Schlenkerla Helles Lagerbier (Rauchbier) from Brauerei Heller Bamberg
 | From BEER_webalbum |
First of all, does someone want to explain to me what Helles and Heller are? I don't feel like looking it up.
I was very excited to find this sketchy German bottle sitting in my beer store (apparently the last one in stock for now). I knew I recognized the name, but I couldn't place it, so I asked the guy. He mentioned something about the yeast taking on the characteristics of the beechwood-smoked malts after 3+ centuries at this brewery, but I didn't really catch it all. Anyway, the website is written in great English, so I have a good idea of what I'm drinking. Apparently it's brewed in the same vessels and fermented with the same yeast as the Marzen style. Anyway, I think I tried a beer from this brewery at Sunset Grill (not similar in anyway to the Nashville restaurant by the same name), and thought the smoked flavor was much too overbearing. I'm guessing it was the Marzen. This beer is much more pleasant for me.
The nose is, unsurprisingly, sweet beechwood-smoked malts. People on BeerAdvocate (http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/263/29145) talk like it doesn't taste smoky, and I guess it doesn't compared to the marzen, but it's distinctively smoky. The smokiness turns doughy with a sip, and the hops are noticeable and balance the sweet malts without being very bitter. I just had dinner, but I'm suddenly ravenously hungry for smoked pork and turkey, maybe some sauer-kraut and red cabbage salad to offset the taste...
Anyway, this is a one-thumb-up-er for me. The other thumb pleads the 5th due to unavailability of proper food to compliment the beer (and yes that is the order of priority). I really want to try the Lent beer now, since it sounds like it might be heavy (meaty) enough to make the extreme smokedness worthwhile.
A side note: the website said October through December is 'strongbeer season.' Any leftovers last year's crop that could be saved for my trip in June would be extremely appreciated (and reimbursed).
Labels: bamberg, helle, helles lagerbier, rauchbier, Schlenkerla, smoked malts
posted by FretlessC at 2/21/2007 08:03:00 PM
2 Comments:
!!
i haven't seen that beer in years! i tried it on my first visit to germany ever. rauchbier is brewed, to my knowledge, only in bamberg, a small town in franken near nuremberg. i think the germans are thankful for this. it tasted like straight liquid ham. helles= light, heller= lighter. but the one i tried was a dunkeles= dark.
Thanks for the trans. The primer on german pub food was also enlightening. I might print it to study before I visit the fatherland. As for Schlenkerla or whatever, the lager was actually not overbearing. I tried some other beer from them recently and it was almost undrinkable - useful only as a possibly awesome cooking tool, but this lager was quite different and made me feel like I was eating good smoked pig with a nice lager rather than making me feel like i was drinking a smoked pig. anyway, that's my 2 cents.
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