Tucher Helles Hefe Weizen

Now this is a true Bavarian Hefe Weizen, complete with the banana and cloves esters that are the trademark of an authentic Hefe. These flavors come from the yeast itself, and they're somewhat unique to this style. As you can see, it also has the huge fluffy white head and cloudy appearance that is also traditional for this style. Tucher is a German Brewery, in case you hadn't guessed. This made for an excellent summer brew.

Bischoff Falkensteiner Ur-Weisse

A short time ago I reviewed Bischoff's Falkensteiner Ur-Schwarze, and found it somewhat lacking. Tonight I tried another bottle of Bischoff - this time it's their Ur-Weisse. It poured a pale golden color with a big white head. The head was more impressive than the one on the Schwarze. The nose on this variety was closer to what I would expect from a wheat beer - some citrus notes, and some banana too. The flavor also had evidence of bananas and clove from the Bavarian hefeweizen yeast. This bottle was more true to the style than the Schwarze was. It still wasn't up to par when compared to my favorite - Weihenstephan, but it was better. It was refreshing and enjoyable with my chicken.

Kulmbacher Monchshof Kellerbrau

A couple of weeks ago, I reviewed a Schwarzbier from Kulmbacher Monchshof - a marvelous brewery in Kulmbach, Germany. Tonight I had another one of their brews - their Kellerbrau. This is a kellerbier - an unfiltered German lager. I've sampled kellerbiers from other brewers, but this is my favorite so far. It poured a deep cloudy golden color with a frothy white head. The photo makes the beer look darker than it actually was. Even with the big head, the beer was modestly carbonated, which is a traditional feature of a kellerbier. It was very smooth, with a moderate, but obvious Noble hop finish. Unfortunately, Monchshof seems to be hard to find in Florida, but I hope to try some of their other varieties in the future.

Weltenburger Kloster Barock Dunkel

I am always amazed by German brewing tradition. Most German brewers follow the very strict German Purity law - the Reinheitsgebot - which says that beer must be made from water, malt, yeast, and hops. No other adjuncts can be added. Even so, they brew a wide variety of styles, all of which are uniquely different, and many are uniquely German. Tonight's beer is a German Dunkel, brewed by Klosterbrauerei Weltenburg in Kelheim, Germany. This is the 2nd beer I have tried from this brewer - the oldest Monastery brewery in the world. A while back I tasted their Asam Bock and reviewed it here. This dunkel is as impressive as the bock. It poured a crystal clear brown with a lasting off-white head. The aroma is of dark malt and fruit, and the palate is dark malt, a hint of raisins and cola, and some flowery hops. I am eagerly anticipating finding my next variety of beer from Weltenburger Kloster!

Bischoff Falkensteiner Ur-Schwarze

This past weekend, I took a trip to Knightly Spirits and spent 1/2 hour perusing their shelves for interesting beers. They always have a "bargain table" set up in the front of the store and in the past I've found a bunch of interesting imports and micros on this table. Tonight's beer came from that table. It's Bischoff's Falkensteiner Ur-Schwarze, which is a dark wheat beer. I confess that when I bought it, I thought it was a Schwarzbier, so I guess my reading skills were on hiatus that day. But that's ok - I like a good Hefewizen Dunkel, so I wasn't disappointed when I actually read the label today. When I twisted off the aluminum cap, there was no sound of escaping CO2, which didn't strike me as a good sign. It poured a chocolate brown, with a 1/4 inch tall head. A good hefeweizen should have a head that fills the glass, but this was far from it. The nose was a bit sour, and the first taste was definitely underwhelming. It was a bit tart, with just a hint of chocolate, and almost no Bavarian hefeweizen character. Whenever I drink a German wheat beer, I always compare it to what I consider the best brewer of these styles - Weihenstephan. Sadly, this doesn't come close. It's not a bad beer - it's simply mediocre.

Kulmbacher Monchshof Schwarz

Today I was preparing to bottle my latest homebrew - my Imperial Stout, and discovered that I was a couple of bottles short of what I need for the batch. This posed a conundrum - do I get some more bottles? or do I empty some of the ones I already have filled with homebrew? Considering the magnitude of the decision, I decided to do both. With lunch, I drank one of my homebrewed brown ales which brought me one bottle closer to my goal. I then decided to add some more bottles to my collection, so off I went to one of my favorite beer stores to get some bottles. I always prefer to buy full bottles and empty them myself. Kulmbacher Monchshof in Germany uses some great bottles when packaging their Schwarzbier and Kellerbier. I picked up some of each, (along with 9 other beers) and decided on the Schwarz for tonight. Schwarz means black in German, and this beer is definitely black. So far, this is my favorite Schwarzbier. It's smooth, malty, a little bit roasty, and really easy to drink. It has a nice nutty flavor as well. Schwarzbiers are brewed with lager yeast, and Monchshof advertises this beer as "The Original Black Pilsner". IMHO, this is WAY better than a Pilsner. And I get a double benefit of being able to refill the bottle after enjoying its original contents!

