Brauerei Rittmayer occasionally produces one of the smokiest beers I think I've had, the not-for-everyone Smokey George, so I set myself up for a fall by expecting more great things from one of their more regular beers, the Hallerndorfer Kellerbier.A dirty amber with a very short-lived head, this is sweet. Like Woah! sweet, sweet caramel-like malts. It has a slight bitter-almond hint and a touch of orange zest, which tries to cut it a bit. Otherwise, it's fairly nondescript, and the sweetness gets a bit cloying after half a bottle. I have to admit that it got so cloying and boring that I couldn't face finishing it. I'll try it again if given the opportunity to do so down in Hallerndorf of course.
As a Brucie Bonus, I'll throw in the Hallerndorfer Weissbier, a murky weissbier with a solid cloves, cinnamon and, strangely, a decaying apples kind of aroma. Nice and earthy in fact. The flavour delivers pears, cloves and a little sharpness which provides a pleasant edge. Despite, or perhaps because of having a slightly thin body, it makes for a fine thirst-quenching summer drink.
I found several beers from Oberfranken very sweet indeed last time I visited. I wasn't sure whether it was that I had destroyed my palate beforehand with hoppy British and US beer, or that brewers there still regard maltiness as the ultimate virtue in any beer.
ReplyDeleteYour review of that Kellerbier made me think that perhaps there are some beers that aren't meant to be drunk alone. I wonder if you wouldn't enjoy this one better with a bit of food on the side.
ReplyDeleteBarm , yeah, there is a tendency for some of the darker beers to be heavily malt driven, in a very sweet way. I was getting used to these, but was also thinking that recent drinking of very hoppy beers has reset me a bit!
ReplyDeleteMax, yes, experience tells me that some beers are definitely better even with some simple nibbles (cheese, nice salami, strong mustard and bread are favourites) but if I did that with every beer I had it wouldn't be conducive to my weight-loss plan :D Not that I have one...
Hadn't heard of Smokey George (I need to go back and read some of your old posts...). Sounds interesting!
ReplyDeleteVery broadly speaking, and in my limited experience, there aren't many really intensely bitter Franconian beers. I can think of a couple of brewpub dunkels that maybe got the balance wrong, but not many.
It is interesting, in a very phenolic kinda way :D
ReplyDeleteWhen I referred to recent hoppy beer drinking, I should point out that these were not German beers! :D
Of course I don't expect you to have a bite with every beer you review. My comment was just me thinking out loud. It happened something similar to me with a Danish Stout I had, got boring after a few sips, but I'm sure it would have gone down much better with some suitable nibbles at hand.
ReplyDeleteOh, I know what you mean. I've had a few beers that were rescued by a simple lump of cheese and nice fresh bread :D
ReplyDeleteIt's a good question though. I wonder if those kind of sweetish, malty beers made in the smaller Franconian breweries are best suited for serving on the premises with a big plate of stuff. Maybe they simply developed that way. Hmmm...
I think they developed to be very full bodied because they were considered as food in their own right, not because it made them better to drink with food.
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