Schöfferhofer

I was at Düsseldorf airport and waiting for my flight back to London Heathrow. To calm my nerves and to dull my anticipation of my bag getting lost somewhere in Terminal 5, I sat down with my colleague Stef and enjoyed a nice glass of Schöfferhofer Hefeweizen (5.0% abv).

As far as wheat beers go this one is certainly an easy drinker, with a nice slightly tart flavour and fruity ester profile. I guess by this I mean you get the usual Banana, Clove combo but a hint of citrus as well. It went down nice and killed the hour or so I had to wait for my flight. I must have been drinking a little slower than usual as Stef finished his glass first, before rushing off for his shuttle back to Paris. Waiting in airports is not very exciting, much like this post. http://www.schoefferhofer.de/

Frankenheim Alt

It seems that the most widely available Altbier in Wuppertal is Frankenheim Alt (4.8% abv) and as far as Alt's go it is very good. Not as good as Uerige Alt which is my favourite, but certainly a good representative of the style. Still in the Kornmuller restaurant, I ordered this is an attempt to deliberately offend my Cologne dwelling colleague! Sadly my German friend actually had a sense of humour and my desired effect was not realised.

Frankenheim is not brewed in the Altstadt like most Alt biers, but is brewed in nearby Neuss by an old-established independent family brewery. It's a pale bronze colour with a good bubbly head, and richly earthy aroma with a touch of hop sharpness. The palate is very clean, light and biscuity with some sweetness and a splash of citric fruit, and a Weetbix-dry hoppiness develops in the finish, where nicely tangy, peppery and slightly nutty notes linger. Slightly lackluster compared to interpretations of the style by other breweries in Düsseldorf.

http://www.frankenheim.de/

You may have noticed that I have used the term weetbix rather than weetabix. that is because I am Australian and weetbix is the brand for this popular cereal down under. Weetabix are just try hard UK knock offs, just as Marmite is a poor mans Vegemite.

Gaffel Kolsch

As I have said previously Wuppertal lies in the vicinity of both Cologne and Düsseldorf and as my German colleague resides in Cologne he insisted that we get a few Gaffel Kolsch's (4.8% abv) down our neck whilst visiting a nice traditional restaurant called Kornmuller (which happens to be in an old 18th century corn mill).

Like all good Kolsch's it maintains a crisp bitter taste, while delivering a soft fruity aroma. I really am not a big fan of the style. I think if you are going to go to the effort of brewing one, you may as well as brew a nice German Pilsner, but then since Kolsch style beers have been brewed in Cologne since the 11th century (ok they were slightly darker back then), who am I to argue? http://www.gaffel.de/

Sausalito's House Lager

As I have been neglecting the blog due to work travel, I thought I would pop in a quick post. Work has seen me be located in Wuppertal Germany over the last couple of weeks. As mentioned this place being in close proximity to both Düsseldorf and Cologne has both Kolsch and Alt beers being widely available. I went to dinner with a colleague of mine to a Mexican restaurant called Sausalito's. I ordered a pitcher of their home made house lager expecting something unique, instead I received a pitcher of lime juice with a fair whack of tequila in it. Apparently there is beer in there somewhere, but all I could taste is pure alcohol, plus Ice and Slice! It was easy drinking but tasted like shit. It also included a straw!
Sausalitos has a website: http://www.sausalitos.de/ If you watch the video on their home page you could confuse the Mexican joint with a strip club.

Wicküler Pilsener

As I mentioned earlier in the week I have been traveling for work. I had the fortune or misfortune of being layed up in snowy Wuppertal, Germany. For those of you who may not know much about Wuppertal it forms a triangle with Cologne and Düsseldorf in the Rhineland Westphalia region and is slightly south of Dortmund. It was once the richest city in Germany during the industrial revolution but like a lot of early industrial cities, it is now slightly lacking. It is also famous for the Schwebebahn, the worlds oldest suspension monorail which runs over the river Wupper.

Anyhow after an afternoon of traveling I finally arrived at my hotel, tired, exhausted and thirsty and swiftly checked out the mini bar. I managed to find a lone bottle of Wicküler Pilsener (4.9% abv) which I drained in two deep swigs. The beer was dry and thin like a Dortmunder style pils (which it is) but lacked the depth of other examples of the style such as Bitburger or DAB. Overall impression was ok, but not outstanding.

Wuppertal is geologically interesting as it really has no set beer style. The most popular style is Dortmunder Pilsener, Followed by Kolsch and Alt. Its proximity to the three beer epicenters of North West Germany provides a wide variety of beers.

The Wicküler Pilsener is in German, but you can check it out still. http://www.wickueler-pilsener.de/