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| Shtutzer Festbeer from the BeerBazaar Brewery: Sweetish, with malty aromas and flavors. |
These are Festbeers, pale German-style lagers which highlight strong, malty flavors with low to moderate hop flavors and bitterness. Festbeers are usually in the Märzen family of German lagers.
From BeerBazaar Brewery in Kfar Daniel comes Shtutzer Festbeer. A shtutzer, the label informs us, is the little tube at the bottom of the fermentation tank which is used for maturing lager beer. Alex, BeerBazaar's Brewmaster, brought a shtutzer with him from Germany when he came to inaugurate the new brewery in Kfar Daniel.
At any rate, Shtutzer pours out a clear golden orange color. You get very malty aromas of white bread, plus yeast. The taste is on the sweet side, once again from the malt, with a mineral background. My fellow IBAV Taster Bat Sheva noted that alcohol was also in the flavor, adding to the perceived sweetness and body. Shtutzer, she thought, was a little too sweet to fit in the Festbeer category. And at 6.2% alcohol by volume, it is at the upper limit for a Festbeer.
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| The Oktoberfest Beer from the Shevet Brewstillery: Balanced bitterness, flavors of malt, toast and caramel. |
The Oktoberfest Beer from the Shevet Brewstillery in Pardes Hanna is 5.5% ABV, putting it on the lower limit for this style. It's color and clarity are practically identical to Shtutzer, but the malty aroma is weaker. The taste is dry with balanced bitterness, enhanced with flavors of malt, toast and caramel. Bat Sheva also picked up on citrus notes. The hops contributed very mild floral and earthy aromas and flavors.
As a fan of Oktoberfest beers, I welcome these two additions to the Israeli craft repertoire. I wish they could be available all year round, but I am happy to accept them in the fall festival season. Something for this old blogger to look forward to!