Schlossbrauerrei Au-Hallertau Hopfull Dark Ale

Next up is one of the increasing range of Craft beers that have been emerging in Bavaria in recent years. Still slightly behind the craft-beer-craze-curve that has already swept most of the English-speaking beer world, Bayern is now playing a little bit of catchup.

This beer is brewed in the Hallertau region, and it is a Dark Ale.Unsurprisingly, the colour is dark, but the reddish hue is obvious. The brew is slightly opaque too, and the colouration comes through into the head which takes on a creamed tone.

The nose is a combination of hops, some heavy malt and something I can't quite pin down that could be citrus of some kind, or a bitter metallic note.... The slight drawback of this combination is that there is a touch of the old used-dishwater tone about the aroma.

To taste, the bitterness is prominent, skewed with the acidic note that is detectable in the nose. There are the classic nutty flavours in there too, with some of the dark-beer coffee bean piercing the darkness also. However, this is not a "coffee beer", far from it.

The later parts of the flavour linger mostly on the citrus elements. This beer would cut through a mountain cheese perfectly. Based on my own observation above, I promptly opened the fridge and sliced myself some smokey northern Italian cheese. Combined on the taste buds with this beer, I found what can only be described as a win situation.

Overall a nice craft beer. Let down by the aroma somewhat, but made up for by the cheese combo.

4 out of 7.

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Schneider Weisse TAP7 Original

Back in July I posted that I was going to review some of the schneider series. Well, I finally got around to typing this one up, the Tap7 Original Weizen.

This wheat beer has a deep and slightly turbid reddish brown colour. The head is very solid, and it hangs around for quite some time. A classic weizen, as far as appearances go. As per usual, here is my photographical representation.

The nose is yeasty like sweet bread and there is a small amount of a vegetable aroma, reminiscent of a small fruit and veg shop.

The flavour is springy, well hopped, with a tart/ sour element. It leans ever so slightly in the direction of a lembic beer. After this zesty start there is some sweetenss, and then tropical fruit. Then, right at the end it goes on to matching the aroma from the nose, a yeasty sweet bread. This one could almost pass for a winter beer in that respect.

I was quite content with this flavoursome, if not oustanding beer.

4 out of 7

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Kaiser Heirich Urstoff

Well, well, well, the beer reviews have been neglected fro a wee while, but don't let that fool you into thinking I ain't been drinking! And, the fruits of my labours are to be laid before you know!

Behold! the Kaiser Heinrich Urstoff.

This is an amber coloured "Helles". The nose on this is nutty and dry. When I tasted this one, I wrote "autumn grass & a tad dusty" in my notes referring to the aroma. For flavour, I scribbled down "light honey & toffee", a "mid range sweetness, perhaps even banana if you can convince yourself of it". The bitterness is only present at the long end of the flavour and it is not strong. I identify this as a cross-over between a summer and autumn beer, which wasn't ideal when I tasted it in mid-July, and might be much more suitable now!

I hereby grant a 5 out of 7.

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I also noted that this beer had an "English-ale" tone, but without the added dishwater!

KuchlBauer Helles

The Kuchlbauer Helles is a mildly-yellow coloured Helles. Kuchlbauer is a reallz superb brewery with much of the site's architecture influenced by Friedensreich Hundertwasser. See here for some images.

Here is my photo of this Helles, in glass, on balcony.

The beer gives a wide-bubbled head from its moderate carbonation.

The nose on this one is slightly grassy with a touch of what I am going to call "tannin" - a sort of metallic astringency.

The taste is sweet, as you'd expect from a Helles with a mellow hoppiness, which is then tempered by a medium dry toffee flavour - not sugary but caramel nonetheless. This beer is mild enough to allow fast drinking whilst still carrying flavour for savoring. I'd say this is a good option as a post-lawn-mowing beer (if you mow lawns...).

I give this beer a very solid 4 out of 7

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Upcoming Beer Reviews

Here is a wee teaser for you, a selection of beers bought and gifted to me which I shall be reviewing over the next couple of weeks. Note the high frequency of various Weißbier from Schneider-Weisse, I bought a taster box that includes mix from their range. Being generally someone who does not drink Weißbier, this will be interesting indeed for me to judge each on its individual merits.

Meilenhofen Hop-farming in the Hallertau

This weekend I enjoyed an afternoon spent at one of Agriculture's most wonderful of gifts to human social advancement: A hop farm!

The farm is located in the mega-famous Hallertau Region, which is the area that lies between the Rivers Isar and the Danube, in central Bavaria. Landshut, where I live, is located just south of this region, so getting there is a small matter of a few minutes in the car. Specifically, this hop-farm was located just outside the village of Meilenhofen, near Mainburg.

We were hosted by the very knowledgeable and affable Hans who operates the hop farm.

Photo: Hans, our guide around the farm

Hans cultivates/grows (at least) two main types of hop, the early flowering "Hallertauer Perle" and the more common "Magnum". We had the opportunity to see these varieties side-by-side. The Perle already in Bud and the Magnum still flowering.

Photo: Perle variety with buds

A friend who has just completed his Masters in Biology, Stox, a man who appreciates all things a-growing, was with me for the visit (as well as our two girlfriends). Fortunately, Stox was able to ask all the questions being both a native speaker and a biologist, whilst I flittered about taking photos and enjoying the general glorious ambiance of the place - exhibiting my general ignorance of the rural life, looking like a proper townie and tourist at the same time. 

Photo: Stox asking all the right questions of Hans

Hops from this immediate area find their way into both the local smaller beers such as the Hohentanner brews (I recently tried an excellent beer from the Hallertauer which I reviewed here,). The local hops also find their way into some of the main Bavarian Beers for consumption in the cities, or sometimes in tacky Bavarian-beer themed pubs abroad. The Hallertau is considered to have the greatest concentration of Hops grown per Km2 in the world, however I have no method of verifying this claim.

Without rambling on too much, I decided to complete this blog with a series of photos taken during the visit. If you are ever in the Hallertau area, try to get yourself an invitation to visit a hop farm. On a sunny weekend it it well worth your time.

Bavarian Summer Heat- Beer recommendations

This week is hot. Scorching hot. Cracker-day-dad-let's-go-fishing Hot.

In the UK, folks are cramming themselves into tiny hatchbacks and crawling along the M2 to dip their toes in the turbid waters of the Channel at Ramsgate. Here in Bayern, a much more elegant solution has been developed. The Biergarten.

Below are my top three tips for beer drinking beneath the shade of a mature chestnut tree in full and glorious leaf. One of these I have reviewed already, and the other two are yet to be, but I thought it worthwhile to note them down now, whilst the weather is agreeable.

In no particular order:

1. Weissbierbrauer Kuchlbauer - Sportsfreund
This  beer is a delightful low-alchohol Weizen. Weißbier says summer like a couple of jerseys say "makeshift goalposts", that it, it says it well. Kuchlbauer have managed to keep this Weizen from going all sugary and heay, which just won't do in weather like this. The lower alchohol volume also significantly recudes the chances of dehydration induced headaches. It's a win-win situation.


2. Schlossbrauerei Herrngiersdorf - Hallertauer Hopfen-Cuvée
A Champagne of beers. Chill this one down and pour it into a tall half-litre glass. Wait for the moiture to condense on the glass exterior then dream your way through the contents; I have recently reviewed this beer very favourably here.

3. Lösch-Zwerg Pils
This little champion is a great summer beer for taking out. It comes in a tiny bottle, a few of which can easily be squeezed into a small bag. It's ideal for taking on the bicycle or in a small coolie-bin. The small bottle means that you also don't end up with 20% of the beer going warm in the sun before you finish.