Schneider Aventinus Weizen-Eisbock

Schneider Aventinus Weizen-Eisbock (33 cl bottle) 12%
This beer was released on the 1st of March at Systembolaget and is still available in many stores across the country.

It was originally created by mistake when a batch of the breweries Aventinus Doppelbock froze and they tried the concentrated liquid. The brewery has since then recreated the "mistake" in a controlled fashion.

Style: Eisbock
Cost: 31,90 SEK

Bitterness------Sweetness-----Sourness-----Intensity-------Body

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Appearance: 4/5
Dark hazy brown liquid with a medium sized dirty white foam.

Smell: 8/10
Strong smell of foam bananas and booze.

Taste: 8/10
Foam banana, fresh bananas and vanilla. Fairly sweet and with a noticeable alcoholic profile.

Mouthfeel: 5/5
Thick body, smooth mouthfeel and alcoholic warmth.

Comment:
Wow! A very thick, intense, complex and high alcoholic wheat beer. I tried a Franzizkaner on the side and it tasted like water in comparison. It had allot of bananas but not only foam bananas, also some fresh bananas.

I usually prefer my wheat beers during hot summer days but this beer feels to strong for that. It might work well with certain cheeses, but I also believe this could work as an aperitif, possible coupled with a dessert. Unfortunately I didn't have any sweets to try it with at the time.

A very interesting beer that I wouldn't mind trying again. Curious on how this will evolve over time I will save a bottle for later.

Total: 4,2/5

Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier Urbock

Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier Urbock (Bottle) 6,5%
This is the second beer I try from this brewery, the other one is their Märzen Rauchbier. A fun fact about this brewery is the word Schlenkerla (comes from the Franconian word Schlenkern) which roughly translates into: moving your arms in a funny way when you walk. It came from the man who became an owner in 1877, Andreas Grasser, who was a bit handicapped. Read more about it here.

Bitterness------Sweetness-----Sourness-----Intensity-------Body
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Appearance: 3/5
Very dark brown-amber liquid with a small light brown foam that left very little lacing.

Smell: 7/10
Smoke, smoked ham and salt.

Taste: 7/10
Lots of smoke, salt, smoked ham, malt and burned toast.

Mouthfeel: 4/5
Smooth, creamy and buttery with just a little bit of sting. Thick body and fairly low bitterness.

Comment:

This beer is very smoky, not sure if it's heavier then the märzen. From my notes it seems like the märzen is more intense but I would have to test them together to make sure. I'm personally not a huge fan of smoke beers but I think this works well. Tastes a bit like it has been filtered through an old hunting cabin.

Regarding food I think this would work well with regular home cooked food. Maybe some oven roasted potatoes and veggies with a big chunk of meat or sausages.

Total: 3,4/5

Christmas Beer 2009, part 2

A couple more Christmas Beers I tried before ÖBWF.

Oppigårds Winter Ale (Bottle) 5,3%
It poured a dark red liquid with a medium sized dirty white foam that left a nice lacing.

It had a spicey smell with some fruity hops.

Semi-smooth mouthfeel, with a medium body, low bitterness and dry. Tasted of spices, caramell, malt and hops. Hops was the most noticable flavour. An alright christmas beer.
Total: 2,9/5
Ayinger Winter-Bock (Bottle) 6,7%
It poured a very dark liquid with some red notes, medium light brown foam that left some lacing.

It had a malty smell with some caramell.

The mouthfeel was smooth and it had a medium body and low bitterness. It tasted of chocolate, malt, caramell and also sweet with some sugar. This was pretty nice, I can definitely imagine drinking several of theese with my christmas dinner.
Total: 3,5/5

Oktoberfestbier, part 2

Hoffbräu München Oktoberfestbier (bottle) 6,3%
It poured a clear yellow liquid with a small foam that left no lacing. It had a weak smell of white bread. The taste was also weak with some white bread and stingy bitterness. Watery and boring.
Total: 1,3/5

Sigtuna Oktoberfest (bottle) 5,5%
It poured a cloudy golden liquid with a small foam that left no lacing. It had a smell of honey, hops and white bread. It tasted of bread, honey and butter. The mouthfeel was smooth and nice.
Total: 2,4/5
Sigtuna Black October (bottle) 5%
It poured a dark brown liquid with a small brown foam that left no lacing. It smelled of cigarrs, soy sauce, chocolate and something burned. It tasted of burned toast, chocolate and smoke. The mouthfell was dry. Best so far.
Total: 3/5

Oktoberfestbier, part 1

When we brewed Death By Hops 2 we also tried some Oktoberfestbier. Unfortunately I wasn't very impressed but I will try to summarize the score below with some short comments.

