I´m holding our first family beer test this saturday...

[Stahlsturm]

Attending will be moi, my wife, my parents and my younger brother. Thankfully my parents place is only a block away so I can leave my car there and stagger home together with the wife, hehehe.

The reason we´re holding this... Several actually. Lust for beer first obviously, hehehe. But I convinced my brother that regional beer needs our support (not that he needed much convincing) and he in turn started working on my Dad so now he wants to try to get more variety in the house. Not that he had bad beer so far.

Anyways. I have been collecting beers for the past 2 weeks and I´m bringing 4 0.5 liter bottles each of:
Brauerei Goss (Deuerling) - Märzen
St. Georg-Brauerei (Neukirchen) - Hell
Brauerei Plank (Laaber) - Hell
Brauerei Meyringer (Moosham) - Export
Schloßbrauerei Eichhofen (Eichhofen) - Hell
Prößlbräu (Adlersberg) - Hell
Spezial-Brauerei Schierling (Schierling) - Hell

28 bottles for 5 people. I hope it´s enough, my family is thirsty... My wife is bringing her new digital camera so I might be able to post some impressions once I sobered up, hehehe.

You may now all turn green with envy :D

[steveh]

Take some notes and post 'em you-know-where. Gut trinken!

S.

[Stahlsturm]

Cheryl and I were a bit late because we decided to walk to my parents place so my car wouldn´t be stuck there. Given the program driving at night obviously was not an option. Upon arrival my thirsty Dad had already opened his first beer which threw off the running order I had planned... I KNEW I shouldn´t have left the beer there unguarded.

So we started with:
Originally posted by Stahlsturm
Brauerei Meyringer (Moosham) - Export
I came upon this brewery during my investigations about beer in Regensburg county this year. Neither my parents nor me (and it´s not like we just started drinking beer recently...) had ever heard of them before. They brew Helles Vollbier, Export, Pils and Weizen there and on our first visit we brought some of each home. Cheryl and I liked the Export best so we presented that one. We almost didn´t manage to include this anymore as you can only aquire it directly from the brewery and the family is only at home at night. I managed to get ahold of them saturday noon as they were about to leave so they put me a case of beer out on the ramp where I picked it up later and deposited the money in a flower pot.
The Export is a pretty strong tasting well balanced beer and it really should´ve been further down the row, after some of the more fragile brews. It did go very well with our dinner of smoked sausages though.

Next up was
Originally posted by Stahlsturm
St. Georg-Brauerei (Neukirchen) - Hell
Another recent discovery. We´ve been out there before and it was closed and we tried again on our way to a music festival last weekend. We were more lucky that friday and brought a case and the 4 bottles we needed for the tasting were the last remnants I found on sunday morning. Guess we did like it quite a bit, hehehe. Another trip there will be made shortly. They also brew Pils and Weizen but I haven´t tried those yet because my wife was faster...
Compared to the Mayringer the St.Georg Hell is more light bodied and has less hops which makes it more of a Summer beer. Though it has the same alcohol content (all beers here are between 4.8 % and 5.1 % alcohol) it appears to be a lot lighter. I´m sure this one´s going great (even greater) on a hot summer day, hehe.

Originally posted by Stahlsturm
Spezial-Brauerei Schierling (Schierling) - Hell
was number 3 and while I knew this beer for years it was the first time I tasted it. The brewery is rather recent under that name and has an interesting history. It was part of the Thurn Und Taxis company for decades until Thurn Und Taxis was sold to the Paulaner group a few years agho and Paulaner planned to close the brewery in Schierling because they already had enough brewing locations. So the people of Schierling, facing the horrible prospect of loosing their beer to a macro bought their brewery and are running it independently since. They are brewing Hell and Pils there and the Pils is spread very well in the southern part of Regensburg so one can assume their endeavour is a successful one.
Judging by the one we had at our tasting I can only say that we´ll have that more often. Not unlike the St.Georg Hell it´s a bit on the light bodied side but very tasty.

