Game Day Beer Review: Staatliches Hofbraühaus Hofbraü Original Munich Helles Lager

The Location: Lockhart Stadium Parking Lot, Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

The Date: Saturday, November 2nd, the final game of the NASL Fall season.

The Time: 6:45pm, prior to a 7:30pm Ft. Lauderdale Strikers' kickoff

The Weather: 78 degrees, heavy cumulus clouds lingering overhead and partially blocking the sunset. Moderate breeze blowing through the parking lot.

The Scene: Children throwing and kicking balls, cars looking for open spots, adults gathered around a charcoal grill, and the smell of grilled meat and smoke mingling delightfully in the nearby air.

The Music: Small Town USA, Justin Moore

The Beer: Hofbraü Original, Hofbrahaus Munich

The Taste: In a word, refreshing. Aromatic hops and malt in almost the perfect balance. Caramel, bread and biscuit were all present and accounted for. This is how a good German lager should taste.

The Feel: Perfection.

Game Day Beer Review: Staatliches Hofbräuhaus Original Munich Helles Lager

(5.10% ABV) Hofbrau Original poured a deep straw color with a head that was as pure white as the driven snow.

The beer's smell was a mix of bread and crackers, with slight whiffs of citrus, hops and yeast thrown in for good measure. This is a seemingly simple beer, yet it has an amazingly complex smell.  It's almost as if these Germans have this brewing thing down to a science....

The beer was tingly on the tongue, and refreshingly bitter. There was a grassy hop taste that gradally faded into a off-dry finish. The beer was very German, and very good. We enjoyed it immensely: B+

Game Day Beer Review: Cigar City Brewing Hotter Than Helles Lager

Upon witnessing Bayern Munich's recent 3-1 thrashing of the Arsenal, it seemed highly appropriate to review a Munich Helles Lager -- albeit one brewed a little bit closer than Bavaria.

(5.00% ABV) According to the information printed on the bottom of the can, this beer was canned on January 29th  -- and drunk less than three weeks later, on February 17th.   Hotter Than Helles was brewed by our friends at Cigar City Brewing, just up the road in Tampa, Florida, and poured from the can into a glass.  Upon settling, the beer appeared a brilliant golden/yellow color with a relatively thin head of foam.

The nose was yeasty and bready, and the beer smelled slightly of lemons.  The taste itself was fairly straight forward, and the mouthfeel refreshingly crisp. The beer tasted of toasted biscuit with some slight citrus notes, and ended on a slightly tart note -- the kind that keeps you coming back for more. This is definitely a beer we'd go back to, again and again. B+