Tucher Kristall Weizen

I found another bottle of Tucher wheat beer in the fridge - this time it's their Kristall Weizen. A Kristall is a filtered wheat beer, which differentiates it from the Hefeweizen, which is unfiltered. It generally has a cleaner, crisper flavor than a hefe. This one falls into that category precisely. It still has the banana-clove flavor of a Bavarian Hefe, but it is lighter in body, color and flavor. The Tucher poured a golden color, almost like a Pilsner. It had a big frothy white head. This is a great warm-weather beer, which I enjoyed tremendously.

Tucher Dunkles hefe Weizen

This Hefe Weizen Dunkle is brewed by the German brewer Tucher. It poured a cloudy medium brown color with a large off-white head. The head lasted for a long time, and left some nice lacing on the glass. This beer had the banana and clove flavor that is typical of a Bavarian Hefeweizen. These flavors are generated by the specific type of yeast used in these brews. Because it is a dunkel, it also had some caramel and chocolate notes as well. This beer was a little sweeter than the standard hefeweizen, probably due to the fact that it's a dunkel. It had a smooth medium texture and very little hop finish. This was a very enjoyable beer.

Moosbacher Kellerbier

As a homebrewer, I'm always on the lookout for bottles I can use for my latest concoction. There are several German brewers that use brown half-liter flip-top bottles like the one in the photo. These bottles are perfect! Flip-top bottles are so much easier to use than standard crown bottles. I started out using Grolsch pint bottles, which work fine, but they have the Grolsch logo molded into the glass, so it's not a bottle you want to give to friends, and it's very difficult to put a label on. The bottle in the photo has smooth sides, so it can easily be personalized with your own clever labels.

Now - on the subject of the beer that's in the bottle - it's Moosbacher Kellerbier, brewed by the Private Landbrauerei Scheuerer in Bavaria. A Kellerbier, which literally means "cellar beer", is an unfiltered, highly hopped lager. Also known as a Zwickelbier, it is usually an amber color with very little carbonation. It's normally brewed in wooden casks, with the bung left loose, so that the fermentation gas escapes. This particular example is definitely the correct color, about the color of maple syrup. It was low in carbonation, but was definitely not flat. In fact, it had a decent 1 inch head when I first poured it, but I couldn't get the camera set up quickly enough to capture it in its full-headed glory. I really like Kellerbiers - they have more malt and flavor than a traditional lager. They're also a bit stronger. This one weighed in at 5.2 % abv. The only fault I found with this particular brew was a slight metallic aftertaste. Kulmbacher Mönchshof is another German brewer that makes a fine Kellerbier. It tends to be cloudier than this one, which points to its unfiltered nature. Mönchshof also uses these great bottles!

Pinkus Organic Munster Alt

I was a bit disappointed when I tasted this beer for the first time. I saw it at Whole Foods and decided to buy it because it was called an "Alt" beer. I had never tried an "Alt", but had heard good things about them. This is not the Alt style of beer - it's more of a blonde ale. It poured a light hazy golden color with an inch tall white head. If I had been given a glass of this beer without seeing the bottle, I would have sworn it was a wheat beer. It has a very tart and fruity flavor, for a non-wheat ale. The body was light, the finish was lightly bitter. It was an OK beer, but not what I was expecting. Pinkus is an Organic brewer in Germany, and Whole foods had two other varieties - a lager, and a weizen.

Weltenburger Kloster Asam Bock

Weltenburger Kloster is a German brewer that claims to be "the oldest Monastery-Brewery in the world. Since 1050." That's just 10 years after Weihenstephan began brewing. This is their "Asam Bock" which is in the style of a doppelbock. They call it a "dunkler doppelbock", and it is dark, so it deserves the name dunkler. It poured a dark brown with a sizeable tan head that lasted for a few minutes. It really looks good in the glass, and it tastes even better than it looks. This is a very rich, malty doppelbock - one of the best I have ever had. It smelled of sweet malt and caramel, and the flavor hinted of raisins and molasses, and lots of malt. It was somewhat low in carbonation, but had a rich texture. At 6.9% alcohol, it wasn't too strong, so I didn't feel like I couldn't finish the bottle. I can easily see why Weltenburger has been around for nearly 1000 years. This is an excellent beer, and I'll be looking around for some of their other varieties.