Originally posted by Stahlsturm
Schloßbrauerei Eichhofen (Eichhofen) - Hell
The Schloßbrauerei Eichhofen is one of three breweries within a stretch of 6 miles along the valley of the Schwarze Laaber river to the east of the city. They have a very nice brewpub on location where you can sit outside just over the river and they brew a great variety of beers (Hell, Dunkel, Pils, Weizen and seasonal beers) there. When we´re there I usually drink the Dunkel so this was actually my first contact with the Hell. Eichhofener also brews a Märzen style Festbier, and in retrospect I should´ve gone for that. I´m pretty sure I would´ve liked that better than the Hell. Cheryl and my Dad (who is a Pils guy) loved it but I´m more into the darker and more maltier stuff so the hops in this beer bit my tongue quite a bit. Well, the idea was to introduce so I´m sure my Dad will get this more often as it´s readily available in supermarkets all over Regensburg.

On pretty much every friday night before we head to our Classic Rock pub we have dinner at
Originally posted by Stahlsturm
Brauerei Plank (Laaber) - Hell
so their beer I´m well aquained with. It´s another of the breweries in the valley of the Schwarze Laaber (the 3rd one being Goss) and they have quite a few of different beers. I first encountered Plank consciously this summer. I´m sure I had their beer before while hiking with my parents but I never really gave much interest to breweries before. That has changed, hehehe. They brew a very tasty Weizen (great on hot summer days) and their Dunkel is one of the best I keep having. I also like the Hell very much, it´s well balanced with quite a bit of hops but not to the point where it bites. It tastes very strong and full bodied although there isn´t that much alcohol. Definetly a winner in my book.

Originally posted by Stahlsturm
Brauerei Goss (Deuerling) - Märzen
This Märzen was a bit out of place but I needed a sweeter beer somewhere during that night to have something for my Mom who (like me) is more into dark beers. While this one wasn´t dark by any means it was considerably darker and maltier than some. I buy this stuff quite regularly for myself and my Mom loved it as I had hoped. Even my Dad thought it was very good though which was surprising for me. I´m actually not sure what styles Goss brews. They do have a Hell as well which I tried and liked but beyond that I don´t have that much info. Since it´s more of a brew pub I guess Cheryl and I need to check out their restaurant one of the coming weekends. I´m curious how the Hell and their Märzen taste on tab.

Originally posted by Stahlsturm
Prößlbräu (Adlersberg) - Hell
Adlersberg is an old monastery just outside of town and well known to our entire family since Cheryl and I had our wedding there in May 2003. So I added their Hell more for completion and comparison than for novelty. The place is a very well known beer garden (try finding a place there after 6 pm on a summer night...) and has a wide reputation for Dunkel and the Palmator Bock. Every year for Palmator they put a 3000 seat beertent in their yard and you can imagine what´s going on there, hehehe.
But back to the Hell. It´s not very hoppy but pretty well balanced and strong tasting. It´s the stuff you can drink 5 Maß of :D I put the more stronger tasting beers towards the end of the night to have a build up in taste and despite my Dad I think I managed pretty well. And yes, we finished those 28 beers (= 14 liters)...

[Blkandrust]

Wow,sounds like some damn good beer!!Very enjoyable read.Thanks.

[chazwicke]

One of my son's birthday-Christmas-Graduation gifts is gonna be a trip to Germany. I'm taking notes!

[Stahlsturm]

Originally posted by Blkandrust
Wow,sounds like some damn good beer!!Very enjoyable read.Thanks.

This was about Regensburg county. Besides the breweries in the article we have 3 more and 4 brewpubs that only sell their beer on location. Maybe I should´ve included those. We started at 6 pm and were through at 11 pm... As a matter of fact we ran out of beer. We ARE a thirsty family, hehehe.

I think the next beer test I´ll be holding will be neighbouring Kelheim county. They have 17 breweries there (Hofbräu, Ottenbräu, Weissbierbrauerei Kuchlbauer, Brauerei Berghammer, Brauerei Horneck, Brauereigasthof Schneider, Stanglbräu, Schloßbrauerei Herrngiersdorf, Brauerei Aukofer, Brauerei Frischeisen, Klosterbrauerei Weltenburg, Weißbierbrauerei Schneider, Zieglerbräu, Riedenburger Brauhaus, Brauerei Riemhofer, Schmidmayer-Bräu, Brauerei Dantscher) and we might just have to split that one down in the middle. 17 might be too much even for us, hehehehe.

