Beer Review - Schneider Aventinus

Schneider and Sohn Brauerie Aventinus - 8.2% ABV

There are a few, a very few, breweries that I love every single beer that they produce.  I can be quite confident that when I purchase a beer from Scheider Brewery in Kelheim, Germany (about 60 miles NE of Munich) that I will have a great, drinkable beer.  For me, they are my unofficial brewery of summer and the oldest wheat beer brewer in Bavaria.  Their Munich brewery continouously brewed from 1607 until 1944 when a random allied bomb blew it all to bits.  They then relocated to Kelheim which allowed them to modernize, expand and make it possible to export their liquid lunch to the U.S.. 

Aventinus is a dopplebock, which is a stronger version of a bock, which is a dark lager.  So by definition, Aventinus is a lager, but it's soul is a monastic dubbel.  It was originally created by monks who were forced to fast periodically and while eating was verboten, drinking was not.  The wheat and yeast of the dopplebocks easily sustained these shaven pate loonies through their regimen of denial and you will find them quite filling as well.  The beer's head is rather small but is very thick and persistent and has smells of bananas, cloves, yeast and malts.  The color is a cloudy reddish brown.  The flavor is the perfect example of a dopplebock with malts, chocolate, bananas, cloves, caramel and very slightly of hops.  Even though the alcohol level is quite high you will not notice it until you try to find your keys drive home.  Be careful with this one and for goodness sake, call a cab you stumbling inebriate.

This thick, rich brew is hearty enough to get a monk through the 46 days of lent and can easily take the place of a lunch for an indulgent American ,and may well be today.

Weisses Bräuhaus G. Schneider & Sohn GmbH
Emil-Ott-Straße 1-5
D-93309 Kelheim
http://www.schneider-weisse.de/index.php?lang=en&tpl=brauerei.gesternheute.geschichte