Freising: Graf Toerring Original Urhell (Germany: Helles: 4.9% ABV)
Visual: Very pale yellow body. Mass of small bubbled carbonation in the body. Massive white mounded head that leaves suds.
Nose: Fresh dough. Lightly minerally. Soft vanilla cake sponge.
Body: Brown sugar. Brown bread. Lightly saline. Light liquorice touch. Vanilla sponge. Vanilla toffee.
Finish: Lightly saline. Brown bread. Brown sugar. Vanilla. Light liquorice touch. Slight hop oils. Savoury sheen and light bitterness.
Conclusion: This is simple, and yet very drinkable. On the eye it looked so fizzy that it was barely a step below the soda stream level of carbonation I see in some very bad cheap lagers, so I have to admit I was very nervous going in. Turns out I did not need to fear.
The nose is gentle, unassuming but with a light mineralness hinting at what is to come.
Sometimes I can find minerally lagers can come across kind of light and watery, not sure why, but as you sip this it is, while not thick, sufficiently robust to be an enjoyable easy drinking lager.
It’s lightly saline, which makes it go down oh so quickly. Softly vanilla, slight bitterness and hop oiliness in the finish. The bitterness is present but restrained for maximum ease of drinking. I can recognize noble hop usage, but again the emphasis is on gentle vanilla, minerally drinkability not hop assault.
There are occasional, very occasional, off liquorice notes but very rare. Generally this is just smooth to drink. Not fancy, but definitely well balanced as a lager to encourage another sip or maybe glass, dangerous as that may end up. Not a must have but works very well as what it is.
Background: So originally I assumed Graf Toerring was the brewery name, then I noticed tiny text indicating nope Hofbrauhaus Freising. Silly me. Anyway, back in the UK and grabbing beers from Independent Spirit again and wow do they have a lot of German beers from different breweries in, lots I have not tried before. I’m basically just diving in and grabbing a bunch at semi random, drinking some just for fun, and some for fun and notes taking. So, no real logic to what I am picking, just vibing it and seeing what I get. Music wise was similarly vibes, going with the excellently fun Evil Scarecrow: Silicon Tea. If you get a chance to see them live they are SO MUCH FUN.
