Gösser Märzen

Ok, I only have four posts left for 2008. Being an impatient lad, I have resolved to get them out of the way this afternoon, and revamp everything for tomorrow! Yay!

Anyhow, Gösser Märzen (5.2% abv) is an Austrian Mega swill and is the cheapest beer I came across during my travels. It's not really to style and tastes pretty ordinary and makes Australian megaswill taste like god's nectar. I recommend steering clear of this one, which I tracked down in Vienna.

Schwechater

I found this one in a dodgy off license type place near our hotel. I only picked one up to see what it was like, and I was rather surprised with this Austrian brewed beer.
A bit of history. The history of the Schwechater beer started in the year 1632. Peter Descrolier, who was valet and paymaster of archduke Matthias, founded the brewery in Schwechat. But the real success story only began in 1760, when the waiter Franz Anton Dreher moved to Vienna and leased the brewery Ober-Lanzendorf. In 1796 he bought the brewery in Schwechat, and the Schwechater beer was ready to start its triumphant advance.
The next milestone of the success story followed in 1841. Anton Dreher, the son of Franz Anton Dreher, who already collected a lot of beer brewing experiences during his trips to Munich and England, tried to produce for the first time a bottom-fermented beer, and brought it to Vienna.The Viennese people were so excited about it, that they only wanted to drink the Schwechater beer. This was the hour of birth for the nowadays popular "lager beer". Because of the big onrush at the beer, Schwechater had to use machines for the production. Dreher was the first brewer in Austria who used a steam engine to brew his beer. This was in 1848. Nowdays the steam engine is displayed in the technical museum in Vienna.Anton Dreher senior dies in 1863 and his son Anton Dreher junior takes over the company in 1870. In the "iceless winter" 1872 100 million kg of ice had to be brought by railway from Poland to Vienna. Such experience motivated Anton Dreher to learn more about artificial cooling and production of ice. In 1877 Schwechater Beer was the first who invented and used a cool machine for artificial cellar cooling.During the first world war the production reached it's all-time-low. The brewery workers which had to go to war, still received their salary the whole war through. During the war the production was reduced, but never shut down. Anton Dreher died as a very rich man in 1921. After his death the company was handed to his oldest son Anton Eugen Dreher (born 1871). But he died already in 1925. He was the last brewing master of the Schwechater beer, and so this was the end of the long lasting Schwechater beer dynasty. The lead of the brewery was inherited to some relatives of Anton Eugen Dreher. But the relatives were not interested in the brewery, and sold their participations to several banks in 1925. This was how the 130-dynasty of family Dreher and the Schwechater beer ended.
I think it is interesting how this brewing family is related to the Dreher family who also own a Hungarian brewery. I had one of their beers earlier in the year as well. You can read about that here.
http://www.schwechater.at/

Radeburger Pils 2

You may remember that I had this beer way back when I was in Berlin. I have found out a lot more aboiut the beer since then and wanted to share a bit of the story.

We stopped into a cafe at around lunchtime after doing the 'hop on, hop off' buss tour around Vienna. They should use these terms loosly as the services were running every two and half hours and there were not enough seats left on the bus to accomodat a 'hop on, hop off' service. Anyhow, this cafe, whose name escapes me now is supposed to be famous for it's apple struddle, but as my luck would have it they were all out so I went for a pint of Radeburger Pils instead (and yes, everyone else had hot chocolate). A little bit of hostory would not go astray here, as the beer is actually from the former DDR/Prussia rather than Austria.

The Radeberger brewery was born in 1872 in Radeberg, a suburb of Dresden. It was the first brewery in Germany to brew beer exclusively in the Pilsner style. By the late 1880s the brewers numbers had risen to 300,000 cases per year which was a lot for a regional brewery back then. The brewery takes pride in the fact that in 1905, Radeberger Pilsner became the favourite drink of king Friedrich August of Saxony. In 1946 the communist East German government took control of the brewery until after the fall of the Soviet Union, when Binding Brauerei purchased the company and returned its sales to West Germany. After the purchase the brewery underwent comprehensive renovations to bring their brewery up to speed with modern brewing. In 2004 the brewery was sold privately and was delisted from the stock market.


