Category: German

2014, Bamberg, EU, German, Kellerbier, St Erhard

St Erhard – Bamberg – A Kellerbier

by irishbeersnobLeave a Comment on St Erhard – Bamberg – A Kellerbier

So, in a first for me, i’m trying a Kellerbier from Bamberg in Germany. The Brewery is St Erhard, and they are new comers to the blossoming German Craft beer scene. The guys got in touch via my Blog. They are currently looking for distribution in Ireland, and they’ve a guy in Dublin.


As a brewery they are doing something very different, and have started out east, and are now concentrating on building globally. I really look forward to seeing what else they come up with.


We met up in Trinity and I gleefully collected my package, it probably looked very suspicious! Anyway, i’m happy to be writing this post about beer, rather than Manchester United being dumped out of the Champions League by Bayern Munich!

Firstly, lets just tackle the clear bottle, there is a protective film which shields from UV light, and i’m happy to say it seems to have worked. This beer is definitely not lightstruck

The listed malts were Cara Munich, Pilsner, and Vienna and hopped with Tettnanger. The beer carries a light hoppy aroma, and pours dark. There is a lovely light carbonation which helps with the malty and fruity flavour. It pours in at 5% abv. But is beautifully balanced, with no one particular flavour dominating the other. I can imagine supping this during those darker winter months. Hopefully i’ll get to Germany in the future and try in its natural environment.

Currently unavailable in Ireland, you can buy direct from the brewer and it is shipped EU wide for a very reasonable €10.00 delivery charge. The link for the shop is here

Belgian, Crew, Dungarvan Brewing, Flying Dog, Fullers, German, Germany, http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post, Irish, O'Briens, Porterhouse, Promotions, Rogue, UK, USA

Pay Day Splurge @ O’Briens Wines in Navan

by irishbeersnobLeave a Comment on Pay Day Splurge @ O’Briens Wines in Navan

So payday comes around, and you say to yourself, i must resist the urge to splurge.Usually its easy to restrain myself. However this time, I had a One4All voucher which was accepted in O’Briens (www.obrienswine.ie / @obrienswine) 

Kaching!

Anyway, after doing the grocerys we decided to hit up our local O’Briens. Dean will know i’ve been pining for Kona, especially Longboard since we got home from our holidays, alas, there was no kona in O’briens Navan, maybe next time. But there was plenty of other stuff.

Special Offers that stood out, 4 x Crew IPA for €10 and 4 x Rogue American Amber Ale for €10. The Crew Special Offer was mentioned on a previous blog post.

Again it was disappointing none of the Irish stuff was on Special, the 8 Degrees Knockmealdown was including in a 5 for 11 or 6 for 11 quid promotion, but lets face it, the current balmy weather isn’t really stout/porter weather. Come on O’Briens, promote the home grown stuff too!!!

Anyway, here’s the stash this time round.

Well excuse me! Nice Stash 

Well thats most of it, this is the craft stuff, there was other stuff in there, but this is a collection of stuff i’ve not had before, or in a while. I know I reviewed Crew IPA, but at that price I couldn’t refuse.

Anyway, here’s the line up.

Front Row (L-R)
Crew IPA (Germany)
Porterhouse Red (Ireland)
Porterhouse Hop Head (Ireland)
Flying Dog Doggy Style (USA)
Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale (USA)
Bellerose (Belgium)
Flying Dog Snake Dog (USA)
Rogue American Amber Ale (USA)
Crew Pale Ale (Germany)

Back Row (L-R)
Fullers London Pride (UK)
Dungarvan Brewing Helvick Gold Irish Blonde Ale (Ireland)
Dungarvan Copper Coast Red Ale (Ireland)

So i’m looking forward to sampling these, and sharing my thoughts over the next few weeks. 

If a major chain like O’Briens is beginning to carry a wider range like this. This is only a good thing for the Craft Beer afficionados in Ireland. 

Thanks for reading.

German, http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post, O'Briens, Promotions

Crew AleWerkstatt – IPA

by irishbeersnob1 Comment on Crew AleWerkstatt – IPA

A German IPA. I must thank Paddy from ATG for pointing me in the direction of this when he was running the Brewdock. Thanks Paddy! 



Considering some of the costs of IPA Beers in our Craft Pubs it was a pleasant surprise to see this one coming in comfortably under the €6 barrier. Versus say O’Dells IPA which i’ve seen selling for above €7. This represents a really good value option.

So the humble IPA, was developed  as a way of ensuring beer could be sent to far flung corners of the British Empire in the days of yore. High hop and alcohol content to survive the perilous journey.

Infact, the powerful hop flavour isn’t for everyone. But i suppose those colonial soldiers didn’t really care about that did they, they just wanted the booze.

The first thing that comes to mind when you pop open the bottle is the unmistakable aroma, hops, but really fresh smelling. With citrus smelling notes. It pours a deep orange colour into a nice glass, and a nice head. I take a big breath and take my first mouthful. I’ll be honest, I loved it. Despite the large amount of hops, it didn’t really take your breath away like some IPA’s can.



The vital statistics:
ABV 6.4%
Hop Varieties: Herkules, Cascade, Citra & Simcoe
Bitterness Units: 58 IBU

I was really impressed by this beer, which is brewed under the well known purity law “Reinheitsgebot” so there is no rubbish in here. 

I’ve not seen it in too many places, mainly in Brewdock & Against the Grain and other craft pubs, but its improving in availability as it’s currently on special offer in your local O’Briens Off License, 4 x 330 ml bottles for €10.00 which is a cracking good deal in my opinion.

We all know Germany is famous for its beers, and it seems this would go nicely with a nice Bratwurst with Sauerkraut and mustard! Mmm.

Anyway, onto the scoring. The quality of the product is a 5/5 for me. Though availability is quite low but i’m sure this will improve as it gets better known, you can pick it up in most good independent off licenses, I know the lads @ Drinkstore have it in, and with nationwide in O’Briens I hope more and more people try this fantastic beer. However availability wise it only scores 2.5/5.

Now fly out and get some!