1001 Beers

Beer No: 110
Page No: 838
Category: Dark

Once again, I'm starting to slack on my reviews.  It's odd because I'm not watching extra TV on my DVR, I'm not playing World of Warcraft or StarCraft II (though I might fire that one up again later today), but I've just become lazy I guess.  I'm working on two beers now that I had a few days ago (this one and the next review) and back dating them to the proper dates, and then I had a beer today (the 17th) and might have another one or two if they get cold in time, but it's more of a chore now to write all these articles on each one and rate them all.  But I'll try my hardest to keep it going, it just unfortunately means that there could be more periods of inactivity and then flurries of posts when I feel up to posting again.

Anyhoo, some back story on this fine German beer.  Named for the Asam brothers who built the abbey's church (yes, this is an abbey beer - brewed by monks), this malty beer is perfect for a cold evening as it warms with almost 7% ABV and fills with a huge malted flavor.  What's interesting about this brewery is they are one of the oldest, if not the oldest brewery in the world.  1001 Beers says they're most likely the 2nd oldest brewery in existence, but who can say for sure when records date back only to 1050.

"Weltenburger has a longer history of brewing than [the Trappist monasteries].  The monks arrived here on the banks of the Danube in the 7th century and probably began making beer immediately.  No records exist, but it is known that the abbey was brewing in 1050, which makes Weltenburger second only to Weihenstephan, just north of Munich."

First, second, or somewhere later, the monks here know what they're doing.  "loaded with sweet malts, balanced by local Hallertauer hops, and lagered for twelve weeks," this is one is definitely one to try.  Sweet, malty, hints of hops, a nice full-bodied balanced bock.

My review, cross-posted at RateBeer.com:

Weltenburger Kloster Asam Bock by Klosterbrauerei Weltenburg

Aroma: 7/10
Appearance: 3/5
Taste: 7/10
Palate: 4/5
Overall: 15/20

Rating: 3.6 / 5.0

Had from bottle. Pours dark brown with huge frothy tan head. Too much carbonation right off the bat. Aroma is heavy bready malts with a hint of some spices and a bit of toffee. Flavor is full-bodied with bit malts, molasses and roasted toffee. Mouthfeel is less carbonated than the pour and has good body to it. Finishes sweet and satisfying. A solid bock.

Beer No: 105
Page No: 572
Category: White

Franziskaner Hefe-Weisse is easily one of my favorite Hefewiezens.  So it saddened me so when half way through drinking this beer and reading the Wall Street Journal, a fly landed in it and could not escape.  Such a shame to waste this beer.  My friends all told me to fish out the fly and continue drinking, but I just couldn't do it.  That being said, I still got to drink half of the beer and then went in and started on a new beer - Speakeasy Prohibition Ale - a nice amber, but nothing too special.  Easy to drink and a good representation of the style.

On a side note, I found it pretty funny that just days after BrewDog comes out with the world's strongest beer at 55% and names it "End of History," another brewery, just for fun comes out with a 60% beer and names it "Start the Future."  A fun game of one-upmanship and hilarious product naming.  However, one downside to "Start the Future" is it doesn't come bottled in roadkill...

My review, cross-posted at RateBeer.com:

Franziskaner Hefe-Weissbier by Spaten-Franziskaner-Brau (InBev)

Aroma: 6/10
Appearance: 4/5
Taste: 8/10
Palate: 4/5
Overall: 16/20

Rating: 3.8 / 5.0

UPDATED: AUG 1, 2010 Rerate 7/28/2010
Not quite sure what happened with my original rating 8 years ago - maybe I had a bad bottle or something, but since then, Franziskaner has become one of my favorite Hefeweizens. The aroma has a wonderful blend of fruits, spices, yeast, and bananas while the taste is pretty much exactly what a hefe should be. Fruit, cloves, and vanilla all dominate the tasting and blend together perfectly. A truly wonderful hefe.

I’m usually a huge fan of hefeweizens, but this one seemed a bit bland. The color is the usual hazy yellow with a medium sized head. The aroma is slightly fruity and the taste as well, but overall, it seemed weak with a taste that left something to be desired. A refreshing beer, but nothing special - not a stand-out hefe.

Original Rating: 6/4/6/3/13 3.2/5.0 on 10.10.2002

Beer No: 104
Page No: 400
Category: Blonde

Yeah, so maybe that's not the proper way to pour a beer, but hell, it's a pilsener, and a poor one at that.  Tasting of skunky beer, there's not much that can help this brew rise from the depths.  I still can't fathom why breweries continue to use green bottles.  Perhaps they're just trying to emulate Heineken skunk flavors?

In unrealted news, it appears that Stone may be heading to England.  I knew they were looking for a European base of operations, so where better than in an old, closed-up brewery?  The Birmingham Post reports that Stone might be interested in bidding on the old Highgate Brewery.  Seems like a perfect fit to me.  The only place that would fit them better I think is Estonia - get it? E-STONE-IA...haha.

