Kulmbacher Mönchshof Kellerbier

Brewed by Kulmbacher Brauerei (Schörghuber)
Style: Zwickel/Keller/Landbier
Kulmbach, Germany

This was an awful beer. Surprising as this is a good brewery, but I was very disappointed in this one - specifically in the flavor and taste. Bland and nondiscriptive.

Swingtop half a litre bought in Nordhorn. Aroma is a bit acidic, also the hefe is in the nose appearant. Amber coloured, diminishing white head. Taste is bitter, somewhat soury, not too full bodied (medium), hints of fruits (apples) in it. Fresh mouthfeeling taste. Nice beer. It’s my first kellerbier, nice fresh and fruity.

Swing-top bottle. Bread/yeast malt and light barnyard aroma. Hazy amber color with large tan head. Light pepper and sweet caramel malt flavor. Light earthy finish. Pretty good.

500ml bottle. Pours a clear amber to copper body with a one finger fizzy off-white head that retained as a thin covering. The nose is mostly husky and toasty grains with a light fruity yeasty note. Some crusty bread as well. The flavor is much the same, husky and grainy with some yeast and a bit of papery oxidation. Not the freshest? Hard to say. The mouthfeel is a little grainy and husky with a little bit of sweetness, soft fizzy carbonation. Not the most enjoyable, but it’s about what I’ve come to expect from most random German bottles I pick up.

Hazy golden brown pour with a creamy white head that shrinks, but never disappears. The aroma is very mild. Toast, jam, caramel maybe. Not a lot there really. The flavor is surprisingly nice. Bready, sweet, vanilla, chestnuts, burnt toast. For me the hops really come through in a way that I guess they didn’t for others. Lots of green grass and a surprising hint of citrus work really nicely with the malt sweetness. There also seems to be a little sour apple in there somewhere. A very enjoyable brew, and unlike anything I’ve really tasted before.

Dark coffee malt and some banana in the aroma, honey malt sweetness flavor. Cloudy orange brown color with a thin white head. Not spectacular

Pours clearer than I expected, pale copper in hue, with an admirably-sized persistent head leaving some lacing. Aroma is mostly German malt: biscuity, bready and slightly toasty notes. Not much else, quite clean. Little in the way of hops, just a slight grassy noble note. Flavours are similarly malt dominated: sweet bready notes with a light bitterness showing later. Moderately high carbonation with a light body - nice. My first beer of this style. Nice, but I would have liked higher hop presence.

Bottled 50cl. Courtesy of joss. It pours a hazy nut brown beer with a small off-white head. Inviting aroma of burnt caramel, chicken wings, marshmallow, oak, raisin, brown sugar, mince pies, hazelnut and tarragon. Malt accentuated. Sweet taste with a lot of caramel, brown sugar, chestnut, vanilla and tarragon showing up. Medium bodied. Good malt profile. Low carbonation and bitterness. Some lacework. More caramel showing up on the swallow leading to a malty, faintly salty finish which is reminiscent of walnut and hazelnut. (Some residual sugars). A really smooth, sweet nutty interpretation of a Zwickel. Deeply pleasant. Thanks a lot joss!