Whilst I'm drinking in one of my favourite capital cities (Edinburgh - I should be just getting served inthe Bow Bar right now if all is according to plan) I thought i'd post up my trip to Vienna a few months ago (been parked half-finished in my drafts since then...). Primarily a work trip, there was ample time in the evenings for a beer or two in Vienna's many brew pubs.
Siebenstern
(7-stern) in the city centre is a cavernous drinking grotto, with a
large island bar serving a variety of its own brewed beers. Among such
novelties as a heady hemp beer and pointlessly spicy chilli hells there's a
fairly decent marzen, dunkel and some fantastic rauch beers. Rauchbeer
Extreme was particularly good, with lots of smoke, but not
overpoweringly so, dried fruit and malt flavours allowed to come through
in behind.
Near to that is Centimeter II, not a brew pub but it has a good range of beers on draught and a "picture"menu for those of you (myself included) who doesn't know all that much German. Be warned the ribs are mammoth and come with about a kilo of roast potatoes, no lie!
Next up was Wieden Brau a shiny brewpub bedecked backstreet boozer where four riffs on traditional German styles were obtained. I particularly enjoyed the dry-hopped fastenbock beer, full of fresh grapefruit juice from the use of cascade hops.
This may be old hat in the UK, but after a week of samey malt led bocks this was a breath of fresh air. The marzen was also enjoyable, bready malts and nettley hops, perhaps the first I've enjoyed in that style.
The final brew pub visited on this occasion was 1516. Owned by an English ex-pat this is where i tried some of the zanier brews of the week. They also do a good line in food, though you have to navigate the smoky downstairs section to getupstairs for a decent table. Maybe worth booking ahead as we had to wait a while for a table.
Victory Hop Devil IPA was an enjoyable recreation of that famous US brew. However Amarillo smoke was perhaps the zaniest brew and most enjoyable all week. Hazy dark brown with enticing smoked meat and chocolate coupled with tangerine on the nose. First flavour is herbal hops followed by a big punchy citrus spike and the smooth mouth feel with smoky chocolate, followed by a bitter finish.
 |
| Centimeter II is courtesy of TripAdvisor |
Next up was Wieden Brau a shiny brewpub bedecked backstreet boozer where four riffs on traditional German styles were obtained. I particularly enjoyed the dry-hopped fastenbock beer, full of fresh grapefruit juice from the use of cascade hops.
 |
| Helles, Dunkles, Marzen, FastenBock |
The final brew pub visited on this occasion was 1516. Owned by an English ex-pat this is where i tried some of the zanier brews of the week. They also do a good line in food, though you have to navigate the smoky downstairs section to getupstairs for a decent table. Maybe worth booking ahead as we had to wait a while for a table.
 |
| weisse, oatmeal stout, IPA, amarillo smoke and oak aged DIPA |
Victory Hop Devil IPA was an enjoyable recreation of that famous US brew. However Amarillo smoke was perhaps the zaniest brew and most enjoyable all week. Hazy dark brown with enticing smoked meat and chocolate coupled with tangerine on the nose. First flavour is herbal hops followed by a big punchy citrus spike and the smooth mouth feel with smoky chocolate, followed by a bitter finish.
Their barrel aged DIPA was a little too OTT for me, the butterscotch overpowering the hop hit, but it was certainly a brave experiment in a fairly conservative country.
There are plenty of other brewpubs in Vienna that I didn't have time for, they remain for another visit. For a good map of what's available, use Ratebeer's places mapping function.
No comments:
Post a Comment