Josef Schneider Märzen

The last beer that I had that I have not blogged about before is Josef Schneider Märzen (5.5% abv). Now I have to say that I have scoffed down my fair share of this beer style over the last few weeks, but this one was the best by a country mile! It is so thick and chewy, that it really tastes like you are eating dried malt extract. The flavour is that distinct!

Here is Andy's commercial description;
"This amber coloured filtered bottom fermented beer comes from the smallest brewery in the Altmühltal region in Essing in the Oberpfalz near Regensburg in Bavaria. Märzen beer, literally means March and was historically brewed in March/towards the end of the brewing season on St Georges Day (23 April) to last the summer until brewing could resume on St Micahel‘s Day (29 September). You may now be seeing some historical similarities with the Saison, Biere de Garde and Lambic beer styles....."

Just a bit of background on the brewery Josef Schneider (not to be confused with the wheat beer mob) is a small microbrewery located in Franconia, Germany. They produce a number of malty beer styles such as a Pilsner, Maibock, Marzen and Dunkel. The beer is available from the brewery direct only, or in the attached pub. There is no distribution or marketing amazing!

Schafferhof Zoigl

Next up at the Zeitgeist Berman beer festival was another elusive style. This time Schafferhof Zoigl was on offer.

This beer is unique its got a yeast haze, similar to a hefe-weizen but golden in colour. And the taste is unique, its very tart but not overly sour.

Andy's commercial description is as follows;
"This is another illusive beer now only really found in the Oberpfälz Wald (Palatinate Forest) in Bavaria near the border with Czech Republic. It is essentially a Keller or Zwickel beer, however it uses a different yeast whereby primary fermentation is only around 5 days and lagering is only some 3 weeks at the relativley high temperature of 7-8°C! It is called Zoigl (Bavarian slang) from the German word Zeichen meaning a signal or sign, when the beer was ready to drink, the family/brewer hangs a sign (the brewers star) outside their house, much like women in the middle ages in England would put a broomstick outside her house to signify beer was ready! Nowadays there is a list on the internet showing when each Zoigl ‚hosue‘ has its beer ready!"

A bit of research shows that this beer is a communal beer, and is where the 'star of David' originally came from! An inter sting style, that most beer lovers will never come across. I feel privileged! website

Zwiesel Dampfbier

Once again Andy and the crew from Bier-Mania have got together with Zeitgeist at The Jolley Gardner's and put on another great German Beer festival. This time in order not to disappoint, Andy sourced over 1000 Liters of beer from some of Germanies best microbreweries.

Way back in 2006, BYO (Brew Your Own) magazine ran an article on a little known style called Dampfbier, which translates literally to "Steam Beer". The beer intrigued me, and was described as being very similar to a Hefe-Weizen, but with an all barley grist. Upon arriving at the beer festival, the dampfbier was the highest priority on my radar!Andy's commercial description is as follows;
"This illusive unfiltered top fermented amber coloured beer is from Zwiesel in the Oberpfalz/Bavarian Forest on the border with the Czech Republic. Dampf is colloquial Bavarian for yeast and essentially describes the primary fermention when the beer has a layer of yeast smothering it, hence ‚Dampf‘. The region has historically also been the poorest region in Germany."

The beer was a lot darker and sweeter than I expected, and didn't really have a lot in common with the flavour profile of a weizen except a banana aroma. However, this beer was awesome and a style I definitely want to check out some more. http://www.dampfbier.de/

Schumacher Alt

Schumacher Alt (4.6% abv) is from Dusseldorf's oldest altbier brauhaus and has been operating since 1838, so in otherwords a bloddy long time! This is the one beer that most people associate altbier with and also a beer that I didnt have the pleasure of sampling during my last trip to Dusseldorf. The basics of the beer is thats its malty, brown with a slight fruitiness. More so than other alts, but Schumacher is generally is the style defining beer for Alt, much the same as Urquell is the style defining Pilsner. It was also the last Alt I sampled during the German beer festival at Zeitgeist and was also the last beer I sampled. I am really grateful to Stonch and Bier-Mania for hosting such and event as basically these beers are very difficult to track down outside of the regions where they are brewed. Hopefully they will host a similar even in the future?? BTW, you can find more info on Schumacher at their website: http://www.schumacher-alt.de

Ecker Bräu Wilderer Dunkel

The first Dunkel of the festival was Ecker Bräu Wilderer Dunkel (5.5% abv). This beer was a dark amber/brown colour with really delicate aroma. Its malty, but the hop character is sharp with a mild caramel flavour coming through. there was a slight chlorophenol tang to it, but it didnt taste like I was sucking in a band aid! Overall it was a good tasty, roasty, chocolaty beer with a pleasing clean and dry finish. A beer I probably won't stumble upon again....

Bolton Ur-Alt

Next up was Bolton Ur-Alt. I am not exactly sure what the difference between Alt and Ur-Alt is, but the beer was definetly stronger flavoured than previous Altbiers I have had, and was more in line with bier I have had in the Uerige brauhaus in Dusseldorf's Altstadt. The beer is darker, thicker, heavier and more malty than yoru everyday Alt, it also has a prominant hop aroma (my guess is that its Spalt hops? any other opinions?) I have not been able to source to much information omn teh beer except that the Bolton brewery is located in Korschenbroich, North Rhine-Westphalia which is close to Cologne. This is definetly one of my all time fav beers, but it still doesnt compete with Uerige!

Klosterbräu Schwärzla

Klosterbräu Schwärzla (4.9% abv) is a black Franconian Lager with a slightly tart mild roasted taste. Again this was sampled at the German beer festival organised by Stonch. Thi sbeer is significantly different to other exampels of this beer style like Kostrizter and has retained the classic Schwarzbier taste – mild, roasty and very soft. Not so schlank as often today. More like in the bad old days, when the style flourished behind the iron curtain. I can just see a little Kaiser like Prussian man sipping on omne opf these whilst reading the Volksnews through his monacle!

Füchschen Alt

Recently fellow beer blogger Stonch organised a German microbrewery festival in conjunction with Bier-Mania at Zietgeist a new London German venue which is housed by the Jolly Gardners pub in Lambeth. The first beer up on the evening was Füchschen Alt (abv 4.1%) a beer that I have enjoyed previously on a trip to Dusseldorf at the Rot Fuchs. As I was sipping away at the bier I was taken back to that evening and the new friends that I made, especially a guy who is now infamously known by my mates as 'Big Head Man'.
The beer itself is a pale brown with a malty caramel finish, and can easily be accommodated as a session beer. One of my favourites!
Below is a photo from my trip to the Rot Fuchs (Red Fox). Big Head Man is third from the left!