Schwelmer Bernstein

Brewed by Brauerei Schwelm
Style: Vienna
Schwelm, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany

(500 ml swing-top bottle: $5 at Naja’s in Redondo Beach, CA) Sitting here looking at the "faux" harbor of Redondo Beach, but the view is more exciting that this beer. Malty, caramely, lightly sweet and "worty" aroma is okay but not stimulating. The flavor is moderately caramely and malty, mildly sweet, lightly fruity and minimally bitter. Medium body, neither heavy nor crisp on the palate, it just kind of exists. Copper color is pretty against the bright sky. Off-white head pours to half an inch and fades to a thin sheen, leaving plentiful lacing of patches and dangling ropes. Eh, s’all right.

Swing-top bottle: Deep golden, nearly orangey colour, medium sized, firm head; malty (caramel) nose, traces of honey, some hints of grassy hops; shy sweetish, fruity (honey) beginning, mild bitter sweet flavour, becoming dryer towards the mild, bitter, but not very aromatic finish. Boring....nothing special, but drinkable!

In the flip cap bottle at the Huber Haus. Pours light brown with a white head. Very non-descript and odd. Not a pronounced roasted flavor like I enjoy in this style. A little too boring.

Color is an ok amber with weak head and lacing. There is an ok breadiness to the aroma of the beer but this filters through to the taste and clashes with the sharp malts, leading to something approaching a "natural, not stale" skunkiness. Drinkable, but its poor flavor, runny/watery body and aluminum aftertaste make Schwelmer Bernstein seem more like a middle-of-the-road homebrew.

Hoppy nose. Golden to amber colored beer, with a small white head. Good hoppy flavor, some underlyoing malt. And no Papsoe, im quite sure that Bernstein means Amber, of course referring to the colour of the beer.

(Bottle 50 cl) "Bernstein" means "amber", and this obviously refers to the color, which is a beautiful, deep orange -and very clear. Creamy, almost sticky, head. Soft and malty, almost sweet and with just a discrete bitterness. Delicious and very pleasant beer brewed on barley malt and special malts (for the color). 280503

Amber apricot colour. Slightly nutty malt aroma. Taste is only slightly hoppy and bitter. Very watery. Described by the distributor as an amber lager. Not a good effort.

Pours a deep honey gold, very mellow color with a fast falling white head. Very thick body to this brew, with and nice mild malt start thats a bit bready and hints of fruit and honey. Not much hops, leaving the finish sweet which stands ou even more by the very mild carbonation.