Bieradventskalender 2015, Day 3

I haven’t had an advent calendar of my own since I was a kid and we had the green felt wall-hanger adorned with yarn ties to which my parents attached Brach’s peppermints or—appallingly—butterscotch candies. Every year now we buy advent calendars filled with chocolate for our own children. They open a little cardboard door each day and eat a piece of candy shaped like something Christmas-y. But I haven’t gotten my own, because I don’t really have a huge sweet tooth. Finally, though, as Mikey Walsh might say, now it’s my time.

Please welcome to the stage: BeerAdvent® Calendar 2015!

Photo of Beer Advent Calendar 2015
Possibly available now at your local CostCo.

##Hernnbräu Tradition Festbier http://www.herrnbraeu.de

Can of Hernnbräu Tradition Festbier

When I first tried to search for this beer online, I left out an “n” and searched for hernbrau, to which Duck Duck Go responded “Did you mean her bra?” and provided helpful suggestions like “How to Undo Her Bra with One Hand” and “Women’s Lingerie, Bras, Panties, Swimwear & More at HerRoom.com”. Not exactly what I was looking for, but maybe I’ll bookmark that search for later.

Beer! We’re talking beer, not bras, and the third beer in Bieradventskalender 2015 was a good one. It had a little more weight than Number 2, and although I don’t know what a “festbier” is (until I look it up for the next sentence), I think I like it. I did a search and found the Wikipedia page for Märzen, which is the actual name for “festbier”. Apparently. From Bavaria (I knew that! Because diamonds on the can! Also, the word Bavaria on the can.), this is a beer variety brewed toward the end of the legally-mandated brewing season (29 September–23 April), and is intended to last through the long summer season when new beer could not be produced. The last of it is consumed during Oktoberfest. Traditionally. With modern brewing technology, I guess we can drink it whenever we want! Hooray for progress! So. Yummy, better than the Grandl (sorry, Grandl).

The brewery website for Herrnbräu says they’ve only been doing it for 125 years, but they seem to have done a better job than the folks that made the Grandl, so maybe they learn faster. But hey! They gold medals, too. Maybe Oprah runs the “gold medals for beer” industry in Germany.

What do the beer nerds say? RateBeer says 41 overall and a staggering 63 for style. maxwelldeux and Bockyhorsey are back for day three, too, and they both say it has a bit of sweetness to it, like corn syrup. Personally I thought it went well with my microwave burrito bowl and an evening of patrol on the Dreadnaught.

Three beers in, and we’re seeing some movement on the chart:

  1. Day One—Alpen Stoff
  2. Day Three—Hernnbräu Tradition Festbier
  3. Day Two—Grandl Helles Lagerbier

The next one looks interesting. It looks like it wants to be Irish. Green can, shamrock… The word “dunkel”. What’s in the can?!

Do you have any opinions on this festbier, questions about the BeerAdvent® Calendar 2015, or anything else you’d like to share with me? Do you just want to rail against me and my lack of beer knowledge? Tweet me (@scotticus)!

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