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Franconia, the northern half of Bavaria, a true paradise for beer drinkers.
It seems like there are at least one brewery, usually two, in even the smallest
of towns. They brew almost exclusively lagers and wheat beers, though that does
not mean that the variation is limited in any way. A lot of brewers, especially
around Bamberg use smoked malt to give their beer more unusual flavours.
We tried these beers a warm night in the end of May by the water on an island in Stockholm, and though one or two of the beers was past their best before date no defects could be found on them. (BTW. Sonnengold was not even close to be out of date...) The winner of the night was a wheat beer. Ritter Hefe-Weizen from Ritter-S:t Georgen Bräu recieved no less than four 5's. Another beer in the same style was Leinleitertal Weißbier, both these were tart, complex, refreshing and really cloudy versions of Hefe-Weizen. Other top beers were Minnesänger Pils from Gentner-Bräu and Krug-Bräu's dark and complex Lager-Bier. Nearly all the Franconian beers we tried were of high class. The most unusual of them was a beer I bought at Brauerei Heller's outlet, the pub Schlenkerla in Bamberg, called Aecht Schlenkerla Rauhbier Weizen. Though the locals seemed a bit sceptical to this new smoked wheat beer, it is highly interesting and tasty. But it's not for everyone... A beer I don't really how to classify is Sonnengold from the brewery Sonnenbräu. I don't know if it is by purpose that they have given this beer a strong and very obvious odor and flavour of dung. I can imagine their commercials: "Ten squillion flies can't be wrong, drink Sonnengold..." Oscar had brought home some Polish beers. The best of them were the traditionally strong and flavourful Lech Porter. I had also recieved a Russian strong lager, Nevskoye Original Beer. At least it was better than the Danish and Spanish strong lagers we also tried... | ||||||||||||||
| Beers rated in May '98 | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PLACE | BEER | COUNTRY | SCORE | JZ | ML | PS | LS | AH | LG | OH | RB | MH | ALC | STYLE |
| 33 | Ritter Hefe-Weizen | Germany | 4.14 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 4.9% | Wheat beer |
| 38 | Minnesänger Pils | Germany | 4.13 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 5.0% | Lager, Light |
| 46 | Krug-Bräu Lagerbier | Germany | 4.08 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5.0% | Lager, Dark |
| 96 | Leinleitertal Weißbier | Germany | 3.90 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 5.2% | Wheat beer |
| 174 | Leinleitertal Export | Germany | 3.67 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 5.2% | Lager, Light |
| 193 | Hetzeldorfer Fränkischer Vollbier | Germany | 3.65 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5.0% | Lager, Dark |
| 260 | Krans Pils | Germany | 3.51 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4.7% | Lager, Light | |
| 321 | Neder Kellerbier | Germany | 3.39 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 4.9% | Lager, Dark |
| 377 | Krans Vollbier | Germany | 3.32 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4.7% | Lager, Light |
| 382 | Krans Hirschentrunk | Germany | 3.31 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 5.5% | Special |
| 475 | Müller-Bräu Keller-Bier | Germany | 3.18 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 5.0% | Lager, Light |
| 509 | Krans Weißbier | Germany | 3.13 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 5.5% | Wheat beer | |
| 527 | Lech Porter | Poland | 3.11 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 9.2% | Porter/Stout | |
| 538 | Goldener Löwe Altfränkisches Lagerbier | Germany | 3.10 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4.9% | Lager, Light |
| 559 | Georgi Sud | Germany | 3.07 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 5.0% | Lager, Dark |
| 640 | Zywiec EuroSpecjal | Poland | 2.99 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 7.8% | Lager, Bock | |
| 717 | BraX | Poland | 2.92 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 5.6% | Lager, Light | |
| 776 | Pfister Weißbier | Germany | 2.82 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 4.6% | Wheat beer |
| 807 | Hartmann Erbschänk 1550 | Germany | 2.78 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 5.2% | Lager, Dark |
| 845 | Den Blå | Denmark | 2.72 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 5.7% | Lager, Light |
| 871 | Krakus Pils | Poland | 2.69 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 5.4% | Lager, Light | |
| 876 | Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier Weizen | Germany | 2.68 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 5.2% | Special |
| 978 | Gunzendorfer Vollbier | Germany | 2.58 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 5.0% | Lager, Light |
| 982 | Sternburg Pilsener | Germany | 2.58 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 4.9% | Lager, Light |
| 1068 | Munkbo Lager 3.5% | Sweden | 2.43 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 3.5% | Lager, Light | |
| 1090 | Nevskoye Original Beer | Russia | 2.40 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 6.4% | Lager, Bock |
| 1114 | Elbrewery Red Original | Poland | 2.34 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 5.0% | Lager, Dark | |
| 1350 | Voll-Damm Extra | Spain | 1.90 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 7.2% | Lager, Bock | |
| 1390 | Neptun Luxusøl | Denmark | 1.75 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 7.5% | Lager, Bock |
| 1450 | Borns Svagdricka | Sweden | 1.57 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2.0% | Special | |
| 1535 | Okocim Karmi | Poland | 0.96 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1.2% | Special | |
| 1552 | Sonnengold | Germany | 0.25 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 5.0% | Lager, Light |
| Rated by: Johan Zetterlund, MattiasLeidebjer, Per Samuelsson, Anna Hultén, Lars Granström, Oscar Hansson, Robert Boström and Minna Hytönen | ||||||||||||||
Updated 98-06-09 Per Samuelsson