhat less prepared, but at least I can Boston the nectar itself, glowing in the shared light of a 40w energy saving bulb;

Pilgerstoff is a Märzen/Dunkles beer. It glows red, like many of the dark beers from this part of Bayern. The nose is entirely pleasant.  There us some toffee, fruits an (if you can convince yourself a little) the lightest smokiness.

The flavour is well rounded,  warm  and rich. There are some hops, with their attendant bitterness,  but this is fleeting.  The main contribution is toffee, malt and a squeeze of apple. Overall the beer is sweet and inviting. Happily, I did not find myself wishing that I were drinking this during a different season.

Pilgerstoff is a real goodie. I grant it a 6 out of 7.

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Erlbräu Erlkönig

"Dem Vater grauset's, er reitet geschwind,

Er hält in Armen das ächzende Kind,

Erreicht den Hof mit Müh' und Not;

In seinen Armen das Kind war tot."

The above text is from a poem by Goethe,  after which this beer appears to be named. The beer is brewed by Erlbräu,  in Niederbayern.  

Served from a 500 ml bottle, this is a lightly coloured pale yellow Helles. 5% of the volume of this beer is alcohol, and marketing people have decided that it looks like this;

When opened and poured into a glass at a turkish Döner-kebab diner in Laaber,  it looks like this; 

This is a well balanced beer in terms of flavour. Sweet, a touch bitter and with some gentle nuttiness for good measure. The overall mellow nature of this one means that it will struggle for memorability. However,  it is a very competent beer.

I willingly award this one 4 out of 7.

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Hacker-Pschorr Superior

The "Superior" by Hacker-Pschorr is a seasonal fest-bier. This particular festival being Christmas, hence the snowy picture on the label. Basically it is a Helles (lager) but it is stronger in flavour and in ABV when compared to the usual garden varieties of Helles.

From the city of Munich (Oberbayern), Hacker-Pschorr claims to have been around since 1417. Now that we've got the boring bits out of the way...

Here's how the marketing types want you to see this beer; note the blurry chap in the background, no doubt enjoying himself:

And here is how the Bottle&Glass combo looks when I take a photo of it. With a crappy camera. In bad lighting. Next to a pot plant.

The pour is a rich yellowish-hay colour. My girlfriend advises me that hay is green. I beg to differ. Hay, is a sort of pale yellowish brown. On second thought, hay is probably too pale. Let's go with "rich yellow"...

It didn't detect much in the way of smell from this one. It is, shall we say, "clean" in that department. In light of the aroma I was not expecting a bitter beer. True to form, it isn't bitter. It sits on the sweeter side of Lagers. I could almost imagine peaches in there.. but let's not allow the imagination to run too wild. I must confess that I started this beer after a hot chilli meal. It was a rather good accompaniment. However I finished the bottle sometime later, after the chilli had worn off. By that point the slightly-sweet-but-clean finish left me slightly wanting. Wanting hops.

Overall a solid strong lager. Probably best for folks who don't drink darker beers, but still want a little extra ABV in the winter months.

I rate this one a weak 4 out of 7.

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Weißenoher bonifatius

This evening I put The Weißenhoher Bonifatius to the test.
This beer is a monastery brew (Klosterbier) from Oberfranken, in the north of Bavaria.

Here is what the beer looks like in advertising material:

The bottle is standard half Liter, sporting 5.1% ABV of "Dunkles" (dark) Beer.
I would add that the beer itself is tilted towards the Reddish side of Dunkles. It doesn't take much lighting to turn her into a glowing red ale, at least as far as appearances are concerned. Here's how a poured bottle looks, on a window-sill, in the evening with a dirty window behind it:

Flavour-wise I get some nice messages from this little number between the receptors on my tongue and the part of my brain that does the processing. The beer is mild and mellow. I get the feeling that it has one shoulder leaning on a sack of nuts, whilst staring longingly at a stick of slightly burnt toffee. The only slight downside is a tinge of something metallic at the long end of the taste. But this is easily remedied by putting another mouthful down the hatch before it can materialise.

The Bonifatius is a good drop. I could happily down a couple of these, and if I drank Islay whisky, I suspect this beer would make an excellent accompaniment.

On the "what's it like" scale, I'd give this beer a 4 out of 7. But it is pushing firmly towards the 5 mark.

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Ayinger Celebrator

So, I kick of this blog with the Beer that made me think I ought to write something down about Bavarian beers.

Introducing, the Ayinger Celebrator, from Oberbayern.
This is what the beer looks like in an advertising photo.

The bottle is a 330ml, smaller that the usual 500ml for Bayern. However, the beer itself is 6.7% ABV, so it makes up for the smaller size by punching a little harder. I took my own photo of this little treat with a rather old mobile phone. So, this is how the Bottle&Glass partnership looks like when you put it on a table, in a bar, on a February evening:

Note that that bottle has a nice wee plastic horse of some description dangling from it. I was tempted to take this with me, but I figured I had no real use for it, so I left it hanging on the bottle's neck.

OK, enough small-talk; on to the tasting and smelling bit!

The beer has a confident, rounded and toffee-like aroma. I guess this is what one would expect from a Dopple-Bock. It was probably served to me a little bit cold (it was chilled) and I expect that with a little warming up to the 15 - 18 degrees range the smell of the beer would also be warmed.

The flavour was less obvious than the smell. I was expecting quite a wallop of heady hops and malt. But, in light of the aroma, the flavour of this one is rather mild. For the lager drinker, this beer would make a nice transition into the stronger-and-darker range. For me personally the experience would not have suffered in any way from a injection of more sticky (malty) and botanical (hoppy) mouth-phenomena. That said, this isn't an IPA. You don't necessarily want to be thrown off that little white horse, over-hopping a beer like this could result in ruin. So, perhaps the balance is just about right. In any event, the aroma could be described as deceptive, or perhaps one could also describe it as inviting.

All told though, this is certainly a tasty beverage. I would not hesitate to order this little pocket-rocket again. An excellent late winter drinker.

Using the "scoring system" that I just invented; I'm giving this beer a 5 out of a possible 7.

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