Erdinger Weissbier

A late start!
Ok, welcome to my beer diary! In this diary I will document all the beers that I have consumed in 2008, and possibly beyond. Just to inform readers what to expect, I am by no means a ticker! So if you want an in depth beer geek analysis of the beer, go and visit ratebeer.com. I’ll offer my opinions and thoughts and let you guys make up your own mind. If you disagree with one of my opinions, please state your own by leaving a comment.

After an easy New Years Eve it has taken me a whole five days to sample my first beer of the year. My first beer was Erdinger Weissbrau – Weissbier (5.2% abv) from the Privatbrauerei Erdinger Weißbräu Werner Brombach GmbH in Erding, Germany. Erdinger’s claim to fame is being the world’s largest wheat beer brewery and was founded in 1886 by Johann Kienle.
The beer itself is a golden cloudy beer with low bitterness and high carbonation. The palate is very dry resulting in a beer that would kick ass on a hot summers afternoon and could quench even the strongest of thirsts. On the downside the beer does have a “mass produced” taste to it and in terms of brewing scale is the mega swill of the Wheat beer world!
So all in all not a bad start to the year but not necessarily a great one either!
Happy New Year…

Erdinger Dunkel

In Germany and German speaking countries, Christmas celebrations normally are held on Christmas Eve rather than Christmas Day. In Salzburg, this especially holds true and I ended up with a glass of Erdinger Dunkel in my hands at the bar of the Sheraton Hotel.

Erdinger is basically the megaswill of the wheat world and as such must be treated with the suspicion that is to be afforded all megaswill's!

Anyhow, moving along from the sillyness, it's ok and probably a tad nicer than the regular Erdinger. Website

At this point I should also mention that the beer was a good one for Christmas and was no where near as creepy as the voice of the guy that runs the "Sound of Music Tour". What makes it even worse is that it was the second time I had been on the said musical tour - scary......

Erdinger Weissbier 2

Yep my wife surprised me with not only Bergenbier, but also Erdinger Weiss from Germany. Again I won’t go into to much detail again, but merely document the consumption for my own benefit! In case you ask, they do have a snazzy website: http://www.erdinger.com/
You can read my previous ramblings here.

Erdinger Weissbier 3

Ok, another beer that I have had already this year. Erdinger tastes the same the world over! Its no diferrent in Germany either! Ok for what it is, but it is still the worlds most mass produced wheat beer. It was one of my first postings to this blog, read about it here.

Bank Holiday

I am back at work now after spending the bank holiday weekend in a lazy fashion. Luckily it is ticker Tuesday and I can fill you in on what I have been up too. On Friday evening I managed to get down the Roebuck in Chiswick for pint of Adnam's bitter (which was a little plain) and a pint of Erdinger. I decided to go for the proper real keg as I have yet to have a decent pint of ale there on cask. After this I enjoyed an awesome ribeye steak down the road at The High Street Brasserie. I am going to rave about this steak for a bit as it was pretty awesome. Probably over 400 grams worth with the marrowed bone still attached. I enjoyed it rare as all good steak must be enjoyed! (BTW I washed this down with two pints of Staropramen) I am a little bit ashamed with the after dinner activities which saw me drinking pints of Foster's lager in Belushi's at Hammersmith - a circus of a venue with maybe just a smidge more class than a Walkabout, but not much more. The Fosters was cold and refreshing though and certainly suited to the warm evening.

Saturday evening I nicked down the Parr's Head for a Thai feed and had an excellent pint of Hancocks HB, which tastes pretty similar to Fuller's London Pride (I had the two back to back and I couldn't discern between the two). After dinner I managed to crack open a bottle of T.E.A from the Hog's Back brewery. It was a little disappointing, but it did have a nice solid yeast cake which fell into my glass during pouring. The positive of the solidarity was that I could remove it easily with a spoon!

Sunday was another lazy day and I managed to read a whole book from cover to cover. I didn't end up drinking any beer at all, but did enjoy half of a very nice bottle of Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc at Gordon Ramsey's Boxwood Cafe. I highly recommend the Veal and Fois Gras burger which really is something special. The crispy pigs trotter entree I had was a little bit too oily and the gingerbread cheesecake I had for desert were a little bit disappointing but overall it's a good place to go for a meal if you are interested in eating in overpriced restaurants (as I am!).

I managed to get one beer in yesterday (Monday) which was freebie sent to me by Nicky who does PR for Marston's. This was Wychwood Beewyched (5% abv) which is a honey laced ale that has a soft honey aroma and avoids the excessive dryness that most braggot (beer brewed with honey) suffers from. I actually enjoyed this beer and would probably drink it again if I was forced to!

So maybe I didn't really get the most drinking out of the long weekendas I could have, but I needed a break and there is more to life than beer - OK well not much more.

Rocio Trigo

Another beer from the Gaucho Grill (Brewed under licence by the Greenwich Meantime brewery), Rocio Trigo is a Bavarian style wheat beer. This is the second wheat beer I have had this year and so I cannot really draw any similarities between this beer and Erdinger Weiss, but they are both interpretations of the same style. Trigo is a milder beer which is bordering on tasteless without the signature banana or clove notes associated with the style. The beer does not even have a spritzy level of carbonation and really isn't to style. It is more in line with the American wheatbeers that are popping up on the 'craft beer' scene. Anyway the point is: if you are going to Gaucho for a steak, get the Rocio Gold!

Here is an excerpt from the drinks menu at Gaucho and how they describe the beer.

ROCIO TRIGO
From the Spanish word for wheat, this
Bavarian style wheat beer made from a
unique strain of yeast to give a cloudy
orange – colour, zesty flavours of banana
and bubblegum spice with a refreshing,
malty finish.