A Survey of Lithuanian Farmhouse Ales: 22 Beer Reviews
As stated in my piece on Exploring Beer in Vilnius, farmhouse ales of Lithuania are delicate and fragile, unpasteurized and many bottle-conditioned, and live if served from cask. Still the…
Zoiglstube Haner, Puchersreuth
Haner is a farmstead Zoiglstube located on the outskirts of Puchersreuth, Oberpfalz between Windischeschenbach and Neustadt a.d. Waldnaab. They serve the commercial Eismann Vollbier Zoigl, a generic but serviceable landbier…
25 Costa Rican Craft Beers Reviewed
Restaurant La Garrapata
On the road west of La Fortuna, Costa Rica is this exceptional wood-fired barbecue restaurant called La Garrapata (The Tick). It’s actually one of two locations, the first being on…
Zoiglstube Kramer-Wolf, Falkenberg
Kramer-Wolf’s front room walls are stunningly yellow, adorned with various musical instruments and farm implements. Luckily the beer is as charming as the house, their Zoigl is lip-smacking and minerally…
11 Faroese Beers Reviewed
While I was in the islands I tried and reviewed 11 beers from the two Faroese breweries. Seven selections from Okkara and four from Föroya, including a pale lager made…
Seinsheimer Kellerbräu
Seinsheim, Lower Franconia, population 1000, home of what may be the smallest brewery in Franconia. Seinsheimer Kellerbräu is housed in the side of the town church, where self-taught Frank Engelhardt…
Okkara Bryggjarí – Velbastaður
Photos from a visit to a modern Faroese production brewery 7 km south of Torshavn It was the day before the total solar eclipse in the Faroe Islands, I had…
FrankenBierFest in Rome
The first FrankenBierFest in Rome opened on Friday March 20, 2015, but I was in Copenhagen for a stopover after flying from the Faroe Islands earlier that morning. That morning…
Ölvisholt Brugghús
Photos from a shoot at Ölvisholt Brugghús in March 2015. Located an hour east of Reykjavik near the town of Selfoss, Ölvisholt produces 30 hectoliters per batch on modern equipment…
The Beautiful Symmetry of Franconian Brewhouses
Occasionally you have to stop for a minute and take in the sight of the beautiful building you’re about to enter for beer. A combination of old world aesthetics and…
Estaminet ‘t Kasteelhof – Cassel
The French village of Cassel in Region du Nord serves as a convenient hub for the beer traveler. We’re visiting this often under-looked classic beer region of the word to…
Brasserie Dupont – Tourpes
Our visit to Brasserie Dupont wasn’t the most memorable, but it fulfilled a sort of pilgrimage to this world classic and personal favorite brewery. We sat at La Forge to…
Gänstaller Bräu Brew Day for a new Amber Weizenbock
In August 2014, I spent the day at Gänstaller Bräu while brewmaster Andreas and his daughter Daniela created their new bottom-fermented Amber Weizenbock. These photos are at attic level for…
Brauerei Gradl, Leups-Pegnitz
In November 2014 I visited Brauerei Gradl in the tiny Upper Franconian village of Leups, to drink their superb unfiltered 4.9% Dunkel from gravity barrel. This beer, or something like…
Au Baron – Gussignies
The sleepy green L’Hogneau river valley is home to the village of Gussignies, literally meters from the Belgian border. This is the French border region of Bavay, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, home to…
Beer Reviews: 22 New Zealand Lagers
Brasserie De la Senne – Brussels
I’ll be upfront: I consider De la Senne my favorite brewery in Belgium, and I consider Yvan De Baets the best brewer in Belgium. Taras Boulba and Taras Runa, Crushable…
Brauerei Gasthof Erlhof – Erlheim
Modrá Hvězda Dobřany
Fil and I took the bus from Pilsen to visit a new brewery called U Bizona (The Bison) in the village of Čižice. Only by the time we showed up…
The John Lennon Wall in Prague
In the heart of Prague is the John Lennon Wall, a collection of street art and murals continuously renewed with new artist’s ideas and dedications. On Google Maps you can…
Brewing Affumicator Rauchdoppelbock with Andreas Gänstaller
Thanksgiving Day 2013 was spent with Andreas Gänstaller at his brewery in Hallerndorf-Schnaid as he went about making the latest batch of Affumicator (9.6%). This meaty and savory melanoidin bomb…
New Zealand Hop Strains
Notes on New Zealand hop strains and New Zealand-made beer representing each. Nelson Sauvin12-13% AA, 6-8% beta High acid strain. The big one you’re heard of. Volatile thiol compounds are…
Wellington Street Art
From large public space mural projects to the smallest inspiring dead-end alley, Wellington is certainly the most colorful town in New Zealand, and perhaps one of the most-painted in the…
Vikingskipshuset – The Viking Ship Museum in Oslo
Festgottesdienst zur Kirchweih, Brauerei Hölzlein
The Kirchweihfest of Lohndorf-Litzendorf filled the grounds of Brauerei Hölzlein on the night of August 10, 2014. In addition to the standard Hölzlein Vollbier, a 10 liter gravity barrel of…
Reykjavík Pub Guide: Where to Find Icelandic Craft Beer
Beer in Iceland is expensive, it’s no secret. Expect to pay upwards of $10 USD for a draft pint of craft beer, and 12oz bottles are not any cheaper on…
