     Yokel (New Glarus Brewing Company)
I've yet to actually try a keller/zwickel bier as far as I know so this is pretty exciting for me. A new beer style to review! Yokel is apparently not being brewed by New Glarus anymore and is part of the "Beers we've known and loved" section on their website. Oh well, I am sure this is still good. From the New Glarus site: "This is a whole beer straight from the tank smooth unfiltered and without pretense. Wisconsin, German and English barleys and the finest Bavarian hops combine in classic German brewing methods." Here we go... Pour - very cloudy, pale yellow and raw looking. This beer almost looks "frosted" in the glass. Nice carbonation levels and a pretty solid looking head on top.
Aroma - grainy, citrusy, slightly sour and musty. There is a definite smell of husks and grains that reminds me of the smells you get when you take a brewery tour. The raw components steeping in boiling water, that seems to be a good way to describe this.
Taste - very light bodied, some malt sweetness, a bit of sour/citrus on the tongue and some raw grain flavors. Crisp and refreshing, this is the type of beer you could really get comfortable with at a party. Its easy drinking but with plenty of taste.
Overall - a very straightforward beer with a good amount of flavor for such a low ABV.
Would I buy more of it? - who knows, if I ever find myself in Wisconsin I might grab some of these as a good session beer. Well, since this one is "retired" it might be hard to do that.
Note - more about Zwickel/Keller Biers from Wikipedia: Kellerbier, also Zwickelbier, or Zoigl, is a type of German beer which is not clarified or pasteurised. Kellerbier can be either top or bottom fermented. The term Kellerbier literally translates as "cellar beer", referring to its coollagering temperatures, and its recipe likely dates to the Middle Ages. In comparison with most of today's filtered lagers, Kellerbier contains more of its original brewing yeast, as well as vitamins, held in suspension. As a result, it is distinctly cloudy, and is described by German producers as naturtrüb (naturally cloudy). Kellerbier and Zwickelbier are often served directly from the barrel (for example, in a beer garden) or bottled. Originally the term Zwickelbier, which is often used to describe a weaker and less full-flavored Kellerbier, was used to refer to the small amount of beer taken by a brewmaster from the barrel with the aid of a special siphon called the Zwickelhahn. Nowadays in Germany Zwickelbier is commercially available in large amounts, usually as a bottom-fermented, but often also as a top-fermented (Kellerweizen).
Posted by Russ Labels: Keller/Zwickel Biers, Retired Beers, Lagers | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
