Franconian Beer Message Board
Out of Forchheim to Straßgiech: Swedish Edition |
| Posted by Barry on 2013-09-19 00:33:07 |
| This subject line is getting a bit convoluted but, now that Nick's pinched it, I'd better carry on. He did come for a short session at Drei Kronen but it was twice as long as he originally may have planned. When we arrived in Bamberg, we were met by a rather wet (in fact, soaked) Nick, as the heavens had opened on him whilst biking to Erlagen station. . Once on board the 963 to Strassgiech, we picked up Gunnar, now staying in Bamberg. Manuela was just opening up as we got to the Drei Kronnen and, once we divested ourselves of various raincoats, we ordered seidlas of kellerbier. All agreed that it was excellent, amber in colour, very clear and beautifully presented, but was it a kellerbier, whatever that may be? Certainly much more character than many keller biers but probably earning the title as Andi's 'cooking beer'. Then Nick and myself turned, albeit in my case, a little reluctantly, to the Zoigl - J. steadfastly refused in solidarity with the Oberpfaltzische brewers. Now this was most interesting: almost identical in colour to the kellerbier but with quite a different taste; much more hoppy and dry. A Zoigl it certainly isn't; in fact, I'd go as far as to say that it could hardly be more different to the Zoigls that I've sampled (and that's most of them now) but good enough for me to try another one. As we finished our third seidlas (and some food), Andi rushed in, breathless from his efforts at the brewery and carrying two bottles. He greeted us all warmly and explained that he was extremely busy at the brewery and had to return. He explained the difficulty with the owner of Drei Kronen (discussed in earlier postings) and outlined some possible future alternatives. Two pieces of good news: he will carry on brewing and his daughter is going to train to be a braumeister(in?)! After he left, we sampled the bottles: I'm finding it hard to recall precisely the first and largest bottle, except that it was made for Italy and seemed to be some kind of version of the kellerbier - maybe Nick will have a better recollection. However, the second, and small bottle, provoked a warm discussion. Unlabelled but described by Andi as his Baltic Porter, at 9.6%, it was some beer. Dark and extremely malty, with a deep chocolate taste, it was the sort of beer for winter's nights home drinking. J. commented that it would be perfect to add to a boiled fruit cake - perhaps rather disparaging for such a noble beer, but I see what she means, as it has that kind of flavour. Andi had rushed back to work by the time we came to settle up but left a farewell present for us: we only had to pay for the food, all the beer was on him! What can I say - he is a real gentleman. We hope that Manuela and he manage to find some way to carry on their business and wish his daughter success in becoming a braumeister. And, selfishly, that, when we return in future, there is somewhere where we can sample his magnificent beers. Gunnar, J. and self finished our night back in Bamberg with a seidla of Spezial's rauchbier (which we noticed is now described on the trinktkarte as a Maerzen, a la Schlenkerla - is this new, we hadn't noticed it before?), while Nick carried on to Abseits to sample the IPA, but I'll let him tell that tale himself. |
| Followups: |
 Out of Forchheim to Straßgiech: Swedish Edition by Nick B. on 2013-09-19 02:15:40 |
| Spezial Märzen by Fred Waltman on 2013-09-19 06:52:03 |
| Out of Forchheim to Straßgiech: Swedish Edition by barry on 2013-09-19 07:48:30 |
| Spezial Märzen by barry on 2013-09-19 07:51:07 |
| Spezial Märzen by Fred Waltman on 2013-09-19 08:00:43 |