Sunday, 6 December 2009

Ottakringer Helles... Blopp!

There's going to be a string of short posts like this one over the next few weeks, as I clear out notes that are gathering dust. You'll understand why many of them have been gathering dust if you can bring yourself to read them...

This Helles from the Austrian Ottakringer Brauerei, Vienna, was given to me as part of a set by a very kind Austrian colleague. A golden yellow, and kind of thick looking, i got a fair bit less than the 500ml it said on the bottle. Now this was in a package where half of the beers got broken, so maybe it leaked in transit. The aroma reminded me of those beers I don't like that use hop extract, a kind of plastic resin thing, but it also had a sweetness, and a sorbet/apple highlight. On first sip I suspected it might be a little skunked, as there was a slight tang to it. Still, it had a reasonable body, a malty sweetness and a hoppy tingle. Yeah, all very simple. The finish delivers those plastic resin notes I don't like, and a touch of wet cardboard. Not one I would return to.

Blopp! indeed.

I should be writing up the crawl of the dive bars I went on last Friday, but I have no idea how to approach writing up 15 stops of a pub crawl. One piece, or many? And I'm still recovering...

3 comments:

Séan Billings said...

I had this beer in Vienna (fresh and unmolested by shipping gorillas) and found to be a typical pale industrial lager, with little to recommend it. They also do a zwickel, which is a little more interesting, but as Vienna has more than its fair share of brewpubs, I can't say I drank a lot of this either.

Leigh said...

what a great name though....

Barry M said...

Haahaa! Glad the molestation monkeys didn't alter it in any way so, Séan. :D

Leigh, they seem to put words like this on the neck bands of some beers. I sometimes wonder is it a warning to expect a pop when the swing-top is opened. You never know! :D