Hardcore - Pilsen

Got this beer as a gift from Andreas (and I wonder how many more times I am going to write this here...) when visiting him in Altötting in the autumm of 2010.

The label is very elaborated, but it is mostly a regular beer. Produced in Germany and embottled in a 330ml bottle, this pilsner beer contains 4,9% alcohol...

The day I wrote this post I was interrupted by a terrible headache... up to that point my tries to find the brewery's name had been not very successfull (try typing 'hardcore' or 'hardcore beer' or even 'hardcore brewery' in google and see what you get...) so I promised to do it later...

Before I could keep my promise and finish the post, Boize posted the link in the comentaries... thank you!

Link to the producer: http://www.sle.de/cms/SLE/index.php?idcatside=173

Hacklberg - Jubiläumsbier

The Jubiläumsbier was produced as a limited edition to celebrate the 375th anniversary of Hacklberg, a brewery located in the city of Passau, Germany.

This 500ml bottle was aquired while visiting a friend in Altötting, inner Bavaria, thanks to his tips about a local getränkemarkt. There I could find, among others, this 5,5% alcohol special edition of Hacklberg.

I must state here that Andreas also provided the transportation to the place, otherwise I wouldn't be able to carry that many beers at once, or maybe I would... I've done this before when moving back from Augsburg... oh well, it is more confortable to carry the bottle in a car, and the liquid in your stomach... thanks again Anderl!

Link to the producer: http://www.hacklberg.de/main_jubilaeum.html

Unertl Weisse and Dintel Weisse

This two beers are occuping the same post for 3 reasons:
1. They are from the same producer;
2. They are (roughtly) the same type of beer;
3. They were both a gift from Andreas Pelzberger, Bavarian friend and great colaborator of my collection.

Both have the same 500 ml, but there are a few differences. The Dintel weiss is a little bit stronger (5,2% instead of 5,0%) and it's produced with a different kind of wheat, the Dintel grain, which is more difficult to handle and therefore more expensive to use.

It is not common to find weissbier produced with this kind of wheat, but your chances will be slightly higher if you search in regions like Bavaria, where weissbier is considered essential part of people's nutrition, been consumed regularly by businessmen during lunch break or even in the family traditional breakfast (weisswurstfrühstuck).

Link to the producer: http://www.brauerei-unertl.de/products_en.htm

Blanche de Namur - Witbier

When you drink this beer, don't expect the taste of a german weissbier. Even though the name means roughtly the same, Witbier (or White beer) has a very different taste from the classic bavarian Weissbier.

If you never tasted both of them I suggest you do a simple experience with Hoegaarden witbier and Franziskaner weiss, they are both very accessible beers and should give you the real impression on how different both styles are.

Although I'd rather the german weissbier, I have to praise my respect to this 4,5% belgian Witbier, once it got the golden World Beer Awards in it's categorie.

The 750ml bottle was bought in Italy, though... something tells me that I have to pay Belgium another visit soon...

Link to the producer: http://www.bocq.be/english/ownbrands/blanche_namur.html

Biere du Moulin - Ambrata

This 6,5% amber ale is a product of Panero - pietra italia diffusion, a family microbrewery in the province of Cuneo, Italy. One of the italian artesanal breweries that have been showing to the world lately that Italy can also produce good beer.

This 500ml bottle was bought in a supermarket in Pordenonne, while visitng Lorenzo with a few friends, for being an artesanal beer, it is hard to be found in regular markets out of Italy.

I've seen bigger websites about beer posting this beer as a product of Amarcord... though the website of Amarcord doesn't show this beer as a product (it always feels good when you are able to correct someone bigger).

Link to the producer: http://www.pietraitalia.it/Prodotti/BiereduMoulin/Ambrata/tabid/3224/language/en-US/Default.aspx

Löwenbräu - Original

Also one of the first bottles I kept in my shelf, and also another traditional Bavarian beer. The word "Original" stands for original Münchner beer.

The name of the brand (Löwenbräu) means "Lion's brewery". The lion on the label can be also seen at the TSV 1860 jersey; that's why this football team, sponsored by Löwenbräu, is also known as "die Löwen" (the lions). If you don't know the team and have the curiosity, here's the link: http://www.tsv1860.de/

TSV 1860 plays for Bundesliga's second division, if they can't be the best, they are at least sponsored by a 1st class german beer.

Link to the producer: http://www.loewenbraeu.de/de-de/loewenfuetterung/loewenbraeu-original.html

Bulldog - Strong Ale

This Scottish beer was bought in a supermarket in Italy. My favorite top-fermented beers (ales) are usually the belgian ones, but Bulldog is a pretty good strong ale.

One might think weird finding this 330ml 6.3% british strong ale in a supermarket in Italy, but the fact that Scottish-newcastle brewery was bought by heineken explains it pretty well.

Unfortunatly, while searching for the brewery's website, I was always redirected to heineken's website, which for my surprise does not show bulldog strong ale. So here I post the link that will end up redirecting you to heineken's website, if you have success finding bulldog strong ale there, please let me know!

