den | Entries tagged with quest

Another Hefeweizen.

Pours a cloudy dark yellow with a large head. Good retention - it fades slowly and clings to the glass.

First Sip: Mild sweet wheat malts, a sort of citrusy orange taste, and quite a lot of bready yeast. Very, very faint hops after taste. Mouth-feel is quite creamy with a dry finish. A mild carbonation tingle on the tongue.

Now this is more like it! I definitely prefer this over the Krystallweizen. It is smooth, tasty and very drinkable. A yummy beer indeed. And itt makes feel like I could go for a currywrst and chips.

Back in the early 90s I visited Berlin. It was the 2nd anniversary of Unification, and the students were celebrating by turning a Polizei car on its roof and setting fire to it. I was visiting my friend Anja, and we stayed at her friend Klaus' apartment on SchlossStasse, near Schloss Charlottenburg. We road bicycles to the Victory statue, and then under the Brandenburg Gate, and found a little take-away that sold diced sausages and chips covered in a mild curry gravy. So we sat in the shade of the trees near the Gate and scarffed down the take-away, and finished it off with a Berlin beer -- I can't remember which, it could have been a wheat beer but I didn't know it at the time. This is why wheat beer makes me feel like eating a currywurst. It brings up very happy memories. And it's yummy.

Schöfferhofer Hefeweizen
Binding-Brauerei AG, Frankfurt am Main
5.0% alc/vol
500ml Bottle

Same again, sir? Oooh yes!

Another wheat beer.

The Happy Friar again.

Pours a dark, cloudy brown. The head is large, tan and fades away very slowly. The head stayed with me until I finished the glass.

First sip: Silky smooth with a little carbonation tingle on the tongue. Sweet wheat malt, a little bready, a bit fruity. There is a faint hoppyness that becomes apparent when all the other flavours have faded -- hops extract again. There is also a hint of very dark chocolate in there, too. Think Lindt 85% coaca dark chocolate -- bitter and chocolaty.

This dunkel is a nice beer. Not as yeasty as the Hefe-weissbier, but tastier. Mouth-feel is a bit foamy, slightly astringent, and a little thin for a dark beer. The only real fault I find is that the taste seems to fade too fast. However, that rapid fade lets the hops and chocolate after taste show right at the end of the swallow.

As the beer warms in the glass (Have I mentioned that I am a very slow drinker?) the flavours become stronger. And tastier. And yummier.

This is a yummy beer.

Franziskaner Dunkel Weissbier
Spaten-Franziskaner-Bräu
5.0%alc/vol
500ml bottle

Same again, sir? Oh yes please!

Time for some wheat beer from Munich.

A happy friar with a big stein.

Pours a very cloudy orange-golden colour. Lots of carbonation... oops. Forgot what I was pouring and got a HUGE head. Apart from being huge, the head is creamy and made of fine bubbles.

The head took ages to subside and stayed with the beer until I finished it.

First sip: Yeasty -- you'd expect that with a beer this cloudy -- and creamy. It is surprisingly sweet and a little grainy. It's a wheat beer, after all. There is a lemony citrus taste in the background and almost no hops. (checks label) Ah. Hops extract, not real hops.

As I work my way down the glass and the beer warms a little, the tastes of creamy yeast and citrus start to show, and the wheat malt becomes strong and more grainy. I like this weissbier. It is yummy, but a little too yeasty.

Franziskaner Hefe-weissbier
Spaten-Franziskaner-Bräu
5.0% alc/vol
500ml bottle

oops! Pouring fail results in huge head.

Same again, sir? Yes please.

Current Mood: pleased

An interesting one from Germany. "Alkoholfries" or <0.5%. The label also says it is acclaimed worldwide.

Pours a clear pale gold with a medium head that fades slowly to a thin lacing.

First Sip: Mouth feel is a little thin but not watery. There is a slightly grainy sweet malt followed by a mild, long-lasting hops on the back of the tongue. As the beer warms in the glass and you grow used to the hops, the malt becomes stronger and a little citrus starts to appear. A little foamy and tingly carbonation on the tongue.

When I saw the alcohol content I though the beer would be bad. I've had bad experiences with unleaded brews. This one looks like beer and tastes like beer. It's certainly much better than the mass-market swills that pass for lager in this country. I would happily drink this one all day, and the only effect I would expect from it is the need to go to the toilet a lot due to excess fluid intake. I don't think this could even be classed as an alcoholic drink.

I've read a lot of reviews about this, and all the complaints talk about a metallic taste. Hint: DON'T DRINK BEER FROM CANS. Sheesh.

I wonder if my friends who can't drink alcoholic beverages would be allowed to drink this.

Clausthaler Classic
Binding-Brauerei AG
<0.5% alc/vol
330ml bottle

Same again, sir? Yes!

