Ayinger Jahrhundert

Brewed by Brauerei Aying
Style: Dortmunder/Helles
Aying, Germany

Skunky mint smell. Gold/orange with some yeast. After you get past the horrendous smell this is one great tasting beer. Has a bread/fruit taste. Kind of similar to a hefe-weizen. Excellent tasting beer with some nice malts. One of the best beers I have tasted.

500 ml brown bottle. No freshness date seen anywhere. Poured out a light, golden yellow, straw color. It had a volumous, white head at first, but it slid back to a thin veil of clumpy foam on top of the beer. It left a generous lacing down the sides of the glass as well. Aromas right away are of 2-row malts. Sweet, fresh mown hay, and slight amounts of phenolics are present as well. Smells like freshly gound grain, straight from the malt mill. Tastes are of very fresh malts, some slight yeastiness, some phenolics, slightly clove-like. It has just enough hops to balance the malts, but it is not bitter by any means. Very slight aroma of noble hops, and a subdued hop flavor. Medium mouthfeel, not cloying at all. A very drinkable beer overall. Goes down almost too easily. Would make a great lawnmower beer if it weren’t so hard to find in my area. A top notch German lager, in my humble opinion. This beer would pair well with a pumpernickel and onion sandwich.

Bottle. This concludes my collection of "easily obtainable Ayinger beers". There seems to be a big difference between those that are and those that aren’t...as of July 2004, there are "those with over 160 ratings" and "thsoe with under 30 ratings". Uhh. Slightly hazy yellow appearance, decent head. Clean and crisp; somewhat sour finish. Dry wheatiness throughout. Sweet, a bit hoppy. Pretty good stuff.

Hazy yellow, with a thick eggshell head. Mild aroma. Nice creamy feel to it that led to a nice sweet malty taste. I really like the brief hop bite in the finish too....well done.

Yellow Coloring. Big Head. Yeast. Earthy. Fruity...Haven’t had alot of this style...while not a fav...certainly not a bad beer.

Woah. Clear yellow color with a big white head. Very musty aroma; it reminded me of a pet shop. That’s a bad way to start. Some bread and yeast flavor, but some bad earthy-ness as well. I was sadly disappointed, although I am willing to chalk it up to not being a big fan of the style.

Smelly, sweety, mmm, malt! Cloudy yellow, huge white rocky head, mostly lasting. Subtle spicy hop aroma. Oh yes. Thick and full and honeyed yet a clean and herbalesque finish. I could drink a lot of this.

06.22.04 half liter bottle. Light blond color, slightly hazed; firm head with fabulous lacing. Aromas remind of buttery wheat crackers like Triscuits and a sweetish light malt. Mouthfeel is full, creamy, and sweet. Somewhat papery but that is cut short by a (very mild) hop finish reminding of chewing on a blade of wheat. Very nice, what else is new from Ayinger.