Colorful Gamla Stan, Old Town Stockholm
Blå Gungan translates to Blue Swing, if you’re interested. I love the amount of activity in this photo. Three window shoppers, a shopkeep, a runner and a few more people…
Brauerei Roppelt Trossenfurt
Because I so dearly love Braurei Roppelt Stiebarlimbach, Roppelt-Bräu Trossenfurt gets called the other Roppelt. Further away from civilization, up the mountains 20 km west of Bamberg, sits this cozy…
The Icelandic Phallological Museum
The world’s largest penis collection resides at Laugavegur 116, Reykjavík, housed inconspicuously between a convenience store and the Social Insurance Administration building. Boasting 280 different penises from 92 species of…
10 Iceland Beer Reviews
I visited Iceland on a three day stopover en route to Oslo and Germany, making use of the convenient Iceland Air direct Denver-to-Keflavik route that drops you in Iceland in…
Brauerei Hetzel Frauendorf
Some 30 km north of Bamberg sits Brauerei Hetzel in the town of Frauendorf. A short drive east of Bad Staffelstein brings you to four other breweries along the way:…
5 Places to Drink Beer in Oslo
Expect to pay $10 for a pint of beer in Oslo, where alcohol tax accounts for nearly 25% of that total. Oslo is known as the most expensive city in…
Zum Posterer, Windischeschenbach
Zum Posterer is a charming hobbit hole Zoiglstube tucked nicely in to the center of Windischeschenbach. Their Zoiglbier is lauded as one of the best on Ratebeer.com, a delicious concoction…
Privatbrauerei Reh, Lohndorf
It’s not far from Bamberg to Lohndorf. It’s reachable by bicycle for the bold and the fit. In the winter the ride can be cold, windy, very dark. While Brauerei…
Brauerei Heckel Waischenfeld
With the front entrance to Brauerei Heckel right on the street, not a meter from passing cars, it’s a gamble with your life to spill out into the street after…
There is no such thing as Florida Weisse
The idea of Berliner Weisse with fruit has historical roots in the fruit or woodruff syrups offered with a glass. A “Schuss” (a shot) of sweet syrup became a popular…
Brauerei Witzgall, Schlammersdorf
Brauerei Witzgall recently became known to a wider online audience when their Landbier overtook Mönchsambacher Lagerbier as the #1 Kellerbier on Ratebeer. In May of 2013, three Ratebeerians who frequently…
Inside Gänstaller-Bräu, Hallerndorf-Schnaid
Andreas Ganstaller moved his operation from Brauerei Beck Trabelsdorf to Schnaid-Hallerndorf in 2011. He retained his recipes from Beck, and some equipment, and renovated the interior operations of the old…
Brauerei Lieberth Hallerndorf
Brauerei Lieberth is another favorite but inconsistent Franconian brewer. Their best batches of Lagerbier, Pils and Kellerbier are some of the best in the world, and a perfect example of…
Rittmayer and Kreuzberg
Brauerei Rittmayer Hallerndorf is a difficult favorite brewery of mine. They are capable of making remarkable landbier but they are also wildly inconsistent. At Rittmayer Keller am Kreuzberg I was…
Bryggeri Helsinki
When Bryggeri Helsinki opened their doors in February 2013, the on-site brewery was not ready. Two batches of beer, a 4.7% German-style Pilsner and a 4.5% English-style Brown Ale, were…
Fränkisches Bierfest in Nürnberg
With over 40 Franconian breweries in attendance, and spanning five rainy days and nights in the Nürnberger Burg, the 2013 Fränkisches Bierfest took place in late May / early June,…
Asturian Sidra and the Museo de la Sidra in Nava
Asturias is known for sidra natural. Nava, 30 km east of Oviedo and 40 km south of Gijón, is known as the heart of sidra within Asturias. Called Villa de…
Sarasola Sagardotegia, Basque Country
“lo que es la marca de la sidra?” Without knowing a word of Basque I’m relieved to find my simple Castilian Spanish suitable for asking to see the producer label.…
Astigarraga Festival of Sidra Natural
The rolling green hills and apple orchards some 7 km south of San Sebastian make up the heart of Basque Country sidra natural production. The towns of Astigarraga and nearby…
Principales Fermentos Del Mosto de Manzanas y Sidras Asturianas
“Torula and Rhodotorula” “Saccharomyces” “Saccharomyces uvarum” “Saccharomyces mali” “Dregs of a bottle” “Mycoderma” (bacteria) “acetic bacteria” “Micrococcus viscosus” “Lacto bacillus”? “Malolactic fermentation”
Brno, Czech Republic
I arrived on an overnight train from Germany and took a room at a local hotel around the corner from a couple of notable watering holes. I dropped my things,…
Rental Cars and Beer Travel
Drinking and driving, a big taboo subject among the beer drinker / traveler community. If you bring the subject up on a travel board, the most common response you see…
Budapest
I do not have nice things to say about Budapest. Budapest is a fantastic wine and food town. Shopping and sightseeing make exploration fun. But there are a few things…
Beer Reviews
De la Senne Bruxellensis
De la Senne Bruxellensis is a Belgian ale refermented in the bottle with Brussels Brettanomyces.
