Wittmann Urhell
Review Date 3/14/2016 By John Staradumsky
For Christmas of 2015, my wife bought me a really cool present: BeerAdvent Calendar 2015 from Kalea. In truth, my wife got me a lot of nice presents (she’s the best wife ever), but the nice thing about the Beer Advent Calendar is you get it early. You have to, since it’s comprised of 24 different imported German beers in a box with little doors that you open, one per day from December 1st through December 24th. All of the beers are listed on the side of the carton, however, so be careful not to look and spoil the daily surprises!
I love German beer more than beer from any other country on Earth, so this was definitely right up my alley. My one criticism of the calendar is there are no bocks or doppelbocks (not fair!), but otherwise it’s just an amazing way to sample 24 German beers I’ve never seen before. I got mine a Costco here in Georgia and paid $59.95 for the box. That might sound steep, but when you distribute that price over 24 different half liter cans, it only works out to $2.50 per can. Not a bad deal at all looked at that way.
Welcome to Day 9 of the German Beer Advent Calendar which brings with it Wittmann Urhell, the flagship beer of the Carl Wittman Brauerei of Landshut in the southeast of Bavariat. Wittmann calls themselves a "Landshutter Spezialitaten Brauerei", or Landshut Specialist brewery. On their website, they say "Geschichte ist das, was man daraus macht."-History is that which you make of it.
I couldn't agree more, and since the brewery dates it's local tradition to 1616, it is celebrating 400 years this year, only a century behind the Bavarian Reinheitsgebot itself.
Wittmann Urhell is another pale lager in the Advent Calendar collection, and while there have been many such pale lagers in the collection thus far, that's fine by me. In their pure simplicity, such beers are often overshadowed by the sledgehammer beers in today's craft beer scene. That's a pity.
Wittmann Urhell has an alcohol content of 4.9% by volume. My can was packaged on 7/04/15 with a best by date of September 1st, 2016.
Wittman UrHell pours to a pale golden color with a medium creamy head formation and an inviting bready malt nose. Taking a sip the beer has a crisp bready malt aroma with a clean crisp maltiness and gentle balancing grassy herbal hop aromas with a soft bitter bite in the finish. The kind of beer you could sip on a warm afternoon while looking out over the local Isar river in Landshut, perhaps while enjoying a snack from a basket of wursts and cheeses.
I’m greatly enjoying my Beer Advent Calendar with the day 9 beer. Here’s looking forward to the remaining 15, and another assortment of 24 in 2016. We’ll be on the lookout next year at Costco, and following the beers on their Facebook page.
The beers of the 2015 Beer Advent Calendar:
Day 1 Alpinebrauerei Burgerbrau Alpen Stoff
Day 2 Ankerbrau Nordlingen Grandl Helles Lagerbier
Day 3 Herrnbrau Tradition Bayerisches Festbier
Day 4 Schlossbrauerei Herrngiersdorf Publiner
Day 5 Hofbrauhaus Friesing Huber Weisses
Day 6 Lowenbrauerei Passau Urtyp Hell
Day 7 Spath Brau Osser Osser Gold
Day 8 Hosl Marzenbier
Day 9 Wittmann Urhell
Day 10 Kloster Urstoff Marzen
Day 11 Egerer Eaglebrau Weizenbier Dunkel
Day 12 Egerer 1516 Schloss Weisse
Day 13 Barbarossa Pilsener
Day 14 Lausaria Romergold Export Hell
Day 15 Egerer Winter Weisse
Day 16 Kress Bayrisch Zwickel
Day 17 Egerer Winterfestbier
Day 18 Egerer Konig Wilhelm Ur-Weisse Dunkel
Day 19 Egerer Das Besondere Festbier
Day 20 Egerer Baren Weisse
Day 21 Bierkutscher Edel Pils
Day 22 Alpenkonig Gold
Day 23 Egerer Altbayrisch Dunkel
Day 24 Edel Bayer Urtyp Hell
Glad I tried it? T
Would I rebuy it??
*Pricing data accurate at time of review or latest update. For reference only, based on actual price paid by reviewer.
(B)=Bottled, Canned
(D)=Draft