Auss!

It was the first sunny day on the patio this year, and in the absence of any actual pils, my utepils for 2024 were two other kinds of German lager. 

Schneider is a weissbier brewery, the top tier, in fact. Everybody knows that. So what happens when they turn their attention to new-fangled lager? Schneider's Bayrisch Hell has apparently been around since 1928, and has a retro-designed label to convince you of this. 4.9% strikes me as a very modern ABV for Helles, however. Is it just me or was over the 5% standard until recently? In the glass it's the proper shade of yellow, though a little hazy. Perhaps the weissbier legacy is making itself felt. The aroma gives little away, and it transpires from the flavour that there's little to be given away. This is very plain fare, lacking the rich sweet side exhibited by the best Helles. Instead it's dry and crisp, more like a pilsner, though without a proper hop kick, not a good one. "Inoffensive" is the best I can say about this. I guess some Schneider customers local to the brewery needed a lager to go with their wessbier order, but I reckon they could have done rather better than this one. Augustiner it ain't.

From Hofbräuhaus Traunstein comes Fürsten Trunk, a festbier. It's an innocent clear gold in the glass, looking light and refreshing, though the label tells us it's a voll 5.7% ABV. And full it is, weighty of body in the proper Oktoberfest way. The flavour is big to match, piling in sticky golden syrup and a salad of green German hops. Though loud and bold, it's all done fully within the specs of proper German lager, of course. I think it could have gone bigger: there's a restraint to the malt body in particular which means it doesn't quite balance the biting hops. It's fine, and well suited to the occasion, but more beef please. This Fest could stand to be a bit less restrained.

They weren't great beers, but the main thing is that outdoor drinking season is underway once more. Get out there when you can.