Link to the producer: http://www.scottish-newcastle.com

Baltika Cooler

With a different opening mechanism, this transparent 500ml bottle was aquired in Altötting, low bavaria, during a visit to a friend. Transparent bottles require a special attention from the producer, once the beer suffers more from degradation by the UV light. Usually these bottles are covered with a thin polymeric protective layer to assure the quality of the beer.

Baltika Cooler is a Russian beer, part of the Carlsberg group (or is Carlsberg part of Baltika? I have to check this out...). It is a 4,7% lager beer, usually a refreshing type, to be drank very cold... I wonder if a beer that refreshes you instead of warming you up really attends the market needs in Russia...

Link to the producer: http://eng.baltika.ru/brand/0/38/baltika_cooler.html

Splügen - Lager

Splügen is produced by the "Birrificio Angelo Poretti", a brewery was founded 1877. The producer claims to keep the original recipe, changing only the lable of this 4,5% Italian Lager along the years.

This 660ml bottle was aquired in an Italian supermarket in Pordenonne, last summer. The website of the producer contains some nice story over the brewery and the beer, worth checking if you can understand a little bit of italian.

http://www.splugen.it/

Cannabia

I must say that this one is really curious. After tasting beers with bananas, honey, manioc, matte, cherries and a lot of other weird things, this one called my attention, kind of hidden on a shelf in a supermarket at München Hauptbahnhof.

Yes, it is a 330ml bottle of a 4,8% alcohol containing beer brewed with Cannabis, and with the european Bio certificate! It's a German product, I also found other drinks, like Lipton Ice Tea, with Cannabis, but got only the beer.

I hate to disappoint the readers, but drinking one of this gives you the effects are of a normal beer (none), and I can't really compare the taste, once I have never (and don't really want to) smoked this herb.

The only thing I hope is that the Bio certificate is true and the Cannabis is really grown here in Europe under government supervision, instead of being "imported" from South American countries, where the dealing of hemp and other drugs finances crime. Sorry for being lame about this subject, but this blog reflects my opinion.

This isn't a beer that will be inside my fridge regularly, but it was worth trying it.

Link to the producer: http://www.cannabia.com/

Stary Melnik

Don't ask me to repeat the name of this beer... I don't even know if this is a beer! This 500ml bottle of a Russian "mixed malt beverage", containing 5,2% alcohol, was a gift from Andreas Pelzberger, it was carried in the car's trunk during our trip to Italy, and drank in Padua during a (friendly) poker game.

Although it is described as "mixed malt beverage" in the label, it tastes quite like beer... I won't discuss the quality of the drink here, it just intrigates me why it's labeled like this and what is mixed into it.

I was trying to find the link to the producer, but the lack of cirilics in my keyboard limitated my search... I only found a couple of other blogs that evaluate beers though I think they don't quite refer to the same beer, and a strange adaptation of a russian website.

Spaten Optimator

This is a Doppel Bock beer, produced by Spaten, another traditional bavarian brewery. This bottle of Optimator contains 330ml of 7,8% alcohol Starkbier (that one, produced for Starkbierfest, in May, remember?)

No, Munich doesn't have yet too many breweries, there's always one less famous, more hidden or smaller but never less tasty. This one is a quite big brewery though, and shows in its symbol two shovels, or 'zwei Spaten' in german.

Link to the producer: http://www.hofbraeuhaus.de/en/index_en.html

Hofbräu Original Münchner*

With the end of the Oktoberfest 2010, I bring to you this 500ml bottle of the Original Münchner beer (5,1% alcohol) produced by one of the most (if not the most) traditional breweries of Munich.

Hofbräuhaus, also know by the short way HB, is one of the touristic points in Munich, and though their website doesn't show the products, it contains some funny stories and curiosities... it's worth checking.

Link to the producer: http://www.hofbraeuhaus.de/en/index_en.html

Rebuffone - Dark Ale

Rebuffone is a 6,0% dark ale produced by Manerba, an artesanal italian microbrewery localized in the region of Lombardia.

The fact that I only came across this corked 750ml bottle once, in a small specialized beer shop in Padova, leads me to believe that this is not a very common beer to find abroad. Also the price for this beer reinforce that belief >.<.

This bottle was consumed one night before I went to Oktoberfest, together with Conrad, a good friend from the university in Brazil, who is also living in Germany and dropped by for a short visit.

Link to the producer: http://www.manerbabrewery.it/pagina.php?idp=116&lingua=1

Löwenbräu - Triumphator

This is a 500ml bottle of the Double Bock produced by Löwenbräu, one of the biggest breweries in Munich, Germany. It is, as stated before, a seasonal beer, produced for the Starkbierfest, that happens every march/april.

It contains 7,6% alcohol, that's why is called Starkbier (Strong beer, in german). This kind of beer was originally produced by monks during the period of reflection and fast that preceeds Easter, it's meant to be very strong and nutritious, so it could feed the monks during the period they were not alowed to eat (but still allowed to drink).

Link to the producer:  http://www.loewenbraeu.de/de-de/loewenfuetterung/loewenbraeu-triumphator.html