Löwenbräu Oktoberfestbier (bottle) 6,1%
It poured a clear pale yellow liquid without a foam. Looked very boring. IT had a weak smell of yeast and bread. It had some acidic stingy bitterness. Not very nice or easy to drink.
Total: 1,2/5
Spaten Oktoberfestbier (bottle) 5,9%
It poured a clear pale yellow liquid with a small foam that dissapeared fast and left no lacing. The smell was weak with some white bread. Smooth and watery with some malt and bread. It wasn't bad, just very boring.
Last time I tried this beer it had some honey in it, it also had an odd aftertaste and small bits floating around. I thought it had gone bad.
Total: 1,5/5
Oktober Chest (bottle) 7%
It poured a hazy brown-golden liquid with a small foam that left a little lacing. It had a dry smell of bread and nuts. It also had a taste of bread and nuts. It also had some sourness with some carbonation, It felt stingy and dry in my mouth.
Total: 2,3/5
Weltenburger (bottle) 5,3%
It poured a clear dark golden liquid with a very small foam. It had a weak smell of white bread. The taste was also weak and had some white bread. It wasn't very smooth and had a stingy bitterness to it. Overall boring and not very good.
Total: 1,3/5

Street market and beer, part 3

After visiting the street market me and Per went to Monks to grab a few beers. They had a german festival and an american wheat beer on sale so we started out with a german lager and the wheat beer.

Irseer Kloster-Urtrunk (bottle) 5,6%
It poured a slightly hazy golden liquid with a small white foam that left very little lacing. It had a very weak smell of bread and a hint of bathroom. It was fairly smooth with a little bit of acidic bitterness and some sweetness, honey mostly. An average lager but a bad beer.
Total: 1,9/5

Goose Island 312 Urban Wheat Ale (bottle) 4,2%
It poured a clear pale yellow liquid with a very small foam that left very little lacing. It had a weak smell of bread and just the slightest hint of yeast. It was smooth and very watery with just a hint of yeast. Very bad wheat beer, a big dissapointment.
Total: 1,4/5

Riegele Augustus Weizendoppelbock (tap) 8,5%
It poured a hazy brown-golden liquid with a small white foam that quickly dissapeared. It had a scent of butter scotch, banana and a hint of yeast. It tasted of foam banana, butter scotch with a hint of candy. However the butter scotch ruins it a bit, it doesn't really fit very well with the beer.
Total: 2,8/5

New computer and beer

Last week I bought a new computer. I bought it in parts and then a friend of mine, Niklas, helped me assemble it. Once we got it started we celebrated with two very interesting beers.

First a couple of pictures from building the computer:




Then onwards to more important stuff, the beer:


Brooklyner-Schneider Hopfen-Weisse (Bottle) 8,5%
This is the other beer in the experiment between Brooklyn and Schneider. This one has been brewed by the Schneider brewmaster Drexler in the Brooklyn brewery. I have already tried the one Garret Oliver made at the Schneider brewery and I gave it a 3,4/5.

It poured a hazy pale golden liquid with a big foam that left allot of lacing along the side of the glas.

It had a very pleasent smell of both foam banana and hops. Also some yeast, passion fruit and other sweet fruits. Very nice!

The first thing I noticed after trying it was the high carbonation that clouded all the flavor in the beer. After whirling it around a bit and with less carbonation it was allot better. It had a flavor of foam banana, hops, yeast with a medium bitterness. The alcohol was hidden by the high carbonation but was soon noticable. Some chemical bitterness but not so bad, it was worse in the other version and one of the things that lowered the score a bit. This one also felt more balanced then the Garett Oliver version. Very nice beer overall, I hope they do a similar experiment soon again.
Total: 3,9/5


Chouffe Houblon Dobbelen IPA Tripel (Bottle) 9%
It poured a hazy golden liquid with a huge icecream looking foam that left allot of lacing on the side of the glas.

It had an aroma of yeast, hops and ripe fruit.

It was smooth with a flavor of grassy hops, honey and yeast. The alcohol was well hidden and I didn't expect the 9% that was printed on the bottle. It was also a bit dry. All in all a very nice beer as well.
Total: 3,7/5

König Ludwig Weissbier

I saw an interesting bottle at Hemköp a few days a go. A wheat beer at 2,9 %, of course I had to have one.

König Ludwig Weissbier (Bottle) 2,9%

It poured a hazy orange-brown liquid with a huge foam that left allot of lacing. At the bottom of the bottle it had allot of yeast. It looked quite interesting actually.

It had a weak smell of foam banana and a hint of yeast. It was weak but still strong enough to sense without trying to hard.

Once I tasted it the real downside of the beer showed. It had a thin body that made it seem watery and a bit bland. But you could still sense that it was a wheat beer although it also felt like a mix of lager. It had both some foam banana and bread/malt. However it was still quite drinkable and I enjoyed it with the food. Definitely a lighter kind of beer I would try again.

