As I continue to
work my way through the world’s beers in the course of traveling the globe
by bottle, I am often faced with a bit of a quandary. Should I go with the
tried and true beers of a nation, the ones that are most famous and easily
obtained? Or should I seek out the rare and unusual ones to represent
various lands?
Truth to tell, I can’t decide, and so I’m doing a little of both as I
journey Around the World in Eighty Brews. Take the Czech Republic,
for example. The obvious choice here would be to go with
Pilsner Urquell or
Budweiser Budvar . But the other day I came across a curious little beer
from the Pivovar Herold Breznice. It’s called Herold Bohemian
Wheat Lager, and I found it interesting enough to represent the Czech
Republic in my little flight of fancy.
Right off the bat, experienced beer enthusiasts will notice something
different about this beer. The label calls it a hefeweizen in rather small
print compared to the rest of the lettering, but they also call it a blond
lager. And hey, what’s this about a wheat lager? As we all know, classic
hefeweizens are ales. Let’s lift some info from the label to investigate
more:
Herold’s Bohemian Wheat Lager is our version of a Bavarian style no
longer common among Czech brewers. We use local wheat and pilsner malts,
Saaz hops, yeasts bartered from a small Bavarian brewery and well water to
brew a unique sample of Bohemian wheat. The beer is lagered for 50 days and
bottled without filtration.
And there you have it. It’s the lagering, or cold aging, that makes Herold
Bohemian Wheat Lager unique. If memory serves, this is the first lagered
hefeweizen I’ve come across.
Herold Bohemian Wheat Lager pours to a hazy yellow color with a
slight orange tint and a rather large, if short lived, rocky head formation.
The nose is robust with strong suggestions of clove and banana. The beer is
medium in body, slightly thicker in mouthfeel than most examples of the
style. I am not sure what the wheat to malt ratio is, but it seems to lean
towards the pilsner malt more than most.
The traditional hefeweizen notes of banana and clove are very much present
with a hint of vanilla apparent too. The beer is otherwise clean of fruit
esters. There is a crackery wheat character as well, more so in the tart
finish. Hops balance but only just. They are not highly emphasized.
Overall, this is fuller in body and smoother than most hefeweizens. The
lagering seems to have rounded the beer out nicely. Herold Bohemian Wheat
Lager is interesting indeed, and a tasty little example of Bohemia in a
bottle.
And remember, try a new beer today, and drink outside the box.
*Pricing data accurate at time of review or latest update. For reference only, based on actual price paid by reviewer.
(B)=Bottled
(D)=Draft
(G)=Growler