Posts under ‘Europe’

Well the last thing you want to do after a few beers is get behind the wheel of a car, well with Schlossgold you can have as many as you like and still be fine to drive. This beer is alcohol free!.. You might be thinking no that cant be beer it will taste awful, well we are here to tell you it is delicious!  It is an Austrian Beer and one of their best sellers, it dates back to 1321 and is the perfect beer to have when you are not having a beer.  This beer and many like it are becoming quiet popular in Europe as people are becoming more responsible when drinking, it is stocked in both liquor stores and anywhere you might buy a milk or soft drink. The beer is available in many countries around the world and the distributors are looking for more, so look out for it when you want a beer that tastes like a beer but is virtually alcohol free.

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Franziskaner is the oldest privately owned brewery in Munich and has a proud tradition, dating back over 700 years to 1363, where the brewery set up by Seidel Vaterstetter diagonally over the road from the Franciscan monastery, hence the name Franziskaner.  In 1841the brewery moved to more modern premises in Munich’s eastern suburbs at Lilienberg.  Franziskaner has been a proud brewer for Oktoberfest, with it’s first brews appearing way back in 1872, they produce a beautiful golden yellow beer especially for the event from a old Viennese recipe ideal for summer drinking.  Franziskaner beers are easily identified with the distinctive Franciscian Friar monk on the label, this was originally painted by Ludwig Hohlwein back in 1935 and has remained an important icon ever since.  The brewery produces a number of beers including their most popular the Weisse wheat beer,  Hefe Weisse Hell, a Dunkel and of course the Oktoberfest brew which appears at the end of Summer each year.  They are all top fermented and use no nasty chemicals or additives as stated in the German Purity Laws for beer.

Spendrups Christmas Beer

Sweden must be a good place this time of year as not only is it close to Santa’s home but also their local brewery produces a christmas beer. Spendrups have several breweries across Sweden and pruduce beers under the brand names of Spendrups Original, Norrlands Guld, Loka, Wisby Klosteröl and Old Gold,as well as producing heineken under licence for the local market. Around christmas time each year Spendrups produce a christmas beer that has a fruity taste and aroma with added spices and herbs to give it a festive flavor. Over the last few years we have always picked these xmas beers up at our local IKEA store, not sure if any other bottle shops stocks them outside Europe but keep your eyes out for them or just head down to IKEA, they wash down their tasty meatballs very nicely indeed. Read the rest of this entry »

Recently many beer drinkers have been concerned about additives and other nasties in their beer, and then there are people who are allergic to different things- well from deep in the German Black Forest not far from the French border town of Strasbourg comes Schnitzer Brau a organic gluten free beer which is full flavored, fresh tasting and brewed using organic millet malt instead of wheat. There are two flavors to look out for the Original and a very tasty German Hirse Citrus and Lemon blend.  The brewery also takes pride in ensuring the beer is organic with no nasty chemicals, pesticides or insecticides used on any of the products going into the brew, which has got to not only make the beer tastier but much better for you. Look out for Schnitzer Brau- it is available outside Germany.

When you think of Greek beers you usually think of Mytos, but there are so many other great beers to look out for including Alfa, Keo and today’s feature beer Marathon.   Marathon is no ancient brew it only reached the market in 1971 and is made using only high quality natural ingredients- none of the nasty stuff. Being a pale lager it contains 5% alcohol and has a fresh crisp taste with a hint of malt making it very easy to knock down.  Marathon Beer is produced by Athenian Brewery which is now part of Heineken, this beer  is available in many regions throughout the world so look out for it in your bottleshop’s fridge.

Just up the road from Salzburg there is a little village in upper Austria called Zipf and it is home to one of Austria’s best beers Zipfer.  This spicy and somewhat dry beer is brewed to the traditional purity laws of Austria which are a bit different to neighboring Germany. Austrian law mandate only pure ingredients and may contain the addition of rice to the recipe but only to 25% of the grain content. Where the Germans only permit water, wheat, barley, hops and yeast. The beer is a bottom fermented lager and was perfected by brew master Anton Dreher in the 1840′s making it fairly new in European terms.  In recent years a lemon variety has been release which is attracting a new audience to the beer. Read the rest of this entry »

Wexford Irish Creme Ale is another product from the Green King using authentic Irish malts and hops dating back to a 1810 recipe. The beer is very smooth with a tasty caramel taste and as the name suggests is very creamy. The can features a widget, a small ping pong ball like device which releases nitrogen into the beer when the can is opened to give the beer a live taste like straight out of a draught tap. Quiet a few of the English and Irish ales and stouts use a similar idea, ball shaped and others with very high tech fins and flaps. We will do a story on widgets in coming weeks. The beer probably isn’t a beer you would want to drink year round, it is more a winter beer and goes great with rich hot foods like roasts and casseroles rich with gravy and roasted veg. delicious!

Birra Moretti the Italian beer is readily available around the world in a pale ale, but one not so common and well worth looking for is the Baffo D’Oro or Premium Malt. This beer is quiet malty and has a tasty smooth flavor. Like all the Birra Moretti beers it has the mustached gentleman on the label. There is an interesting story about this image, Commander Moretetti saw a man drinking his beer and asked if he could take his photograph for the label as he typified the customer. The man was quiet happy to pose, and all he wanted for payment was a glass of beer- how good is that. Today, the gentleman is used in Television and print commercials and is played by the famous Italian actor Orso Maria Guerrini. And so the story lives on

Staropramen is a lovely Czech Pilsner which dates back to 1869 from Cmichov in Prague. It has a sweet and citrusy taste and a deep golden color and the traditional white fluffy pilsner head. This beer is brewed using Czech malt, Zatec hops and a special yeast strain all combining to produce a tasty beer with a nice floral hop. Staropramen brewery has had a rich history in the now Czech Republic being established on the left bank of the lovely Vlata River. The beer has been exported for over a century and today is imported into the USA by the Anheuser – Busch Company.

Oettinger Pils like all good German beers is brewed in accordance with the German purity law ‘the Reinheitsgebot’ of 1516 using only the fresest of grain, hops and water. The Oettinger Pils is readily available outside of Germany and is a very tasty drop indeed. The Oettinger group consists of 5 huge breweries throughout Germany, two of them in Oettingen where this beer originated in 1731 and others in Dessow, Gotha and Schwerin. THe breweries produce 14 types of alcoholic beverages and even some of Europe’s most popular softdrinks. The breweries all produce the Original Oettinger brand as well as their own local specialty beers.

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