Total: 2,5/5

A couple of beers at Akkurat, part 1

Me, my father and brother went to Akkurat on friday to have dinner and drink a couple of beers. We started out strong with a Westvleteren testing, which I will write about in my next article. After Westvleteren we tried a bunch of interesting beers, Akkurat had a sale on bottled beer so we took advantage of that but they also had a couple of interesting beers on tap.

After a while my brothers friend Kalle showed up. I think he really enjoyed the beers.

Bière Darbyste 5,8% (Bottled)

When I arrived at Akkurat my father and brother where already seated and where bussy drinking this beer.

It poured a hazy brown-orange liquid with a small foam that stayed. It also had allot of yeast floating around. It smelled a bit like wine, with some yeast and alcohol. The flavor was similar with wine, yeast and some fruit. It also had some sourness but not that much. All in all it was bland and a bit boring.

Total: 2,5/5

(I forgot to take a picture)

Beck-Bräu Zoigl 5,8% (Tap)

It poured a hazy golden liquid with a medium sized icecream looking foam that left some lacing. At first I thought this beer smelled like some kind of cleaning liquid. But after a while the chemical parts dissapeared and left a more hoppy presence. It also smelled fresh with citrus. It also tasted very fresh with citrus, but also malt and hops. It worked great in the warm weather.

Total: 3,1/5

Bink Blond 5,5% (Tap)

It poured a hazy dark golden liquid with an icecream foam that left allot of lacing. It smelled of yeast, wine, dried orange peels and some other spices which I could define. I really enjoyed the smell. The flavor was similar, very fresh with citrus, some wine and yeast, but also spicey. It was smooth in my mouth but the body was a bit weak which made it seem a bit to bland. It smelled better then it tasted, but still a nice beer.

Total: 3,4/5

Pizza Port Shark Attack Double/Triple Red Ale 9,2% (Bottle)

It said Double Red Ale on the bottle but at ratebeer it seems like it's also named Triple.

It pured a hazy brown with reddish tones, with a small foam. It had a strong scent with allot of caramell and warm alcohol. The aroma was also very strong with caramell and a warm alcoholic finnish. After a while some hops came through, but the caramell was very dominant. Was this a barley wine? It sure reminded me of one. The beer got smoother at the end but overall it was a bit to 1-dimensional for me.

Total: 3,1/5

Ocean Single Hop Amber 4,8% (Tap)

This is one of the real ales Akkurat had this evening.

It was filled to the brim with a clear golden liquid with a very small foam that left a nice lacing. The aroma had a hint of something burned, reminding me of toast. It had a flavor of hops and some burned toast. Very easy to drink but a bit watery. Nice in the hot weather though a real thirst quencher.

Total: 2,4

Visiting Birka

Me and Karin went to Birka yesterday. It's an old viking town located on an island in Mälaren. During it's time it was strategically placed to controll the trading routes and had a population of 1000 habitants. Today the only thing that is left of the town is findings in the ground.

We joined a tour and below us is where the town used to be. The start of the two main landing stages are visible in this pic as clusters of rocks.

Karin is standing on top of the hill where the castle yard was once. From this point the kings soldiers had a great view in all directions. Below is an area that was once under water and now houses a museum, restaurant and a jetty for the ferries.

They have started to re-build a couple of buildings to show visitors how it once looked at Birka. At the moment there are only 4 houses but more are to come.

Once we got home I felt I deserved a beer or two.


Rhenania Alt 4,8%
It poured a dark copper-amber liquid with a big foam that left a nice lacing. It had a weak smell of metall, bread and a hint of something sweet. The flavor was sweet with malt, bread, metall and a low bitterness. The liquid was fairly thick,. An ok beer.
Total: 2,4/5

La Meule 6%
It poured a hazy golden liquid with a big foam that dissapeared fast and left a nice lacing. It also had some yeast in the liquid. Looked like a wheat beer, very appealing. It smelled sweet, spicey with peppers and some other spices. The first taste was smooth and it had a spicey peppery flavor with some honey and yeast. A bit to weak in the flavor to get a higher score, would have love some more of that spicey aroma to break thorugh in the flavor. Good beer though.
Total: 3,7/5

Smokediving

After having some wine I felt in the mood for some beer. After scanning the fridge I decided it was time to re-test a smoke beer.

Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier Märzen 5,1%

It poured a dark liquid with some brown and reddish tones and a big foam that left a nice lacing on the side of the glass. The first sniff was heavy with smoke, burned wood, smoked ham and oil. The flavor was similar but weaker, although it lasted longer then the aroma. It tasted if smoke, smoked ham, meat broth and wood. If you want a smoked beer this is something to go for, but I felt it tasted a bit like a very old hunting cabin, dank and impregnated with smoke after years of use.
Total: 3,3/5

Friday night Bock

I've had a fairly calm weekend, specially compared to last weekend. However I did manage to sort out some stuff at home and finally bought myself a spring/autumn jacket. I guess it's not a big suprise that I also tried a couple of beers.

