TOPIC:

I swear! I know some of you will just use the "Hooker" word against me to make me shut up, but I just have to tell somebody who'll say "Jebus! That's mad" instead of looking at me like I just arrived from Mars.

Although I've been in Germany for about three months now, it was only last weekend that I did a very "German" thing, by going to a local drink markt and getting beer to stash in my cellar. And when I say getting beer, I don't mean like I'm used to getting beer, i.e. gazing lovingly at the shelves in Redmonds and carefully selecting a handful of bottles of a few types. No, I basically walked into what I can only describe as a warehouse where you tend to buy the stuff by the crate. Which is what I did. Four crates to be exact. I was a bit disappointed that there wasn't much in the "international" selection, but I think I did ok...

A crate of 8 Duckstein Alt

A mixed crate of 20 Pinkus Muller beers
4 x Jubilate[/url:3b0ilf9h]
4 x Original Alt[/url:3b0ilf9h]
6 x Special[/url:3b0ilf9h], a rather tasty [i:3b0ilf9h]naturtrube[/i:3b0ilf9h] (unfiltered) Pils
6 x Pils[/url:3b0ilf9h]

A mixed crate of 20 Hacker-Pschorr beers
2 x Anno 1417[/url:3b0ilf9h]
8 x Münchner Hell[/url:3b0ilf9h]
4 x Hefe Weisse[/url:3b0ilf9h]
and 6 x Animator[/url:3b0ilf9h]

A 12-pack of my new regular beer, Hövels Original[/url:3b0ilf9h] with a very nifty crate

and sorry to say, a 6-pack of Guinness Extra Stout (the small ones unfortunately).

66 bottles of beer in all. And the price? €56. I'm tellin ya, it's like being in toyland! Of course that's the raw price of the beer. I paid an additional €13 as a refund, but I won't be bringing them back, so you can add that on too <!-- s;) --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_wink.gif" alt="" title="Wink" /><!-- s;) --> My wife said I can go alone next time... <!-- s:oops: --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_redface.gif" alt="" title="Embarassed" /><!-- s:oops: -->

Of course this is all to build up my bottle stock in preparation for getting back to brewing!

&amp;quot;Adeptus&amp;quot;:31hk72mu wrote: Of course this is all to build up my bottle stock[/quote:31hk72mu]Must a pain, not being able to solicit bottle donations when everyone is bringing theirs back for cash.

Still, I can see it has its consolations.

Joined a Stammtisch yet?

As the former main supplier of empties to the Larkfield Brewery you must be swimming in empties now! Pesky Germans and their Pfand, although the guy downstairs from us bought a load of Altenmünster (from Bavaria, as opposed to Münster Alt from Münster!) for a party last weekend as he thought I'd like to have the swing tops. I think he's angling for free beer <!-- s;) --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_wink.gif" alt="" title="Wink" /><!-- s;) -->

No, I have not officially joined a Stammtisch, but almost. I just don't join the regulars (my colleagues) in my new "local" often enough. Still, the woman behind the bar grunts at me as if I was one, so it [i:1cqxxxrj]feels [/i:1cqxxxrj]good <!-- s:D --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_biggrin.gif" alt="" title="Very Happy" /><!-- s:D -->

Home alone here, and nobody is available for a beer in town, so instead of getting bored, I've started sampling my crates of beer. First on the list, Pinkus Müller Pils. I'm not a big Pils fan, but not bad. There's a spiciness to the hop that warms up the palete after a few slugs. There's an almost fruity maltiness, which is probably a bit weird for the "style", but it's nice! I probably should have chilled it a little more, but there's more to try that experiment <!-- s:) --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_smile.gif" alt="" title="Smile" /><!-- s:) -->

[img:azt5x5s6]http://lh6.ggpht.com/barry.masterson/SFv3W9szK_I/AAAAAAAABIA/-Gpeu7bn5vA/s144/DSCF1312.JPG[/img:azt5x5s6][/url:azt5x5s6]


Never seen this stuff anywhere else before. I guess it's a small enough brewery, but I think it also exports to the US in small quantities. Next on the list is the Special Pils. I tried this last year, and liked it. A cloudy Pils has to be good <!-- s:D --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_biggrin.gif" alt="" title="Very Happy" /><!-- s:D -->

I'm gonna be fluthered by 10 if I can't find something to occupy my mind <!-- s:D --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_biggrin.gif" alt="" title="Very Happy" /><!-- s:D --> (and no, I'm not in the mood for the site upgrades tonight <!-- s;) --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_wink.gif" alt="" title="Wink" /><!-- s;) -->)

Hey adeptus we were beginning to feel a bit sorry for you ......... !!!!!!!!

You've got a tough job tonite but man enjoy it!!!!!

Haahaa! Thanks Ger, I appreciate the sympathy <!-- s:D --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_biggrin.gif" alt="" title="Very Happy" /><!-- s:D -->

Just to keep you updated (cos I know ye're all interested like <!-- s;) --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_wink.gif" alt="" title="Wink" /><!-- s;) -->), the Pinkus Special is a bit different. If someone just handed you a glass of it you'd think it was a Hefe Weiss bier. Really lots of yeast in this. But the head is sadly lacking and it died quickly. It actually tastes vaguely like a weizen too, but I mean [i:1mw4krab]vaugely[/i:1mw4krab]. Maybe there's wheat in there somewhere, the site doesn't really specify. It has a dryish mouthfeel though, and a kind of granny smiths sweet and sourness to the back of the tongue from the balance of he malt and hops. Refreshing really Not too challenging, so a good session beer (at 5.1%).

[img:1mw4krab]http://lh4.ggpht.com/barry.masterson/SFv3Xh2OsVI/AAAAAAAABII/cvpEz6QSD-0/s144/DSCF1314.JPG[/img:1mw4krab][/url:1mw4krab]


Oh, and I forgot to mention that I think all the pinkus beers are "Biologisch". I can't remember the English word... damn!

<edit>Organic!