Kommunbrauhaus Märzen

Aroma: 10 | Appearance: 10 | Mouthfeel: 10 | Flavor: 10 | Overall: 10

Fränken Bierausflug, Day#5, Brewery#25, Beer#54: The Final. Many years from now, as I face the ‘firing squad’, I hope to remember that distant evening when my German cousins took me and my son to discover Zoigl beer. With apologies to Gabriel García-Márquez, on this Halloween night Neuhaus/Pernitz became my Macondo and zoigl my ice. I find it impossible to rate this beer without the magic of the experience, the Gemütlichkeit of the setting, the Kameradschaft of friends and family, and the ageless communal tradition all accounted for in the calculus.

Traveling by train from Nürnberg to Neuhaus/Pegnitz we walked from the station past the massive Kaiser Bräuerei, past the marauding youngsters engaged in ‘Süßes oder Saures’ to the tap-room of Paul Reindl. The "Zeichen für gutes Bier", the traditional 6-pointed Zoigl star, was hung outside announcing tonight's availability. Inside were about 150 revelers celebrating an ordinary Friday in Franconia, costumed inconspicuously as everyday beer drinkers; matronly grandmothers, work-week-weary laborers, sophisticated professionals, bandana/leather-clad bikers, distant American cousins - all sharing common seating, a common humanity, and a common love of great beer. The beer served here was a delicious, clean, fresh, powerful Märzen - the only drink available save for Märzen diluted with water, Märzen mixed with lemon soda, or even Märzen mixed with Coke. The beer was brewed in the town’s Kommonbrauhaus by one of the three families who take turns using the equipment and subsequently selling the beer from their home-turned-tap-room, a tradition here dating back to 1556; Four Hundred Fifty-Two Years of Solitude.

The beer poured vom Faß a light orange-amber color supporting a light white head with good retention and copious lacing. The nose was greeted with robust clean aromas of fresh toasted malt. Very fresh and satisfying palate; medium bodied, creamy texture, very lightly carbonated. Great Märzen character with complex malt flavors, soft and rich, perfectly complemented by light hop bitterness. Very fresh and superbly drinkable. One of the best beer drinking experiences of my life.

http://www.schwarzaufweiss.de/deutschland/essen_und_trinken/neuhaus1.htm