May 2016 bottling reviewed one year old, pours hazed amber with a tall and sticky head, just barely crawling up out of the bottle when the cap is removed. Funky, buggy, nearly acetic apple-like (malic) brett impression, covering dense orange and apricot fruitiness. It’s medium-light bodied, lightly sweet with some low acidity, more tart and musty across the middle turning slightly sour in a wet finish. It seems to have survived out one year, no surprise given the continued brett fermentation in bottle, but still too much of this green apple and white vinegar resemblance, which thankfully subsides as it warms in the glass, the aroma showing more cork and old books / leather. There’s still plenty of sugar left but the carbonation is a mess, over-effervescing right out of the bottle (which comes across as disjointed / loose), before settling out in the glass after a couple of minutes, where its richness and sweetness overtake the diminished CO2 making it feel weighty. Fresh pours have more pizzazz and brighter carbonic acid.
Brauerei Wagner Bock Hell
Released every November, I reviewed this superbly hoppy Heller Bock less than two weeks after bottling. The aroma is absolutely gorgeous, perfectly clean, showing bright notes of lemon, persimmon, herbs, honeysuckle and dandelion with a background of faintly toasty Pilsner malt. The yeast is lightly sulfuric-eggy but not in an unpleasant way, more than made up for by the high minerality that is so typical of Franconian lager.
It’s full bodied, rich, sticky, full of savory melanoidins, semi-sweet to off-dry, made apparently drier in the mouth due to the strong hop bitterness. Not a touch of alcohol noticed, and the dryness and hoppiness work astoundingly well. Overall a singular Heller Bock, hoppy as can be, mineral-forward, bitter, malty and exceptionally clean.
Blackberry Farm Noble Cuvee Dry Hop Saison (2015)
Bottle-conditioned 750ml is effervescent hazed amber-gold with a permanent rocky head. Aroma hops manifest as mandarin orange, flowers, kiwi fruit, gooseberry, and lime, with faint grassy menthol touches. Yeast is lightly doughy and musty moderately phenolic (pepper, minerals) with an emerging dough and fabric staleness that becomes more apparent as it opens. Malt is toasty and honey-like with cracker-y bread crust touches.
In the mouth it’s soft and silky, malt is moderately sweet, acidity is low, bitterness is measured, and it finishes with some lingering doughiness and a touch of autolyzed yeast (mud and nuts) amid the green-leafy hoppiness. The aroma is pretty nice, but it could be more expressive and powerful, that punch is more missing in the mouth, where malt and hop are surprisingly dull, no doubt suffering from age. Why they would release this beer so long after bottling is beyond me. Let’s hope the 2016 hits shelves in a fresher state.
De Molen / Hair of the Dog Fred
From bottle it’s hazed amber-orange topped by a fine off-white head. Hops manifest as nectarine, wood resin, green leaf vegetables, raw pellets. Malt manifests as honey and sugar-glazed pastries, but there’s also some wet cardboard oxidation notes (bottled July 2015 so 9+ months before hitting the shelves).
While it actually does smell somewhat like HOTD Fred, it’s affected by oxidation as well as some quiet yeasty-musty BO notes, and the hop character is kind of crude. After 10 minutes of breathing (and approaching 60 F), the spoiled fruit character becomes overbearing, taking on a harsh malt liquor ethanol and rotting fruit quality (I’ve never had Pruno but there are certain smells that trigger the thought).
In the mouth it’s medium-full bodied, sweet, malty, and chewy, with relatively quiet finishing bitterness. Carbonation is low and as a consequence the texture is flabby and limp, where a lush burst of CO2 would do well to balance the sugar. Overall a pretty crude beer.
