Hohenthanner Schlossbrauerei Grünhopfen

Working my way through Sunday's little mix of craft beers, I opened the Hohenthanner Schlossbrauerei Grünhopfen today. This is the same brewery who produce the Hopfen-Cuvee which I also drooled over in a previous review.

The Grünhopfen (Greenhop Pils) has had some nice marketing effort thrown in its general direction. Note this rather sexy poster design. The bottle itself has a beautiful monochrome label with an attractive, classic motif.

Sexy marketing like this can sometimes be a bit of a distraction, so I tried not to linger too longingly over the packaging. Here's how the bottle and beer looked when poured into a Somelier glass (courtesy of Bierschau, Landshut) and placed on top of an old wine box next to the dirty window shutters on a winter's eve.

The beer itself is a bright, straw-orange, and the head is clean, bouncy and bold.

The nose.. oh the nose! Hops crushed in the hand! It's unmistakable. This beer smells like the Hallaertau during harvest. I can imagine the citizens of Kent, long since having turned their hop-fields over to strawberries, crying with nostalgia at this aroma.

The flavour itself leaps out instantly. First to break cover is a poignant acidity. The line is quickly broken, to be followed by a smooth butteryness - I can't quite pin it down so I'm going to suggest bananas and peaches. Then the bright hops arrive bringing with them the sweet bitternes of victory only to fade and make way for the light malts and toasts of an enduring peace. From aroma to rest, this beer is a five part journey that I would happily revise on many occasions.

I cannot but give this one a 7 out of 7. Delightful.

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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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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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