Website: http://www.radeberger-pilsner.de/

Ottakringer Pils

On Boxing day we ventured to the Austrian capital, Vienna by train. It was a most pleasant journey and we arrived in good time to get caught in a minor blizzard whilst trying to find our hotel. I think you know what is going to happen now? Well the wife and out-laws decided to warm up over a hot chocolate and I opted for a beer yet again. This time I took the only option available and ended up with a pint of Ottakringer Pils. I now beleive that this is a limited edition beer, as most of my google based research tends to lead me to Gold Fassl, which this beer is not.

Out of the Austrian beers I did have, thie is my firm favourite. The beer is more in the style of a modern Australian Bohemium pilsner along the lines of James Squire Pilsner which is a great beer. Anyhow, I sure did enjoy this beer a lot more than the tee-totaling in laws would have enjoyed their hot chocolate! http://www.ottakringer.at/

Norrlands Guld

The day after my bday, Mrs CB and I went for a walk around the harbours of Stockholm taking in the scenery and admiring the maritime heritage the Swedish capital has to offer. We planned to ultimately visit the Vasa museum to pay tribute to the 15th century warship which was raised and restored 40 odd years ago after sinking in the 16 hundreds. Obviously whilst in Sweden we also needed to have some Swedish meatballs! So we pulled into a little riverside café where the fine Swedish girl behind the bar (all people in Sweden are hot for some reason?) suggested that I go for a Norrlands Guld (5.3% abv). This beer I found to be refreshing, but its in the mould of a standard swilling lager rather than anything interesting. Apparently its the biggest selling brand in Sweden! So I feel a little bit duped into drinking Swedish mega-swill, but then again, the meatballs more than made up for it! http://www.guldsits.se/en/

New Sweden

The final beer I had on my birthday was in a little beer café that I can't find any info about online (or even its name or google maps listing). This place was awesome though, with approx. six or seven international microbrewed beers on tap and a beer fridge that will give any rate beer die hard a boner!

At the recommendation of the bar staff I opted for New Sweden (5.3% abv) which was again in the malty amber Vienna lager style. After reading this and this online, I have come to the conclusion that they are not talking about the same beer!

New Sweden is very similar to Spendrup's Mellanol, with its balance shifted heavily to the malty side with little hop flavour in the overall product. These amber lagers are a refreshing beer and a style I did not really expect to come across whilst in Sweden. My tip is, if you find this beer on draught in Sweden, then give it ago, i probably would not bother with the canned variety after the ratebeer ticker opinions though!

Nils Oscar God Lager

Again at the posh noshery, I decided to explore the beer menu and went for Nils Oscar's God Lager (5.3% abv) which roughly translates to "Good Stocks". Again, like Spendrup's Mellanol, this beer is a Vienna Style lager with strong a really strong malt profile. Slightly darker than your average lager the texture is also thicker as the beer is unpasteurised, which leaves the beer tasting fresh and new.

I should also spend some time describing the restaurant! Fem Sma Hus (five little houses) is located in Gamla Stan on Nygrand, a narrow alley just off Skeppsbron. It occupies a series of arched brick cellars which get lower and more atmospheric as you go deeper - some are well below water level.
The restaurant is very popular, is mentioned in the 2008 Michelin guide. The food is traditional Swedish, with dishes such as Gravadlax and reindeer (which was awesome, although it had a slightly putrescent odor!), in reasonable-sized portions. The cooking was perfectly competent and the service helpful - as you would expect at the fairly high prices. Our waiter was a surprisingly camp bloke who should go into comedy!
In summary, worth a visit for traditional Swedish food and a romantic setting!

If you want to find out more about Nils Oscar beers, and you can speak Swedish the try the following website: http://www.nilsoscar.se/se/nilsoscar/

UPDATE 27/08/08: This beer is now available in the UK from Waitrose supermarkets.

Spendrups Mellanol

Continuing with the theme of my birthday, we cruised on downtown where I grabbed a quick schooner of Spendrups Mellanol (4.2% abv) which is a nice Vienna style lager complete with a strong Munich malt/ melanoid flavour that works quite nice. The initial taste is malty upfront, but there is a nice grassy hop aftertaste with a lingering bitterness which is surprising for such a malty beer. The pub I was in on the other hand was quite dull and uninspiring, with staff who obviously didn't want to be there. Anyhow, you only turn 30 once so I was making the most of the evening! If you can read Swedish, then you can find more info here.