Dec. 23 - Steininger

Sighing heavily, I get out the next-to-last calendar beer and it's a light one.  Steininger Hefe Weissbier to be precise.  Now, a weisse is probably more interesting than the lagers and pilsners that have rolled out so far, so maybe it won't be so bad.  At least the can doesn't give potentially false promises of luxury.

It's cloudy gold, so at least not completely transparent.  Gives a look of consistency that some of the past beers just didn't have.  Head looks good at first but fizzles out pretty quickly.  Just a touch of sweet wheatiness in the aroma, nothing sour or stereotypically "beery".  Actually rather sour in taste at first, leaves an impression of being a cider more than a beer.  Still, there's that normal wheat beer aftertaste, but not as heavy as I get from, say, Paulaner.  It does have some weight, leaves a little bit of something behind it on the palate, so I would say it's a bit better for winter (which we are officially in now!) than those other light beers.  Gives you a little oomf in your glass to feel a little extra warmth.

Dec. 10 - Germania

Today I get Germania Premium Beer.  That's it.  That's all it's called.  I imagine it's a lager, or maybe yet another pilsner.  A somewhat nature goddess-like face adorns the can, but nothing else to clue in the potential drinker on what they're in for.  The beer list calls it a pilsner, so I guess I should look forward to another thin, mildly bitter drink.

Very light yellow, transparent again, pretty good head.  It starts out thick and fluffy and maintains a line on top of the liquid at all costs, it seems.  A little sour and grainy in aroma, which makes me lean towards lager.  Also sour at first sip, but it quickly smooths out into a mellower sweet with a bitter chaser.  It's okay, not as unimpressive as the first ones, but not as sharp as yesterday's or the day before's.  Still, must be some hope if at least a couple have been fine...maybe another black beer lurking in there?

Dec. 7 - Blreor Schwarzbier

Finally, it's time for the dark side!  What we have today is a dark beer, or "black" as the can insists, so I might find something to connect with here.  The name is ... odd: Blreor.  I do not know where it comes from.  That's one nice thing about many craft beers, the tendency to tell stories on the labels.  There more industrial beers just don't have time for anything so folksy.

This does look like the German dunkles I remember, a nice dark brown and somewhat off-white head.  The head fizzles out pretty fast, though.  I do not get much aroma, maybe just a hint of sugar.  The taste starts sweet, blends into a sort of sour, and ends sweetly again.  It's a delicate flavor, but the beer itself feels heavier than the previous ones, a bit more body.  A little sticky too, even when cold.  More or less what I was drinking quite often in Vienna, at least as I recall.  Probably a bit lighter in flavor.  (Sigh)  That's where my Advent is going, it seems.  I guess it's just the first week, so maybe a big finish?