Bayern -Tragerl ~ Bavarian Festbeer Tasting Box

Last Thursday morning I received a tip off on the blog, informing me that, as in the past two years, Lidl’s were once again retailing presentation packs of Bavarian Festbiers. I first came across these packs two years ago, and having bought one was very pleased with my purchase.  A very similar promotion was offered by the German discounter, last year, so receiving notice that these packs were once again on sale, came as little surprise.

I was determined to grab one of these packs, so after collecting Mrs PBT’s from her part-time job, we drove straight down to Lidl’s where, after quite a bit of searching, I found a stack of these Bavarian Festbiers, almost hidden away, on the lowest shelf of a display unit, towards the rear of the store. There had been a price increase since last year, as the packs now retail at £29.99, which is £5 more than last year, but still excellent value considering the quality, and pedigree of the beers inside.  I discovered at the checkout, that customers holding a Lidl Plus Card were entitled to a further five-pound discount, but seeing as I don’t possess such a card, I didn’t qualify.

The company behind these packs, is called Kalea – a name derived from the Hawaiian word meaning “to give joy”. The Kalea company was founded in 2010, in Salzburg Austria, and after starting out with beer advent calendars, the company expanded and now provides micro and gypsy brewers with a platform where they can promote their speciality beers. As before, most of the beers are marked up as either Märzen or Festbier. Märzenbier is German for “March beer,” and is a golden to deep amber lager style with a full body and a moderate bitterness. It closely resembles Vienna lager, a copper to reddish brown coloured beer that is characterized by a malty aroma and slight malt sweetness.

Until the final quarter of the last century, Märzen was the dominant style of beer served at Munich’s Oktoberfest, but gradually the beer was superseded by Festbier, which although brewed to a similar abv of around 6% strength, is a more normal golden-yellow in colour. It was developed by the Munich-based Paulaner brewery during the early 1970’s and gained rapidly in popularity following its first appearance at the event, due to it being easy to drink and its attractive appearance. By the 1990’s all beer served at Oktoberfest was Festbier, and Märzen had been officially replaced.

There are a number of Märzenbiers included amongst the 10 beers that are neatly packed in a sturdy presentation box. This one-metre-long pack - Boak & Bailey’s description, comes with an integral carrying handle and with the Bavarian flag emblazoned across the front of the box, looks every bit the part. 

 I now possess a variety of beers that are probably hard to come by in Bavaria (unless you know where to look), let alone south east England. I shall certainly enjoy getting stuck in to these beers during the approaching winter months, but for the time being I intend leaving the pack unopened.

Finally, there has been a change, involving some of the breweries represented, with four beers from the original packs dropped, to be replaced by four new ones, as detailed below:

Original beers:

 Wildbräu Grafing - Kirtabier Märzen 5.7%

Ettl BräuTeisnacher - 1543 Festmärzen 5.4%

Hohenthanner Schlossbrauerei - Märzen Festbier 5.6%

Falter – Pichelsteiner Festbier 5.9%

Kuchlbauer - Gillamoos Bier 5.2%

Schneider -  Festweisse 6.2%

New beers:

Ayinger Festbier Märzen 5.8%

Grantler Festmärzen 5.6%

Rittmayer Annafest Bier 5.6%

Wieninger Festbier 5.8%

Replacing beers from:

Erl Bräu – Erlkönig Festbier 6.1%

Bischofshof - Original Festbier 5.4%

Hofbräu - Oktoberfesbier 6.3%

Schlossbrauerei Irlbach – Irlbacher Premium 5.8%

 

Enjoy!