The Stone Brewing Company, based in Escondido, California, is thought to be lining up a bid for the listed building and the brewing equipment from the 112-year-old Black Country brewery, which has been up for sale since the previous brewers collapsed earlier in the summer.

My review, cross-posted at RateBeer.com:

Jever Pilsener by Jever (Oetker Group)

Aroma: 2/10
Appearance: 2/5
Taste: 4/10
Palate: 2/5
Overall: 5/20

Rating: 1.5 / 5.0

11.2oz. green bottle from Hi Time Wines. Pours clear golden yellow with heavy carbonation and good head. Aroma is skunky - can’t really get any malts or hops. Taste is standard pils with skunky grains and grass. Not my cup o’ tea. Why do breweries still insist on using green bottles?

Beer No: 97
Page No: 560
Category: White

It's been almost a month with no beer reviews, so I figure that's ample time away.  I guess other things just got the better of me.  It started with a weekend missed due to prior engagements and then I just didn't have the inclination to catch up from the missed weekend and the weekend turned into a week, and from there, it just spiraled out of control.  Then came Sunday, Stone's 4th Annual Sour Fest kicked my butt into gear.  I had an amazing time sampling some absolutely amazing beers (I'll post the full beer list in a bit).

So I'm back.  I've still got tons of beers lined up to enjoy from the book and I can't wait to start reviewing them again.  So we'll start with a nice German wheat, the Ayinger Ur-Weisse.  I'm generally a fan of Ayinger's beers and I enjoyed this nice wheat beer that packs a bit of malts along with it.  Not as fruity as your standard wheat, nor really having all of the spices, this beer is well balanced and a perfect fit for a warm day in the sun.

It's good to be back and hopefully I can stay on schedule again and not take a few weeks off any more like I did here.

My review, cross-posted at RateBeer.com:

Ayinger Ur-Weisse by Brauerei Aying

Aroma: 7/10
Appearance: 4/5
Taste: 7/10
Palate: 3/5
Overall: 14/20

Rating: 3.5 / 5.0

500mL bottle from Hi Time Wines. Pours cloudy, hazy yellow/orange with nice head and some lacing. Aroma is slight wheat, spices, and malts, all blended together nicely. Taste is refreshing, light, malty, nice balance of wheat and cloves. Slight bitterness at the finish, but a very nice finish and easy drinkability.

Beer No: 95
Page No: 473
Category: Blond

World Cup Day 17...With the United States out, there's just one team left for me to root for - Germany.  So I got up nice and early today, gathered up the pillows on the couch, and settled in to watch an epic match of Germany vs. England.  Germany went ahead early 2-0 with two goals that both could have been prevented.  However, England then stormed back, scored a quick goal and then a couple of minutes later scored again, however, the referees didn't see it.  So it was Germany up 2-1 heading into half time.  Who knows what would have happened or how the game would have played out if England had tied Germany 2-2, but in the end, with England pressing for an equalizer, Germany was able to counter-attack twice and take the final score to 4-1.  While it's easy to say that Germany outplayed England, we just never know how it would have ended if the goal were called correctly.  England probably would have played much more defensively and Germany might not have been able to counter-attack.  But in the end, Germany wins, advances to play Argentina, the winner of the second game against Mexico, and I'm still a happy German fan.

Unfortunately, the Reissdorf Kolsch didn't make me all that happy of a German beer drinker.  Watered-down, clear yellow, this beer didn't produce much flavor at all and was a disappointment.  It's not a bad beer by any stretch of the imagination, just a standard Kolsch that has some flavor, but not much, and the aroma is almost non-existent.

My review, cross-posted at RateBeer.com:

Reissdorf Kolsch by Privat-Brauerei Heinrich Reissdorf

Aroma: 3/10
Appearance: 3/5
Taste: 5/10
Palate: 2/5
Overall: 8/20

Rating: 2.0 / 5.0

Had from 500ml bottle from Hi Time Wines. Pours clear golden with slight head that dissipates quickly and leaves slight lacing behind. Aroma is faint, notes of grass and hops. Taste is watered-down, weak, hints of hops, sweetness, slight malty flavor. Easy to drink, almost like drinking water, slightly bubbly with good, clean finish.

Beer No: 86
Page No: 722
Category: Dark

The fun continues...sort of.  As the World Cup moves on, the games are becoming more and more important.  And fresh off their 4-0 beating of Australia, Germany goes out and...lays an egg.  Not only do they miss a penalty kick to tie the game, but they suffer a bad red card (two yellows) and let Serbia win 1-0.  It's not all doom and gloom for Germany though.  A win in their third game and they advance to the next round.

