Oberhausen Beer Guide

 

Hello, or in as they say in Germany “Hallo”, and welcome to the Oberhausen Beer Guide. I must admit despite being quite keen on a few jars my standard MO in past German trips has been to just order “ein bier bitte” and just drink whatever turned up. However the onset of the Untappd addiction and pre-weekend planning with Mike Kilby I got to actually sample some of Oberhausen’s finest beverages. Here’s a guide!

 

DEAD GUY ALE (Rogue Ales)

Purchased at: Three Sixty in CentrO

Three Sixty has a little yellow leaflet that comes with the menus detailing specials and on it are beer specials if you’re looking for something a little off the beaten path. Dead Guy Ale is in this vein. It’s low level craft with a label that has probably been applied by hand. I went ***1/4 on it. Mike went **3/4. Both of us were alarmed at how much sediment the beer had and also it’s borderline lethal 6.8% ABV. You probably won’t be able to get this but that little yellow leaflet might be the home of a few surprises at Carat.

STYLE: Bock

GREVENSTEINER ORIGINAL NATURTRUBES LANDBIER (Veltins)

Purchased at: Three Sixty

I don’t like wheat beer in particular but this tastes like what I always hope wheat beer is going to be like. I went ***1/2 and it may become my default Three Sixty beer because it’s good. Literally no one else drank this apart from Brian who had it in can form.

STYLE: Kellerbeir/Zwickelbier

 

MULVANY’S (Brauhaus Zeche Jacobi)

Purchased at: Brauhaus Zeche Jacobi

There’s a brewery across the water from CentrO, which is ideal for having a few pints at the source. Mulvany’s is their darkest beer and second best, according to Untappd ratings, behind the Festbier. The others had Festbier but I had Mulvany’s and enjoyed it more than either of them liked the Festbier. ***1/2 from me! Favourite so far. I’d love to go back here and sample the range at some point.

STYLE: Munich Dunkel Lager

BOLTENS LANDBIER (Bolten)

Purchased at: Dohmi’s Boot Beer Bar

Dohmi brought some beers in his car to the wXw Academy so we got the chance to sample some of them. Boltens was the main one. It had the Grolsch style pop open cap. It was pretty decent. I went ***1/4. The only other check-ins to this are from Gary and Brian and they both seemed to enjoy it too.

STYLE: Kellerbier/Zwickelbier

 

ASTRA URTYP (Holsten)

Purchased at: Dohmi’s Boot Beer Bar

I grabbed one of these on the way out of the Academy as a road beer. I can’t help but notice the Urtyp is an anagram of Tryp U. It’s the official beer of Tryp University. It was alright and I went **3/4. It’s the beer that gives Mike a headache. James mentioned a side of mustard would have gone well with it. Dohmi spent most of his time at WTTF trying to get people to do shots of mustard. Straight out of the tube!

STYLE: Pilsner

 

VELTINS PILSNER (Veltins)

Purchased at: Tryp hotel bar

Veltins is the bog standard beer available at the Tryp bar. I’ve had dozens and dozens of these over the past five visits to Germany. I also drank one at Knippi’s Bowling Palace the first time we went to Germany for Carat in 2017 so this is basically the drink of wXw weekenders. It’s never been a great beer but I’ll give it a gentlemen’s *** and thanks for the memories.

STYLE: Pilsner

 

GAFFELS SONNEN HOPFEN (Gaffel Becker)

Purchased at: Supermarket

As part of our quest for different beers myself and Mike snuck into a supermarket and picked up the Sonnen Hopfen for #TrypFest. Our hotel based beer festival. It turned out to be a huge winner. One of my two favourites of the weekend. Mike described it as tasting like “Tropical Capri Sun”. James, as a full-on beer enthusiast was “getting hints of melon”. It was definitely a fruity beer and went down a treat. ****

STYLE: Pale Ale

ORIGINAL SCHLUSSEL (Obergarige Hausbrauerei Zum Schlussel)

Purchased at: Supermarket

This is from a brew pub in Dusseldorf where we acquired one from the airport supermarket. I had great difficulty placing the unusual flavor. Blayne was a little harsher saying “it tastes of nuttin”. It’s top-fermented, whatever that means, and is both malty and hoppy. I’m not convinced that’s the best combination. I went ***1/2 for reasons I’m not sure of.

STYLE: Altbier

 

DIEBELS PREMIUM ALTBIER (Diebels)

Purchased at: Turbinenhalle

Diebels is Mike’s beer of choice at the Turbinenhalle but I’d never had it before. It turns out to be my favourite of any beer available at the venue and is definitely what I’ll be going with for the default drink going forwards. It’s closer to an ale than anything else you can get there so if you don’t much care for the lagers here’s an alternative. It’s literally in the name. “Diebels Alt is the Newcastle Brown Ale of Germany”

STYLE: Altbier

VELTINS MALZ (Veltins)

Purchased at: Knippi’s Bowling Palace

Mike bought this thinking it was an odd variety of Veltins…and it is. It’s the non-alcoholic one. STRIGGA tells me that it tastes like root beer. I hate root beer and have only attempted to drink it once. It is inedible. My second least favourite thing to consume after cucumber. This was completely undrinkable. DUD. Mike says it tastes like a “millions Maltesers all at once”. I literally had a sip and could take no more.

