St. Georgen Bräu Keller Bier

Brewed by St. Georgen Bräu
Style: Zwickel/Keller/Landbier
Buttenheim, Oberfranken/Bayern, Germany

Draught @ Kachelofen, Bamberg. Amber in color. Aroma of hops, sweet malts, and citrus. The flavor is bitter, sweet malts, smooth, and a candy taste for a finish

I am just back from a business trip to northern Bavaria (Franconia) and had a chance to taste this wonderful beer. St. Georgen Keller Bier has a hoppy (three varieties) flavour, but it is also nicely balanced with malt. Because of its top fermenting low pressure (ungespundet - open) process, the beer does not contain lots of CO2 to keep a long lasting head. This is the reason it is served in ceramic steins. In order to signal your server that you finished your beer and want another, you put the stein to its side. If I lived in the area, this would be my regular. I didn’t try the bottled version, but who cares if you can have drought.

Wow, where do I begin...
This came to me compliments of Otto and Geoff, two long-time mates who snuck out from their wives to watch the fußball. Lovely blokes, great day so I must firstly acknowledge them, ’Prost und vielen dank!!’
In its own ceramic stein, straight from the oak in the cellar, in the mid-afternoons heat that is Bamberg in the Summer. Out front of the now packed, due to a Frankreich qualifying match, Eulenspiegal kneipe. "Das ist Kellerbier" came Otto with a proud laugh and a gesture to drink up.
From the lip of the stein it appears like a murky broth, quite muddy with all manner of god-knows-what floating about and with the odd eruption of small bubbles breaking the surface and eddying off softly. A light grouping on the meniscus left just a little fine lacing as it ebbed down the sides. Aroma - well how do you describe the indescribable - ’improvise’ I say. Floating gently from the glass a waft like the dead of Winter with rain teeming the fields. There is life here, the crops now dank and tired. Like an orchard left untended, filled with fell fruit. There is just a touch of fresh picked herbs and peat. A sting tickles the nose, it is biting with a stronger whiff, grassy and deeply reminiscent of the earth in which it rose. A little charred wood here like the monks are keeping warm by burning the oak barrels after they empty. This just oozes life in times gone by and the beers of which they supped. Beautifully spicy, complex and,.. just wow!
Inside it tickles, grips and plunges into every corner, every empty space. Big, juicy, raw and gritty palate that sits so comfortably under the weight of its heady aroma. This leaps from old, aged malts, to cellar must, to fresh hops like they are still swimming in its muddy body. There is a touch of ripe, fermented berries, burnt fruit and damp garden mulch. It is weedy, gritty, like I’d imagine a medieval ale would taste, so clearly defined yet beyond the reach of words to describe. The body is not big and it is only lifted by a soft touch of residual cask carbonation. The finish is smooth, soft and as meaty as the palate. There is old fruit here, a weedy bitterness and a deep-seated must of damp, oak barrels. I could honestly write a 5000 word essay and still not touch the true form of what this beer is. I loved it. It pushed all the right buttons in all the weirdest, strangest ways. It is ’Real’ beer, not some new-age crap. It breaths the toil of the land. Absolutely lovely, quenching, meaty, gritty, weedy, I could go on. Perfect!!!!

Hazy dark amber body with a medium creamy tan head. Sweet malty aroma. some caramel and spice. Nice malty flavor, some dry caramel hints, almost fruity.

Hoppy yeasty aroma. Hazy red colour, white head. Very noncarbonated palate. Mild yeasty flavour.

16.9oz bottle-A copper color with a tan head that diminishes slowly. An aroma of malt and caramel. A taste of malt and sweetness with some hops on the back end. A nice tasting beer.

500 mL bottle. Appearance is clear copper orange with a small forming tan head, with some small amount of lacing on the glass. While the nose is a wee bit stale, it does have some good marzen qualities, most notably the lightly toasted corn and the hay-like yeast scents. A mild frothiness on the tongue and an overall smooth palate are quite nice, with overall light flavors including some bidcuit malts, crackers, toasted bread and corn. A good beer, but I really don’t have the experience with kellerbier to judge this one to style.

score upped for draft rating in bamberg.

500ml bottle. Clear amber with a slightly off white head. Good carbonation. Nose is somewhat sweet, with buttery caramel and malt, some herbal notes. Nice foamy lace. Flavor is somewhat sweet, more buttery caramel, biscuit, some floral flavors I can’t quite place. Fairly soft, but lively mouthfeel. Nice peppery bite in the finish. Very good.