I've been dabbling in German Beers. Sampled a pretty good range but tonight I came across my favorite beer to date. It was a wheat beer (hefeweizen) called Ayinger Brauweisse. Smooth and almost no aftertaste yet a hearty flavor. Dang...it was good!
Hefeweizens. One of my favorites as my avatar shows. I get Ayinger at the local bottle shop. I didn't see them in the cooler so I asked one of the workers if they had them cold. He said no but took a few into the walk-in and showed me the odd shelf of beer. He told me that if I ever want any beer cold to put it there and next time I come in it will be cold. Ever since then when I want some I have rotated in a few warm bottles and picked up my cold ones.
No I "forced" myself into buying different six packs and drinking them all. Problem is that I don't drink a lot, maybe 3 bottles a week so it's taken a while to go through the different brands and styles that are available here.
Have you tried their Oktoberfest (Marzen) beer yet? Its my favorite among the different German brands. Although I do like Sam Adams Oktoberfest alot too.
try to find aventinus. its a wheat doppelbock i tihnk. yum! my fav for when i got some extra jingle in my pocket.
Got to be careful with Aventinus. At 9% and coming out of a .5 liter bottle more than one can carry quite a punch.
I came across a great story about the Pauliner monks when they developed their doppelback beer. These monks knew what they were doing! "The first Lenten strong beer was brewed by Paulaner monks at Cloister Neudeck ob der Au in Munich. The Paulaners had arrived in Munich from Italy in 1627. They began brewing beer for their own comsumption shortly thereafter—exactly when is not clear. Depending on which documents one can trust, the year was 1630, 1651 or 1670. The Paulaners felt, however, that such a strong brew with such delightful qualities might be just a bit too much of an indulgence for Lent. So they decided to ask the Holy Father in Rome for a special dispensation so that they could continued to brew it with a clear conscience. The Paulaners dispatched a cask of Lenten beer to Rome for the pope to try and to pass judgment. During its transport across the Alps and along the burning sun of Italy, unfortunately—or fortunately—the cask tossed and turned, and heated for several weeks—a classic condition for causing beer to turn sour and undrinkable. So when the Holy Father tasted the much-praised stuff from Munich, he found it (appropriately) disgusting. His decision: Because the brew was so vile, it was probably beneficial for the souls of the Munich monks to make and drink as much of it as they could. Therefore, he willingly gave the brewing of this new, allegedly rotten, beer style his blessing. Little did he know...!"
German beers are among my favorites Especially the Aventinus Eisbock its got to be the Eisbock that will knock you flat on your azz
Picked up an Animator this afternoon. High on the malt, light on the hops like a dopplebock should be.
Now you guys are talking my language. Schlot, if you like hefes '... do yourself a favor and find Weihenstephaner. I guarantee you will not regret it. I just poured one myself
Ayinger is the only "official" Oktober I have yet to sample. Ive been through Hacker, Spaten, Paulaner, Hofbrau and Lowenbrau... Sam oktober is ok (and plentifu around here), but nothing like the real thing.
Mmmm. Hefeweizen is my favorite of all beers. Paulaner, Weihanstephaner, Franziskaner, Schneider, Pinkus, are all excellent. I like the lack of hops and sweet natural yeast flavors. If it's ever in the cards, I strongly urge you to visit Bavaria and have some beer there. It's amazing flavor considering it has no preservatives. Avoid any American versions of Hefe. They usually put fruit flavors in it. Nasty. Also if you order a Hefe at a regular bar on draft make sure they don't put a fruit slice on it either. Yech.
Bad news guys...my German beer tasting is over for a while (hopefully not longer). Had blood work done late last week and my liver had some bad test results. Odd because I dont drink much at all.
I hope and pray everything ok. I worked with a guy that lost his job at a medical screening because his test results showed something screwy with his liver. It turns out he had taken some medication that altered something in his liver its a temporary side effect of the meds but at our med screen all they saw was something was out of whack and it could be anything from nothing to cirrhosis they didnt bother to do any further screening and he was sent home. Hopefully nothings wrong and your German beer tasting will continue soon. Also when youve drunk your way around Germany check out Belgian brews they are delicious.
Belgians have a good variety Tripels, Quads, Lambics, sours ect. I have enjoyed just about every one Ive tried Im really partial to sours and quads lately. I would recommend checking out stuff from st Bernardus or really just about anyone else Heres a link to some good Belgians. http://www.monasterygreetings.com/prod_detail_list/Belgian-Style-Ales-by-Style-Strong-Ales and this one I havent tried all of these but Im sure theyre all good. http://www.roughguides.com/article/top-twenty-best-belgian-beers/
