Stiegl Pils

It seems that along with Zipfer and Gösser, the other main megaswill of the Austrian beer market is Stiegl. Recently I gave my spiel on Stieglbock which went down quite nicely on a cold evening. Well the Stiegl Pils (4.9% abv) is also a cracking brew. Noticeable features are a crisp bitter finish. Again I was drunk when I had this particular beer. Ieven forgot to take a photo myself, so I have stolen one. It really was a boozy Christmas. Website

Weininger Bier

On Christmas day we had dinner in a lame pizza joint that was the only place in Salzburg that we could find that was open. They only had one beer available and although I was pissedup enough that I didn't need it, I oblidged anyway. The beer was called Wieninger bier and it loosly falls into the pilsner category, You can read more about it here (if you can read German).

Edelweiss Weissbier

Regular readers are probably asking why I have not yet moved onto the promised new format. Well basically I have been pretty busy in real world stuff and the in-laws are still dominating the floorspace of my humble flat. I also am getting a little tired of the format and longing to mix it up, but being true to my original aim for the blog, I will document every different beer I had in 2008 even if it makes me look more and more like a ticker. I didn't set out to make this my personal version of rate beer and I am hardly re-inventing the wheel in terms of beers I have been getting down my neck.

Anyhow, my wife also picked up a bottle of Edelweiss Weissbier from a Spar supermarket. i was way to pissed when I drank it to tell you any more about it! I'm just being honest here.

I did steal this from their webpage though.

The history of Edelweiss and the tradition of Hofbräu Kaltenhausen
Kaltenhausen, a small, idyllic village at the foot of the Untersberg, located in the middle of the Alps, not far from Salzburg in Austria. It is here that in 1475, the "Kalte Bräuhaus" was founded by the Salzburg mayor and judge, Johann Elsenhaimer. Following Elsenhaimer’s death in 1498, the brewery became the property of the court chamber of the prince archbishop of Salzburg for the next three centuries, before being purchased by the Electress Marie Leopoldine.
In 1898, the Deutsche Bank bought the flourishing company, turning it into “Aktiengesellschaft Brauerei Kaltenhausen” in 1901. In 1921, Hofbräu Kaltenhausen became one of the founding firms in the former BRAU AG (today BRAU UNION ÖSTERREICH AG). In other words, the brewery can look back on over 500 years of brewing tradition!
Apart from the privilege of being the oldest brewery in Salzburg, Hofbräu Kaltenhausen is also the oldest brewer of weissbier in Austria. The history of brewing weiss- and weizenbier at the Hofbräu dates back 350 years and is therefore longer than that of the majority of Bavarian weissbier breweries.
This tradition was revived in 1986, with the launch of the „Edelweiss“ weissbier brand. Today, Edelweiss is market leader in the segment of weissbier in Austria, and has a very strong presence in countries like France, Russia, Hungary, Italy and the U.K.

Franziskaner Weissbier

I think Franziskaner Weissbier is the last of the big Bavarian wheat beers that I had yet to have in 2008. I had at some point or another managed to stumble over the rest! Anyhow, I located this particular offering in my hotel bar. Once again, while the rest of the out-laws got stuckin to hot chocolate, I held true and went for a beer. I am pretty sure this was a Christmas beer and it was still snowing outside. I think it tasted nice, but I was suitably lubed up by this point! http://www.franziskaner.com/

König Ludwig Dunkel

On Christmas day, in a effort to escape the cold, and snow, I headed to a nice small bar terrace located on the roof of the Stein Hotel, Salzburg. From an uninspiring beer menu I ordered a bottle of König Ludwig Dunkel which appeared to be the only non mega swill available.

Anyhow, König Ludwig Dunkel is a delicious, dark bottom-fermented lager. It's Bavarian, hence Reinheitsgebot-brewed. I have actually had this gem in Munich before and could not really remember much about it. The beer has a deep chestnut colour and a slightly-sweetish, a burnt wheat flavour, and a nice clean finish.

Oh, and did I mention that I had a white Christmas... A first for this Aussie.

Christmas Ale

I am not normally into tacky seasonal beers and this beer is really no exception, but I was a sucker and bought M&S Christmas Ale (6.2% abv) none the less. Brewed by the Cropton Brewery in Yorkshire for Marks & Spencer, this is like Christmas in a glass. It's a strong, warming ale that is supposedly Christmasy as it has added Christmas spices like nutmeg, cinnamon and cloves and a citrus tang. Surely if these flavours where supposed to be in beer we would have them all year round and not just in novelty Christmas beers.

The beer was extremely flat and uninspiring and basically, not my cup of tea.... I ended up giving half of the bottle to my young brother in-law!