Hello beer lovers! 🍻

Last week was quite a busy one for me. I didn't miss anything, in fact, I had too much of everything, from the action, networking with others, the food, and of course the beer.
And since it's #beersaturday, 307th in a row, I'll report what beers I tried there.

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Well, in case you don't know, that's Lake Bled in the picture, one of the most popular tourist destinations in Slovenia, where I was at a conference for a whole week, unfortunately, it was raining all day and there was hardly any sunshine, so I/we had to make up for the lack of sunshine with beer, which isn't too bad either.

Let's go.

🍻 😎 🍻

Weihenstephaner Original Helles

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Brewed by Bayerische Staatsbrauerei Weihenstephan, Freising, Bavaria, Germany.
Bottle, 0.5 l, alcohol 5.1% ABV, 21 IBU.
It's a Helles-style beer, a clean and malty German pale lager, smooth and grainy, and with a soft, dry finish.

What do the Master Brewers say?

A good beer takes its time. The long storage makes our yellow bright lager, “Original”, a flavourful beer enjoyed with fine-pored, white foam. With a mild hoppy note and its pleasant fresh spicy taste, it goes very well with salads, poultry, stews, or with a hearty snack. Brewed according to our centuries-old brewing tradition on Weihenstephan Hill.

I read that this brewery was founded in 1040 and that it's the oldest working brewery in the world. Interestingly, as far as I know, they also own one winery.

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The beer is pure golden in color, the head is average. It smells malty. The first sip goes down the throat smoothly and in the mouth, I taste the bitterness of the hops and the sweetness of the malt, about the same. Aroma of hops and hay, with a little citrus in the background.
The bitterness lingers briefly in the aftertaste.

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A very good and refreshing beer. One of the best lagers I have ever had. Very balanced flavor, I would say that it has been around for centuries. I tasted it in the hotel where I stayed but I'll have to do something about getting a bottle in my fridge.

🍻 😎 🍻

Hopsbrew Juicy IPA

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Brewed by Pivovarna Hopsbrew, Ihan, Domžale, Slovenia.
Bottle, 0.5 l, alcohol 7% ABV, 50 IBU.
It's Hazy/Juicy IPA or New England India Pale Ale (NEIPA) style. Intensive flavors and fruit aromas, less bitterness than classic IPA but more fruity.

What do the Master Brewers say?

The New England IPA-style pale ale is an exceptionally tasty beer that rarely leaves anyone indifferent with its super cloudy, bitterly refreshing character and beautifully disguised higher alcohol level.
The intense fruity aroma sucks you in instantly - pineapple, mango, passion fruit, peaches and other tropical fruits to top it all off. The rather dense and creamy body greets our taste buds with a noticeable fruity sweetness, led by pineapple and grapefruit, which slowly creep down the throat. This is followed by a slightly more delicate hop bitterness and aftertaste, which lingers and lingers in a slightly more delicate way.
Juicy IPA completely sweeps the drinker away with its tropical fruity aroma from the very first inhale. Citrus flavors with a more moderate bitterness complete the flavor picture and take the drinker under the palm trees of a sunny tropical island for good.

True connoisseurs say Hopbrew is the best Slovenian brewery and never disappoints. The master brewers have won several prestigious global awards in 2017 and 2018. But, it's been five years since then. Things change fast in the beer world.

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The beer is cloudy yellow in color and the head is very creamy. It smells of tropical fruits. The sip goes down the throat smoothly and the bitterness and tropical fruit aromas of mango, pineapple, grapefruit, and citrus in the background immediately come to the fore.
The tropical aromas and bitterness linger in the aftertaste for some time.

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A very juicy, tasty, and fruity beer. Very balanced, nothing too much or too little. I would have had it for dessert instead of a fruit salad. 😎
It's available in almost all supermarket chains (Mercator, Spar, Lidl) and has its own price (€2.6-3.0). It will definitely end up in my fridge. (Where have I been so far?).

🍻 😎 🍻

Hirter Zwickl

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Brewed by Brauerei Hirt, Micheldorf, Austria.
Draft, 0.5 l, alcohol 5.2% ABV.
It's Zwickelbier or Kellerbier style, young, unpasteurized, less hoppy German lager.

What do the Master Brewers say?

The Hirter Zwickl has a distinctive natural cloudiness that guarantees that all flavor components are fully preserved. The residual yeast is perfectly integrated into the full-bodied overall character of the beer without ever compromising the delicate yeast aroma on the palate and in the nose.
Brewed from the soft mountain spring water of the Hanslbauer spring and with a low carbonic acid content, the Hirter Zwickl has a particularly rounded, drinkable finish. GMO-free and non-pasteurized, a freshly tapped Hirter Zwickl is a naturally cloudy delicacy!

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The beer is clear golden in color, the head is average. The bitterness is not very pronounced, the malt sweetness comes more to the fore, and the hay aroma is present, but I don't detect anything else. In the aftertaste, everything disappears quickly.

I chose this beer when I had dinner in the restaurant... I could have had something else but they had nothing but classic Slovenian (Union and Laško lagers) in a bottle. I can say it's drinkable, but nothing special. A standard lager that I will quickly forget.
But dinner was very tasty :) 😋

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