Weihenstephaner Vitus - Weizenbock

Today, I had a beer from one of my favorite German Brewers. Weihenstephan claims to be the oldest brewery in the world, with continuous brewing since the year 1040. Weihenstephan Vitus is a weizenbock, which is a maltier, higher alcohol version of their Hefeweizen. This beer had a fruity, citrusy background, with the typical banana/clove flavors of the Bavarian weizen yeast. In fact, if you're a homebrewer, you can buy the Weihenstephan strain of yeast from Wyeast - it's number 3068.

At 7.7% alcohol, Vitus is significantly stronger than Weihenstephan's standard wheat brew. This beer is obviously maltier, with a heavier mouthfeel as well. It poured a deep golden color, with a huge white head that lasted forever. I got the glass as a promotion from the local liquor store, by buying 4 bottles of Weihenstephan. It's my favorite glass, and today I was able to turn the glass around and display the logo for my photo. It's the perfect glass for drinking a wheat beer with a nice full head.

Hacker Pschorr Weisse

Hacker-Pschorr is an established Munich, Germany brewery that makes a variety of different wheat beers. This one is simply called "Weisse", with the subtitle "Traditional Wheat". Since my wife and son both took several years of German in high school, I have learned that in the German language, when two vowels are together, the first one is silent. So the word "Weisse" rhymes with ice, rather than rhyming with geese. This was a revelation to me! I can at least sound intelligent when talking about German beers. This wheat beer is different from the traditional Bavarian Wheat beers I have tried, such as Weihenstephan, or Paulaner Hefe-Weizen. This does not have the pronounced banana/clove flavors of the Bavarian Hefe's. This has a smooth fruity flavor, almost like a sorbet. It poured a cloudy orange/amber color, with a huge fluffy head. I like my beer to have a head, so wheat beers rarely disappoint. Another refreshing beer for the summer!

Einbecker Mai-Ur-Bock

This is another beer I picked up from our local Wine and Ale specialty store. I really like this store, so I hope they stay in business! This heller bock was brewed by Einbecker in Germany. It poured a medium amber color, with a 3/4 inch white head, that left some lacing on the glass. The beer is pretty sweet, with caramel notes. It has enough hops to balance the sweetness, and has some alcohol in the finish. It is at 6.5 % alcohol. This is a fine example of a heller bock or Maibock.

Konig Ludwig Weissbier

This Bavarian Hefeweizen, or Weissbier was brewed at the Konig Ludwig Schlossbrauerei in Kaltenberg, Bavaria, Germany. Bavarian Weissbiers are unique in character, due to the yeast that they use. It gives the beer a flavor of banana and cloves, which is very distinctive. This beer poured with a huge head, that lasted a good long time. That glass in the photo is a 22 oz glass, with less than 10 oz of beer in it. I had to wait for the head to subside to get the rest of the beer in the glass. This is a very light and refreshing beer, which is typical of wheat beers. It is also cloudy due to the yeast in the bottle. This is a very true-to-style Bavarian Hefeweizen.

Beck's Premier Light - only 64 calories!!

I don't care for light beers - bottled water is cheaper. But - when I saw that Beck's Premier Light had only 64 calories, I had to see what it was like. Well... it looked like cheap Ginger ale - very pale, no head. It was very well-carbonated. It had almost no flavor. Enough said.

Hofbrau Munchen Maibock

Hofbrau's Maibock poured a deep orange color with a pale orange head that held up for a while. This was a malty brew, a little on the sweet side, with very little evidence of hops. It went well with my burger.

Spaten Optimator

This seems to be the month of Doppelbocks for me. This one's from Germany, from Spaten. The clear mahogany colored brew was topped by a creamy light brown head. This one is 7.2% abv, compared to the 8.2% found in the Tommyknocker beer I reviewed a short time ago. This one was a bit sweeter than the Tommyknocker, with a bit less of an alcohol bite. This one was just smoother all around, with lots of malt flavor.

Paulaner Hefe-Weizen

Tonight, I had another good brew from Paulaner. This is a very classic example of a Bavarian Hefe-weizen. Since Hefe means "yeast", it poured a cloudy golden color, with the huge head that is typical of a good Hefe-Weizen. The cloudiness is from the yeast that has not been filtered from the beer. The flavor is fruity, with the essence of bananas and cloves that I have come to expect from a Bavarian style Hefe. These flavors are produced by the yeast. I think this wheat compares very favorably to another favorite Hefe-Weizen. the one produced by Weihenstephan.

Paulaner Oktoberfest Marzen

Paulaner Oktoberfest Marzen is a nice malty brew from Germany. It pours a nice amber color with a white head that rapidly diminished. It has enough noble hope character to balance the malt, and is a very enjoyable beer. I could drink a few of these! It's very slightly sweet. This is my first beer from Paulaner, and it was excellent. A Marzen is so-named because it is brewed in March, and lagered for 6 months, in time for Oktoberfest. Because it is a beer designed for autumn, it has a darker color and more malty flavor and body.