Two from Löwenbräu AG, München

A while back I tried the Löwenbräu Oktoberfestbier, I think for the first time. I can't remember what tents I visitied on my first and last vsit to Oktoberfest as I was distracted by... well, nevermind.

So Iwas kind of looking forward to trying this. I always seem to expect Oktoberfest beers to be more amber, so I wasn't really expecting this deep golden affair. The aroma is like baking bread, and on first sip i got a bit of a shock. I had been drinking a pretty dry pils beforehand, and this contrasted starkly as almost juicy-fruit-like. There are sweet apples, diluted pineapple and a hint of lemon in there, and a base that felt like drinking liquid bread. I didn't expect to think too much of this, but I really liked the bready sweetness of the malts and the slightly spicey warming effect. At 6.1% ABV this is far too easy to drink.

A while later I spotted the attractively packaged Löwenbräu Urtyp in the local beer store, so I grabbed a couple. THis shared tha baking bread kind of aromas I found with the Oktoberfestbier, but with hints of apricots and citrus on the nose. The body is fullish, as described, with a honey-like sweetness and slight alcoholic note. Behind all this is a hop flavour bordering on pine-like that makes an effort to come out. It never gets to a solid bitterness, but that's probably just fine for this kind of beer. However it does get a bit over-sweet and one-dimensional