Saint Somewhere Fraternité
Hazed honey with a sticky and lasting white head. Aroma is phenolic and peppery with captivating notes of French Strisselspalt hops (herbs, flowers, honeysuckle, orange rind, persimmon). Lovely impression and depth to the nose, honey-ish and hay-like malt, noble hops, rustic yeast, which at first smells like the Blaugies strain but after some breathing it seems more like Thiriez with that rubbery phenolic note.
Though the commercial description mentions brettanomyces, there’s no brett in the nose, and no signature tartness in the mouth, and if I were assessing this blind I would not say brett at all (no band aid/plastic, nothing “funky”, no tropical gum brett notes, none of that – this seems entirely sacc-derived). It’s medium bodied and succulent with an impressively silky and velvet-like mouthfeel, finishing lightly tart and strongly bitter with a lingering green and herbaceous hop note. It’s actually overly bitter for its sweetness and size but the effect isn’t ruinous.
This is a top-tier hoppy Belgian-style Golden Ale that shows its Thiriez and Blaugies influence more than De la Senne / Saint Somewhere. In fact I’m really surprised that this came out of Saint Somewhere, I’ve never found their beers all that intriguing, but this has that signature elegance of the Thiriez yeast strain that I love so much.
De Ranke Hop Harvest
The De Ranke house yeast exudes its rubber cork and basement must rusticity… aromatic malt is toasted grains, baked seed bread, fall leaves; hops are green, apricots, flowers, orange. Carbonation is lush and fine, rich and savory and lip-smacking maltiness contested by bitter and sticky and green hops, wrapped up in the yeast character that defines De Ranke. From draft at The Sovereign in DC. No doubt this is the fresh 2016 batch, but it’s unknown if the base malt profile is still the same year-to-year (it used to vary between Père Noël, Saison de Dottignies, and XX Bitter). The last few releases seem to have a consistent malt base.
Gradl Leupser Pils
Gradl Leups is well-known for their Bayrischer Anstich Dunkel (from gravity barrel), which you could spend an entire day sipping on at the gasthof, and only see other folks doing the same. But Gradl also serves this exemplary Pilsner from tap.
The intense Hallertau hop aroma manifests as lemon oil, persimmon, honeysuckle, and dandelion. Malt manifests as crusty baked French baguette, and the mineral water quality is remarkably expressive, maybe the strongest and most enjoyable mineral character that can be found in Upper Franconia.
Medium-light bodied and moderately sweet and perfectly balanced by bitterness, it’s oily and juicy hop oils linger in the mouth, and the baguette malt quality even translates into a sort of intoxicating saltiness after a few pulls.
This is world-beater Pilsner, easily one of the best in Franconia and the world as a whole, and may be the best mineral and noble hop expression I’ve ever experienced. Both the Dunkel and Pils are world class examples of Franconian character and Franconian brewing precision, and unlike so many other breweries in Oberfranken, the bottles actually compare very well to tap in terms of quality. No visitor should pass up either beer on tap, though both are available in bottle at the brewery and at getränkemarkts in the nearby town of Pegnitz.
Fourthmeal Belgian Ale
Clean and hoppy aroma is floral, tropical-fruity, orange, gum, flowers, turning more green-herbal, plant-like and a little resinous as it blossoms. Medium bodied, rich and savory with fine natural carbonation turning to sharp and green bitterness in the finish. It’s trying to be XX Bitter (or maybe XXX Bitter) with a more neutral yeast and western hops.
Gänstaller-Bräu Romator: Smoked IPL
Heller Rauch-Doppelbock. Smoked India Pale Lager. India Heller Bock?
The newest beer from Andreas Gänstaller is made for export to Ma Che Siete Venuti a Fà in Rome. Made with a combination of American, German and New Zealand hops, this beer is not fit for Franconian tastes. Sweet, full-bodied, bitter and smoky. The first sample I had at the Zoiglstube was bottled from bright tank, young, fermented out at the time to 7% on it’s way to the final 9.5% ABV.
At the Fränkisches Bierfest Nürnberg the keg was unsettled after being driven from the brewery in Schnaid. This was the most expensive beer at the entire festival, a €5 price tag for just 30 centileters – a maddening price for Germans accustomed to €1.80 mugs at the local gastette. But perhaps this was the Franconian version of our State Fairs back in the US, with their exuberant prices at the excuse of convenience, captivity and sideshow? It’s a savory bacon and pineapple pizza beer, only it’s a lagered Imperial IPA, or a Smoked IPL, or a Rauch Doppelbock. It doesn’t matter, style names are useless. The citra and nelson aroma hops showed their bright citrus / grapefruit / tropical fruit character to go with the meaty rauch malt ham back fat savoriness, but I don’t know if it was completely understood by the 19 year old boys standing next to me in the rain drinking.