And so another Japanese beer. Brewed in Thailand, dammit

Asahi pours a clear, pale yellow,with a medium head that fades quickly to a very thin layer of bubbles. There is a lot of carbonation; it looks fizzy.

First sip: Smooth with a light malt, almost no rice-grain to taste. Mild hops. No strong after-taste. No nastyness. Light on the fizz, which is a surprise considering the amount of visible bubbles. It has a full mouth feel, not watery at all.

Another rather bland lager to go with very strong-tasting food. Not one to drink on its own - I almost considered dumping the last inch of beer from the glass instead of drinking it.

The Asahi brewed in Japan has to taste better.

Asahi Super Dry
Asahi Brewery / Khon Kaen Brewery, Thailand
5% alc/vol
330ml

Same again, Sir? Um... nah.

I'd heard Good Things about Kingfisher and was looking forward to drinking the bottle in the fridge. But while examining the label for a url, I noticed that it was brewed under licence by Independent Breweries of Laverton, Victoria. Bugger. My beer was as Indian as a curry from Glasgow.

The lager pours a pale gold into the glass, with a small head that fades slowly to a lacey top. First sip was nice, with a small amount of carbonation and slight fizz in the mouth, with a mid-strength malt and not too much grainyness. The hops were mild but lingered for ages.

This beer went down easily and pleasantly. It is a nice cooling ale to quaff on a hot day, or to wash down a ring-of-fire curry. I hope the real Indian Kingfisher is nicer than this, because that would be excellent.

Kingfisher Premium Lager
United Breweries Bangladore / Independent Breweries, Laverton Vic
5% alc/vol
330ml

Same again, Sir? Yes please!

First impression was "Big head!" but that faded as fast as the head. Chang has a mild carbonation. not fizzy in the mouth at all, possibly because all the gas goes into making the head. It tastes very grainy and slightly sweet -- not malty at all. There is almost no hops taste during the sip. In fact, what taste there is fades away quickly leaving a vague hops and a very slight malt.

Didn't hate it, didn't enjoy it. This beer is very much a non-event as far as beer drinking goes. I feel sorry for the beer drinkers of Thailand if this is the best beer in the country.

Chang Beer
Chang Brewing Co.
5% alc/vol
330ml

Same again, Sir? Meh.

Current Mood: MEH

And so to Asia!

Beerlao Lager, "the national beer of Laos" pours a very pale colour with a nice head and a lot of carbonation. Fizz means burps, of course, which is preferable to the effect Tui had on me. The lager has a nice feel in the mouth, but a very mild, almost absent malt. It tastes very grainy, possibly because the beer is brewed with rice. There is a mild hops after taste but not much. You could say it tastes watery -- is this what they mean by "light and sudsy?"

On the other hand, the beer is very refreshing and went down fast and easy. I was writing while I drank, and suddenly the glass was empty. I could go for another right now!

Lao Brewery Co., Ltd
Beerlao
5% alc/vol
330ml

Same again, Sir? Yes, bring a six-pack.

Current Mood: pleased

I opened this one with great expectations. Monteith's Black and the Summer Ale are yummy. Would this one be just as good?

Erm... no.

The lager poured into the glass with some carbonation and a smallish head that clung to the glass. Nice amber colour!.

First sip impressions: slightly fizzy, foamy on the tongue. A little malt taste comes through, almost a little sweetness but not much. Very mellow hops; very mellow, almost non-existent. It is, however, highly drinkable and makes a good Hot Day drink.A six-pack would go down well at a bbq. The bottle went down easily.

Bugger... A Monteiths that isn't excellent. It was only better than average.

Golden Larger
Monteith's Brewing Co
330ml
5.0% Alc/Vol

Same again, sir? I wouldn't say no.

Tui means farts.

4am saw my brother staggering into the bathroom because he thought there was something wrong with the house plumbing. There wasn't; it was just reverberation from my session on the toilet.

Tui East India Pale Ale pours into the glass with a little fizz, and a small head that disappears quickly. It looks very dark in the glass; certainly not looking like an IPA. A quick perusal of the Tui page on Wikipeadia tells me the company is in trouble for calling it an IPA when it is, in fact a pale lager.

First sip: little carbonation and almost no hop taste, like an inferior tasteless Newcastle Brown. It is most definitely not IPA, or even an East Indian Pale Ale. Tui is slightly fruity reminding me of a dry cider. By the half way mark I was wondering if I wanted to finish the glass. I did, but I'm glad I only bought one bottle and not a six-pack -- I didn't want another one. I notice the bottle is stamped Best Before Aug 10. I can't imagine the beer being any better than it is now.

Tui East India Pale Ale
DB Breweries (Flash, alas!)
330ml
4% Alco/vol