When I got home from work on friday my throat was as dry as a summer desert. I was greeted with a plate of home made hamburgers. Which jumpstarted my mouth and I thought these burgers deserves to be accompanied by some nice beer.

Einbecker Ur-Bock 6,5%

It poured a clear golden liquid with a medium foam that left no lacing. The brew had a weak smell with hints of bread and malt. It tasted of bread, malt and a hint of caramell. Nice medium bitterness with a sweet and slitghtly burned finish. Easy to drink and quit pleasent, but lacks some taste to get a better score.

2,6/5

North Coast Brother Theloious 9%

I've had this one a couple of times but never rated it before.

It poured a dark reddish liquid with a medium foam that quickly dissapeared. Smelled of bread and raisin. It tasted of ripe fruit, raisin, bread, red berries, yeast and a hint of red wine.

Total 3,3/5

Schneider-Brooklyn Hopfen Weisse

Hopfen Weisse 8,2%
This beer is a result of friendship between the two brewmasters Gareth Oliver at Brooklyn Brewery and Hans-Peter Drexler at Schneider. I think it's best to describe it as a mix between a German wheat beer and an American pale ale. It combines the thick fruity quality of the wheat beer with the distinct grassy hops of the APA. Both brewers brewed the same kind of beer at their respective breweries, this is the Schneider version.

It poured a hazy copper liquid with a medium foam. The aroma has tones of grassy hops. First taste is kinda weird, with different flavours stretching all over the place. My first thought was: "What the hell have they done to the beer!!" It both has some sweetness and a distinct bitterness. The finish has some warm alcohol and something chemical to it.

Im not entirely sure what to think of this beer. It feels very unbalanced with different tastes tugging in different directions. On the other hand it is a very interesting beer that got me thinking. I really like these kinds of experiments and hope I get to try some more beers. I also believe I need to try this again to give it a fair shoot. For now I guess the grade is a compromise ;)

Total: 3,4/5

Butterflies and lager, part 2

We tried some more beers during saturday.

Engel Gold 5,4%

This was the last bottle I had out of 12 I got from my father a while back. All of them had been better then I expected.

The taste was sweet and alcoholic with some weird tone which didn't feel right. Had it gone bad? However once I tried it, it wasn't to bad. It had a lean taste of bread and malt with an alcoholic finish. The weird smell draws down the point a bit but I have feeling this would have tested better a couple of months ago.

Total: 1,7/5

Grebbestads Lager 5%

It had a strong (compared to other lagers during the test) smell of malt and hops. It had a smooth taste with a low-medium bitterness. Noticable hops and malt taste with some bread in the background. Very nice lager, best of the day.

Total: 2,4/5

Spaten Oktoberfestbier 5,9%

It poured a yellow liquid with small bits floating around in it. Had a small foam that dissapeared fast and left no lacing. The smell was sweet with hints of honey. The taste was malty and sweet with an odd aftertaste. Had this gone bad?

Total: 1,7/5

Paulaner Oktoberfestbier 6%

As with Spaten this also had small bits floating around in it. It had a weak smell with a hint towards something sweet. It tasted watery and bland with an odd aftertaste. Had this gone bad? It sure didn't taste right.

Total: 1,6/5

My personal lesson of the day: Don't let lagers hang around to long. In the future I will drink them as soon as I get home from Systembolaget.

Sunny Franziskaner

Me and the missus had a busy friday and cleaned out allot of junk we had stored in the appartment and basement. It took us all day but the result was very satisfying. I felt I should award myself with something good and the weather has been excellent these past couple of days so I thought it was time for some wheat beer. I love having a wheat beer in the sun, it's really refreshing. I checked the fridge and choose Franziskaner Hefe-Weissbier and their Dunkel version.

Franziskaner Hefe Weissbier 5%

It poured a cloudy golden liquid with a huge creamy foam that left allot of lacing. It smelled allot of sweet bananas, very nice. Im not sure how common this candy is outside Sweden, but I (and many others) relate it to something called foam banana. The taste is very fizzy at first, then I feel the sweet banana flavour. The overall impression is that this is a very well balanced beer and one of the best wheat beers I've tried.

Total: 3,8/5

Franziskaner Hefe-Weissbier Dunkel 5,5%

50 cl bottle. It poured a dark reddish cloudy liquid with a huge foam which left allot of lacing. The smell is allot weaker compared to the normal hefe-weissbier. But there is a hint of the sweetness in the background. The taste is very smooth and lean with allot less fizzyness then the normal version. It's also more malty with a hint of some toasted bread. A very nice beer but the normal version was better.

Total: 3,4/5

Both are really nice beers, specially for drinking in the hot summer wheater. If I had to choose one I would definitely go for the normal version.