Advent Day 11: Marie Hausbrendel Hell

Schwarzbräu Marie Hausbrendel Hell |Zusmarshausen, Germany

I sorta did my own calendar tonight. I attended the Savannah Riverkeepers Bells and Buoys fundraiser and had Service Brewing Rally Point and Savannah River’s No Jacket Required on tap. When I unloaded the beer from the Advent Calendar earlier in the day I noticed it was another Hell. The label has a young traditionally dressed German lass carrying mugs of beer. I was tempted to say “fräulein” but I read that that term has fallen out of favor and is considered offensive. I don’t want to offend anyone especially over beer.

I really enjoyed Service Brewing’s Rally Point Pilsner. It reminded me of the Käuzle from the night before (a German Pilsner). This was on tap so it was pretty fresh. I enjoyed pairing it with the grits from the grits bar. I topped by grits with cheese and bacon after stirring in a healthy portion of butter. Later I enjoyed some Savannah River Brewing No Jacket Required Czech Style Pilsner which is very similar to the Rally Point but slightly more bitter. It went nicely with some pulled port sliders topped with some great homemade mustard style BBQ sauce.

When Savannah River Brewing first opened the local distributor was bragging that their owner/brewmaster had studied brewing in Germany and was following German brewing methods and implied they followed the Purity Laws. I thought that unfortunate at the time because all of their beers had the same identical mouthfeel. The flavors slightly changed but that consistent crispness and what i would described as dryness made all their beers taste almost the same. Now that they’ve started doing different things, like Swamp Thing their beers have developed more personality.

When I got home I was stuffed. I decided to open the Schwarzbrau Marie Hausbrendel Hell and keep the Advent streak alive. I couldn’t finish it. I also tried to drink it directly from the can (a first since I started) and realized I couldn’t hold it without it crushing. The 500 ml cans are so big and their aluminum so thin that you can’t just grab it near the top. You either have to put it in a Yeti coozy or hold it, like the former president, from the bottom.

It tasted like a Helles. Since I didn’t put it in a glass I can’t comment about the color. I can’t comment about how it tastes when it warms up because I gave up and went to bed.

It tasted much like the traditional helles I’ve tasted so far and out of 11 days there have been a bunch.

I visited their webside to see what they had to say. The label on the bottle is very similar to the one on the can. I also see a Dunkel and an Aged Bock I would love to try. Under their classics I would love to try the Urtyp (made with Munich malts).

So their sites says”

“Typical Bavarian. Typical Lager. The Marie Hausbrendel Hell is a typical Bavarian Lager as it is served in the pubs in Bavaria. It’s classically brewed – without pasteurization. Matured at 0°C for a time of eight weeks. The light golden color is pure joy and shines bright in the traditional Bavarian Willi-Becher. The brewer’s daughter ‘Marie Hausbrendel’ was born in Augsburg in the Golden Twenties and was a famous host in the Schwarzbräu Bräustüberl later on. She was the Grandmother of today’s owner of Schwarzbräu, Leopold Schwarz. So this beer is a tribute to his grandma.”

It is 4.8% ABV so a 500 ml does nicely. Like I’ve seen described before that many of the German beers mature for a long time before being bottled. I don’t think the American brewers are that patient except when barrel-aging something.

So 11 days down. Hope Day 12th isn’t another Hell.