Deutsch Beers!

As you all know, Nick has no taste in beer.

Last year, Germany won his "Ale-Lympics" Tonight, I go through a few German beers with my beer drinking group.

1) Einbecker Mai-Ur-Bock. This is literally the name of this one. Eminently compliant with the German Purity Laws, or as I would call them, the "beer can be really boring too" rules, this one's pretty plain. Nothing wrong with it, but I can't imagine anyone getting too excited with it. Definitely a functional session beer.

2) Reissdorf Kolsch. One thing Nick and I agree on is that Kolschbier is a good beer. This one's a pretty good example of the style. Light, refreshing, crisp... (super-secret beer Agent Al informs me that Kolsch, to be Kolsch, is supposed to come from Cologne (the guy running the tasting says "20 miles"... don't they use the metric system in Deutschland?)... I guess that homebrew Nick made in Providence can't actually be called a Kolsch... welcome to "Kolsch-style", Nick.)

3) Pinkus Organic Ur-Pils. I'm a little sick of organic beer, but judging from the information I can find about Pinkus online, they may have been a little bit ahead of the trend on this organic nonsense. This one's pretty clean, with less hop character than you expect from a pilsner--and really, less flavor than most beers period. That's a pilsner for you...

4) Georg Schneider Wiesen Edel-Weisse. Beer Advocate loves this beer (like seriously LOVES it)--another organic offering from the Germans. Heavy banana bread and clove in a pretty tasty and well rounded weizen. Tastes like a baked good, and is highly drinkable.

5) Ayinger Brau-Weisse Hefeweizen. This is a sweet beer. Both sweet in the colloquial (awesome) sense, and sweet in the sugary sense. They're pouring it a little strangely--I was lucky enough to get the bottom of the bottle, and they're not pouring it like a hefe, so I've gotten a load of the unfiltered yeast and wheat remainders. Packing a ton of flavor--all the usual hefe stuff and some citrus as well. In fairness, I may only have been getting such a heavy dose of flavor because I was lucky enough to get the bottom of the bottle. About to try Al's (poured from the top of a bottle): similar flavor profile, just muted when you compare it to mine. Still, a good flavor.

6) Monchshof Schwarzbier. Haven't tasted it yet, but the nose is sheer heaven--dark fruits, a detectable alcohol undertone, and some beet sugar flavor. Al's getting chocolate, which I think I'm getting as plums and dark berry. The flavor doesn't hold up to the nose, unfortunately--it's a little on the watery end, with some nice flavors, but they're relatively weak flavors. I'm definitely getting more chocolate on the taste, but losing a lot of the interesting fruits. Some hints of Rauschbier smoked flavors that don't really mesh with the rest of the flavor profile.

7) Schneider and Sohn Aventinus Doppelbock. Beer Advocate loves this one as well--I've reviewed the Ayinger Celebrator elsewhere on this blog, another BA-hyped doppelbock. Strong nose--some chocolate, some alcohol, some Oktoberfest sugar... the taste actually keeps up with the nose on this one--it's complex and interesting, lots of cool flavors, with some nice clove background, and other tasty excitingness.

That's all, folks. Some excellent beers... but anyone (NICK) who thinks Germany should win the Ale-lympics has another think coming.