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German Lagers Take Top Honors
by Marc Dornan, dornan@tastings.com
This round of the World Beer Championships reviewed 70 lagers.
Given the classic lager categories visited in this round of tasting it is not surprising that Germany provided most of the highlights with some familiar names and a new regional brewery. Starting at the top, the highest rated beer of this session was a monumental Eisbock, or maybe that should be The Eisbock, from Kulmbacher Brauerei of Bamberg in northern Bavaria, or more properly the region of Franconia. Having been absent from the market for a while it heartening to see such a classic beer back in the United States. Dark, malty and sweet with a kick in the tail (9.2% abv) that will neutralize any desire top shovel snow or undertake outdoor winter rigors, it is as fine a winter warmer as exists.
Good Eisbock, made the proper way by freezing and filtering ice crystals out, is rare enough and a top quality domestic example is an even scarcer beast. Wisconsin brewed New Glarus Unplugged, from the town and brewing company of the same name is just such a thing, and given this outstanding brewery's reputation for labor intensive traditional brewing, it is not surprising. Rated 91 points and Gold Medal, the chestnut hues brew weights in at 9.5% alcohol by volume and has an appropriate bitter hop finish to boot. It's not widely available but enthusiasts should seek it out.
The German town of Bamberg is also the source of a new name to our tasting room, Mahrs Brauerei, a small brewery founded in 1670 with a notable “brewery tap” attached. We tasted a range of bold and flavorful and hoppy lagers from this ancient brewery with the crisp and hoppy Mahrs Hell (90 points, Gold Medal) contrasting with the similarly rated southern Bavarian classic Jahrhundert-Bier from Aying—an altogether sweeter malt version of the same Munich Helles style. Also notable was the Franconia specialty “Ungespundet” from Mahrs, a lightly carbonated and hoppy style of pale lager.
Before leaving the beers of the town of Bamburg a smoky Rauchbier from Brauerei Spezial (94 points, Gold Medal) deserves mention for its fragrant beech wood smoke aromas and flavors. The micro brewery of Spezial malts its own locally sourced barley and uses local beech wood to make this artisanal smoked beer, one the finest we have tasted.
Larger volume German brands, while generally very good rarely impress our judges like Dinkelacker Dark Lager, which was rated 92 points and Gold Medal for its sweet malty and spicy hop flavors. Certainly this is the finest effort we have tasted from this Stuttgart based brewery and is the best rated of this category that we have tasted this year.
Finally, another old favorite in great form in the Pilsner category was Pinkus Muller Pilsner from the northern German town of Munster, more famous for its cheese than beer these days. This Gold Medal winning organically grown effort has a typically distinctive generous sweet worty malt character and bold hoppy bitters on the finish.
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