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

Paracelsus Zwickl

On the way back to the hotel, I ducked into a Spar supermarket and bought a couple of beers for later on. The first of these I picked up was Paracelsus Zwickl (5% abv), an unfiltered beer similar in style to dampf beer or Australian sparkling ale. This particular one is produced by Stieglbrau, which seems to be the dominant brewery in Salzburg.

From the website: "Paracelsus Zwickl is a natural beer specialty with a mellow impression on the tongue. The aftertaste unfolds a slight bitterness. Zwickl-beer is not filtered and therefore shows some cloudiness due to rests of yeast, minerals and trace elements.

This very special beer is brewing at its best using a sophisticated recipe combined with love and dedication. Stiegl only uses excellent ingredients from Austrian agricultural suppliers, applying biological techniques. As a result of this Paracelsus Zwickl beer was awarded the Bio-Austria certificate. Bio-production is subject to strict yearly controls by “Austria-Bio-Guaranty”.

“Bier is a really divine medicine”. This quotation comes from Paracelsus (1493 – 1541). He was a well known physician, forward thinker and visionary who lived in Salzburg for many years. He found out that beer had healing powers.

Advice from our Gourmet Chef for food pairings:
The Paracelsus Zwickl is a beer to satisfy thirst and ideally to accompany meals such as beef, lamb, venison, goose and duck."

Stieglbock

After the 'hot chocolate', we headed out to have a look at the Christmas markets located in the old town. It didn't take my wife long to locate the stall selling giant pretzel shaped donuts. I didn't mind buying her one as it gave me the opportunity to pick myself up a bottle of Stieglbock (7% abv), which was suitably appropriate to warm my freezing bones and coax my testicles down from the space that would have been reserved for ovaries if I was born female. Anyhow, the beer was nice. A powerful combination of malt/malanoids and alcohol. My only complain was the fact that it was freezing cold and this influenced the beer and did not allow me to truly 'taste' the beer. By freezing, I mean there was actual icicles forming in the beer, so colder than your local JDW serves up a cheap pint of GK IPA. Website