Salzburger Stiegl Lager Pils

Served into A glass from A green, 11.2 Fl.oz bottle.  $2.50 at the House of 1000 Beers.

Stiegl Pils is A German Pilsener coming in at 4.90% ABV.
Brewed by Stieglbrauerei zu Salzburg GmbH
Austria

Look: Poured A pale, golden, yellow color.  Was glowing like the sun in my glass. Completely clear and very clean. Almost no head formed even with a fairly aggressive pour. Active carbonation flowing through the brew. This beer resembles the look of apple cider.

Smell: Some honey malt, light toasted biscuits. A bit of skunkyness escapes into the air. I am really hoping that the skunkyness does not carry over into the flavor. I also picked up just A bit of some earthy hoppyness and some mineral hints from the water.

Taste: I am surprised at how chocolaty the malt tastes for such A light beer.  I definitely pick the malt up at the front. I also get some honey, biscuits, A little butter, and some light roasted coffee.  The mineral in the water really hits afterwards and  becomes A bit earthy.  The middle to end picks up the bitterness from the earthy hops and finishes quite dry and bitter. Hops attribute a nice earthy, slightly piney bite.  I did pick up the smallest amount of skunkyness that left as the beer sat.

Mouthfeel: Medium bodied. A little slick.  The beer slides down like just about any other Euro-lager. The beer does have some biting carbonation that stings the under part of the tongue.

Overall: A fine example of Euro-lagers. Nothing too special but also nothing that will turn anyone away. I did find it to be borderline boring and i'm not sure if I have A reason to ever get this one again.

Stiegl gets A 3.8/5.

One of the better Euro-lagers, nothing special though.

Aecht Schlenkerla Helles Lagerbier

Brewed by Brauerei Heller-Trum / Schlenkerla
Germany

The Schlenkerla Helles Lagerbier is A Munich Helles lager coming in at 4.30%ABV.
1pint 9oz.

I consumed this $6 bottle in A Sam Adams special glass at the House of 1000 Beers.

“Schlenkerla Helles” is brewed with fine Bavarian aroma hops from the area around the city of Nürnberg. It's lagered in century old caves underneath the historic Schlenkerla brewery and maltings. Schlenkerla Helles is boiled in the same copper kettles and bottom fermented by the same yeast as the historic Schlenkerla Smokebeer. Its subtle smokiness without using smoke malt makes “Helles Schlenkerla Lager” a unique representative of the classic lager beer style “Bavarian Helles”.  


You can view more info about the line of beers and the brewery at the WEBSITE.

Look: Pale, murky, hazy, golden-yellow color. Strong, active carbonation forces it's way up to the top of the glass forming A finger and a half of foamy off-white head. I noticed A lot of particles floating around in the beer and stuck in suspension.  A bit thick and syrupy. Looking good so far.  

Smell: Right off the bad I'm hit with the strong smell of smoked cheeses. It's very pungent and predominant. For people who are not use to beers with smokey aromas and flavors, this will sure be a surprise. Heck, for someone not familiar with this lager beer...this will be A surprise. Under the smoked cheese aroma, I picked up some cooked bacon, smoke extract, cigar smoke, and some toasted malt.  A tad bit of fruitiness and honey was also in it somewhere underneath the smokiness. As for the hops, barely any in the smell.  What I got was A tad bit of pineyness and maybe some floral leafyness.

Taste: Following the nose to the dot.  The beer begins very smokey. I can't say I was caught off guard or anything, because I was not.  I was prepared and anticipating it.  It may have been more smokey though than I had originally imagined.  Not A bad thing at all though.  I picked up some smoked cheeses such as gouda and the like. Some light hints of burning cigars, and some honey.  The toasty malts sneak in just A bit to give you A bit of wheat bread and biscuit.  Some vanilla lingering around about mid drink.  The finish slides off right into the hop pool.  You're hit with A nice, smooth bitterness that tingles the tongue, some fruitiness, and some leafy hop that finishes the beer nice and dry.

Mouthfeel: A little chewy, prickly and very drying.  After every sip I found my mouth extremely dry and craving another drink.  The beer was A bit on the heavy/thick side. Nothing too crazy though for the style.  The carbonation was just enough to enhance the flavors and not ruin the beer by burning your tongue to ashes.

Overall: I think this is a magnificent beer and has easily pushed some other beers out of the top tier of my favorites.

Aecht Schlenkerla Helles Lagerbier gets A 4.5/5 from me.  

A great beer that I think more people should really get out and find.