[Stahlsturm]

Originally posted by chazwicke
One of my son's birthday-Christmas-Graduation gifts is gonna be a trip to Germany. I'm taking notes!

YOU are taking notes for your SON´S trip ? Something´s wrong here :D

[steveh]

Originally posted by Stahlsturm
YOU are taking notes for your SON´S trip ? Something´s wrong here

Nah, if I don't know any better, there will be an escort on this trip...being sure that the money is properly spent! ;)

When is the trip Chaz?

S.

[chazwicke]

Yep There Will be an escort.
It may be on his winter break in Feb. Easter break, or summer after graduation. I have not yet figured that out yet. He has been asking to go specifically to Germany as he has been to the UK a few times and France once. We have relatives in the northern parts of Germany and around Berlin who have all stayed with us when they travelled here. But my inclination is to stay south with tours of Bavaria and most definitely Bamberg. I will probably make some decisions on the timing this weekend. And I can see a probability of going to Berlin because my wife's 93 year old oma lives there. But I hate staying and imposing on relatives. I prefer hotels and the flexibilty and freedom they provide.

[steveh]

I finally got the time to read through the whole review Sturm, very nice and thanks for taking the time with it all. My craving for German beer - and food - has been doubled. Not to mention the longing for a trip back to the old country.

Let me know what your decision comes to Chaz, I have a few friends begging me to come back - and now I have to visit Regensburg. I'll have to start saving up a little now, but you know...Easter would be right around Starkbierzeit, right Sturm? ;)

S.

[Stahlsturm]

Originally posted by steveh
Let me know what your decision comes to Chaz, I have a few friends begging me to come back - and now I have to visit Regensburg. I'll have to start saving up a little now, but you know...Easter would be right around Starkbierzeit, right Sturm? ;)

Yep, it is. Though 2005 may not be a good time to come over here. The USD EUR exchange rate is atrocious for you guys. 1 USD only get´s you 70 EUR cents right now and our prices are in EUR what you´re used to in USD for the most part.

[chazwicke]

I've noticed this. It would not preclude us from traveling but I certainly would like it better if it was a little more even. Also, My Mother in law who is native German but has been a US citizen since 1960 was recently over there and was accosted by even cab drivers who wanted to talk about our political situation here, the war, and Bush. She said everyone from relatives to friends wanted to opine about the US. She flat out refused. My question is: Will people be unpleasant to my family and myself if we visit there soon? What is the climate towards American visitors? When I was in the UK last may I was speaking with a friend's wife and told her I was a little afraid to take the trip to the UK because I was a little fearful that Americans would not treated well. (That turned out to certainly NOT be the case. I was welcomed everywhere there, as normal). She told me she was afraid to go to the Continent. Especially France. I have traveled to 18 countries and have never really been treated badly or rudely. The stories of the French being rude I have found to be largely a myth. I have been there numerous times and always had pleasant experiences. France is beautiful to boot. But now, with the war, I am wondering if it is good to visit continental Europe. Are my fears misplaced? I hope so.

[Stahlsturm]

Yes and no. People over here feel a great need to discuss the events of the past two years and especially the last US election with every american they can get ahold of. Unless you plan to walk around here with a pro Bush t-shirt you should be fine. There is no general hate towards americans, at least not in Germany.

The reason people ask every american they can get ahold of about these things is because the last war of aggression here in Europe was started by Hitler and ever since it has been a big nono. They try to understand how things could´ve gone that far (again).

[chazwicke]

Thanks! I'm trying to understand that myself.

[Stahlsturm]

Originally posted by chazwicke
Thanks! I'm trying to understand that myself.

If you say that every time people try to discuss politics with you you´ll most likely end up not having to pay for your beer(s).