Schlossbrauerei Herrngiersdorf - Hallertauer Hopfen-Cuvée

It has been a hot and sunny, which means that I took the opportunity to smuggle a couple of new beers home form the supermarket to try. One of them is the Hallertauer Hopfen-Cuvée , by Schlossbrauerei Herrngiersdorf. I must admit to some nerves seeing "hopfen cuvee" on the bottle. But I thought that anything from the Hallertau area can't be that bad.

The brewery has advertised the beer with images such as this:

My own photo on the Balcony, complete with fingermarks on the glass came out like this:

This "helles" style beer is very pale yellow. It has a kind of glistening sheen to it and a light head. With the sun shining though it, I was reminded of those yellow-glass panels that people used to put next to their front door in the 1970s...

The nose is also light. It smells of an imaginary "summer dryness" if summer dryness had a smell.
To taste, this one is crisp and sweet at the same time. Perfectly balanced. The length gets drier and bitter, and fortunately there is none of that metallic aftertaste you often get from lager and pils style beers.

I smashed this bottle back pretty quick.There was, in fact, not as single problem I could find with this beer. Each mouthful was a pleasant treat. In the end, I have decided that this is probably as close to the Epitome of what I think a Helles should be like. For that reason, I am forced to award this a full 7 out of 7!

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Brauerei Reichgold - Hochstahl Lager

Last week I opened and tasted another of the Frankish beers that were given to me for my birthday. This time it was the Reichgold Hochstahl Lager.

The brewery has a nice promo image of this one, which of course I have to copy here:

My own photo of the bottle&glass combo came out like this:

The beer is a deep orange colour. On the nose, this "colour" comes out in a slightly malty and "fresh water" aroma. It's a little bit like the smell you get from a river (a clean one!), with a touch of metal-pipes about it.

The taste is clean, only lightly hopped and malted. There is a touch of sweetness in there, but this is not a sweet beer. At length, there is some toffee flavour, and the length stays around long enough to become savory, just crossing into the next mouthful, which makes it rather moreish. I drank this beer after work, in 30 degree sun, and it was a very pleasant experience indeed.

Overall a tasty beverage. I award this beer a 5 our of 7.

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