It's the time of year when German beer is that little bit more visible in the shops and speciality bars. There are the seasonal Oktoberfest variants, of course, but it seems to be an excuse for distributors and retailers to put other sorts in there as well, to fill out the lists and embellish the theme.At Tapped, they added Faust Sommer Festbier to the draught selection, offering a generous half litre for €7, which isn't bad in Dublin these days. It's a handsome deep golden colour with fine white froth on top. The appearance and its 5.4% ABV had me thinking I was in for a malty one but, perhaps because it's meant for summer, this isn't as sweet as I expected. It's quite light-bodied and the flavour opens on a bite of bitter noble hops, giving celery and salad leaves. The malt side adds enough cookie to balance this without overpowering it, plus a breadcrust element for bonus crispness. The end result is a masterpiece of drinkability. I felt I was doing it a disservice by sitting over it and letting it get warm. Chug and enjoy.
The Altfränkisch Klosterbier from Klosterbrauerei Weissenohe is not a seasonal special -- I'm reasonably sure it's here all year round, but for some reason I've never tried it. This seemed like an opportune moment to squeeze in a review. It's another pretty beer, its auburn colour making it not quite a dark lager, but something different from a pale one. The aroma suggests darkness, leading on a sweet caramel malt aspect, with a light sprinkling of green hop. It's weighty too: chewy and full, much bigger than the previous beer but only 5.1% ABV. Hooray for inefficiency. The flavour places the caramel right in the centre, so while it may not look fully like a dark lager, it tastes like one. There's a vibe of doppelbock about this, and more than a little of the sticky, orange American-style Oktoberfestbier, which may be suitably autumnal but is not in its favour. Behind the residual sugar, the noble hops taste a bit musty, and the combination of sweet and stale makes for difficult drinking. I think this one gets filed with those German lagers which simply aren't to my taste. I don't encounter them as much as I used to, but they're still out there.It's not just the importers who are treating us to lagers in October. Coming soon, I'll have a look at what a couple of Irish brewers have done recently in this space.