So then we move on to Slovenia vs. United States.  And unless you've been living under a rock for the past couple days, you know the horrible outcome of this one.  First the U.S. comes out playing sloppy soccer like they did versus England and goes down early in the 12th minute.  They then allow another goal right before half in the 42nd minute.  But, they storm out of the half time break, score quickly in the 48th, and then pick up another goal to tie the game in the 82nd minute on Bradley's amazing goal.  And then...well, they score again in the 85th minute, however, this referee, officiating his first World Cup game ever, waves it off.  WHAT?  WHY?  Well he certainly won't tell anyone what the call was on the field, but after the game it comes out that he called offsides.  So...he calls offsides from behind the play, when his assistant on the sideline with a perfect view of any possible offsides calls nothing?  Great.  So here we sit with 2 points and slim chances of advancing.

And then it happens...England scores no goals against Algeria and can only manage a 0-0 tie.  How pathetic.  England can still advance with a win next week.  And the United States advances with a win as well, but how sad for England to win and still get 2nd place in the bracket?  With the United States taking the first seed with a win (assuming England doesn't go out and score 5 or 6 goals, of course).  Should be an interesting Wednesday next week.

Back to the beer though, today's beer comes from Germany, which lost, putting me at 2-4-2 overall with my beer picks.  This Schwarzbier (Black Beer) comes from Kostritzer Schwarzbierbrauerei (so obviously, this is their specialty beer).  Stating on the bottle it's the #1 black lager in Germany, I can see why.  It's clean, crisp, and easy to drink.  Which then means that it really has no flavor.  It's a watered down lager without any complexities and just the slightest hop and malt flavors.  It certainly is a refreshing beer, and better than it's Brazilian counterpart, Xingu, but it's nothing special.  Hopefully the next two beers in the lineup perform better - one from Japan, and then Italy.

As an aside, I'm keeping my rating from 2003 when I initially rated the beer.  If I had to re-rate it, I might move my overall rating down a couple points, leaving the final rating around 3.1 or 3.2, but a 3.3 isn't far off, so I'll just leave it as is.

My review, cross-posted at RateBeer.com:

Kostritzer Schwarzbier by Kostritzer Schwarzbierbrauerei (Bitburger)

Aroma: 5/10
Appearance: 4/5
Taste: 6/10
Palate: 3/5
Overall: 15/20

Rating: 3.3 / 5.0

Had from bottle at Stuffed Sandwich on July 25th, 2003 - Day 25 of Blake's Beer Month™
After looking through the multitude of beers available at the Stuffed Sandwich, I asked Sam for a Xingu - he told me I had to try this beer first - no reasoning, just to try it. Oddly enough, this was my first Black Beer - didn't really know what to expect - and was pleasantly surprised. The beer pours black (duh) with no clarity and a small amount of carbonation. The head is light brown with good lacing. The aroma was faint - yeasty, malty, but faint. The flavor was lagerish - a bit dull - nothing too special. The beer was easy to drink and was just what you would expect from a black lager - lager-like taste with a completely black appearance. On with the Xingu!

Beer No: 78
Page No: 327
Category: Blond

I think I've done it.  I've found a way to have a beer from a team playing each day during the World Cup round robin.  After that, I'll have to see who advances.  If England, Germany, and the U.S. advance, that makes it easy on me, but any South American team will present a challenge - especially when you see what my Day #5 pick has to be.

Day 1: Mexico - Cucapa Barleywine Ale

Day 2: An English or American stout (my stout party is that day)

Day 3: Australia - Coopers Best Extra Stout

Day 4: Denmark - Mikkeller Beer Geek Breakfast

Day 5: Brazil - Xingu (I have to take Brazil early due to New Zealand, Slovakia, Ivory Coast, Portugal, and North Korea being the other teams playing that day - all of which I could find no beers for).

Day 6: Switzerland - L'Abbaye St. Bon-Chien (my find of the day, a $25 bottle of beer)

Day 7: France - 3 Monts

Day 8: Germany - TBD (I picked up about 10 German beers today)

Day 9: Japan - Hitachino White

Day 10: Italy - TBD (I have a couple Italian beers around)

Day 11: Spain - Estrella Damm

Day 12: France - La Goudale (unfortunately, this ends my French beers, so if they advance, I will have to hunt down more)

Day 13: England - TBD

Day 14: Japan - Angry Boy Brown

Day 15: Spain - Alhambra Negra

And that ends the round robin round.  Starting the day after, June 26th is bracket play, so I'll just have to wait and see how the brackets will fill out before I can start to plan the next round of drinking.

My review, cross-posted at RateBeer.com:

Bitburger Premium Pils from Bitburger Brauerei Th. Simon

Aroma: 3/10
Appearance: 3/5
Taste: 4/10
Palate: 2/5
Overall: 8/20

Rating: 2.0 / 5.0

12 oz. bottle from Hi Time Wines. Pours clear yellow with good fizz, no head, no lacing. Aroma is non-existent, a little sweet, a little lager-ish. Taste is bland, watery, devoid of flavor. Easy to drink, maybe a bit better than the Buds and Coors of the world, but still, that’s nothing to be proud of. Finishes with a slight hop bitterness, but nothing special.