STYLE: Malt Beer

MEININGHAUS PILSNER (Ruhrpottbrewery GmbH)

Purchased at: Tryp

Tryp has a fridge by the entrance and there are a couple of beers in there. This is from the local brewery. It’s literally from Oberhausen. The brewery isn’t far from Tryp. So that’s two breweries you can visit in Oberhausen. It’s also super rare and has only 23 check ins. We sampled some of Eamonn’s baking at the same time and what a combination that was! It’s a weird beer. It tastes odd to begin with. Then you get used to it and it’s pretty good. Then it goes terrible again at the bottom. I didn’t finish it. **3/4

STYLE: Pilsner

LOWENBRAU ORIGINAL (Lowenbrau)

Purchased at: MoschMosch

We went to get food at the Japanese place in CentrO and it’s the best food you’ll eat all weekend. The beer choices are sadly a bit limited but Lowenbrau is a solid pint. It puts a few people off with the frankly awful nose but once you get past the smell it’s clean and crisp. ***

STYLE: Helles Lager

 

MIXERY FLAVOUR ICED BLUE (Karlsberg)

Purchased at: Shell

The issue with having a mini-beer festival at the hotel is the hotel bar has like three different beers and that’s it. Luckily there was also a petrol station just across the road where we normally stock up on supplies like Pringles, BiFi rolls, Nuts bars, Monster energy etc. This time we picked up some beers. Mixery Iced Blue is disappointment on two levels. One…it’s not blue. Two…it’s barely beer. Three it tastes like vodka Red Bull pre-mixed. Which it probably is. Avoid.

STYLE: Rubbish (technically Radler)

 

5,0 ORIGINAL PILS (Brauerei Monchengladbach)

Purchased at: Shell

I was going to say “something else Monchengladbach is bad at” but they’re top of the Bundesliga right now. The can actually says “Limibiert” and it’s the fan edition. Hopefully the normal edition has actual flavor.

STYLE: Pilsner

 

LAGERBIER HELL (Augustiner)

Purchased at: Shell

Gunni had a few beers in his camera bag the day before and I had the Aufwind off him but this was also an option. On draft it’s supposed to be an absolute winner but I’ve never seen it anywhere. This was met with mixed response by the tasting panel. I blame Mixery Iced Blue for it. I thought it was good ***3/4.

STYLE: Helles Lager

 

AUFWIND (Propeller Beer)

Purchased at: wherever Guenni bought it.

I had this from Guenni on the Thursday but didn’t actually drink it until the Saturday and despite it being the same temperature as the window sill in the room it was still good. Along with Sonnen Hopfen it was the hero beer of the weekend. I went ****. The others were slightly lower. I feel if it had been properly chilled it would have scored even higher. At 6.5% it may not be a session beer.

STYLE: IPA

STAUDER PILS (Jacob Stauder)

Purchased at: the After Party

I’ve been drinking this at the Turbinenhalle for quite some time. I always thought it was Krombacher but it’s not. The reviews for this are glorious; “serviceable”, “passable”, etc. It’s one of the most mediocre beers in existence. I have had dozens of them. **

STYLE: Pilsner

 

HANSA PILS (Dortmunder Actien)

Purchased at: Shell

I went here with Dohmi after the After Party and picked up a few beers. He seemed to think it was good. Mike thought it was better this time than last time, when it was one of the shitty off licence bargain bin beers. James’ review reads “nah mate”. I politely gave it **1/4. Take note wrestlers who receive that rating for their matches on a regular basis.

STYLE: Pilsner

EDELSTOFF (Augustiner)

Purchased at: Shell

I bought this because it was from the same brewery as Lagerbier Hell. This received little love from the panel but Guenni rates it. My review reads: “better than Ivan Kiev”. ***1/4

STYLE: Lager

 

PILGERSTOFF (Will-Brau)

Purchased at: Shell

I don’t even remember this. Mike’s review is “not great” and he gave it one star. I have bizarrely rated it ***1/4. I suspect my sense of taste was damaged. Or Dohmi borrowed my phone.

STYLE: Vienna Lager

 

BENEDIKTINER WEISSBIER (Benediktiner)

Purchased at: Shell

#TrypFest continues with a canned wheat beer. I can’t imagine anything worse. We drank this at 5am after the after party and then I went to bed. I gave it a **1/2 rating but with all Weissbier it should be approached with caution. Unless you’re into that sort of thing.

STYLE: Hefeweizen

 

LOUISIANA STOUT (Louisiana)

Purchased at: Louisiana

This was at the meal after the last night. It’s not a stout. I was in major need of refreshment and this struggled to deliver. My least favourite altbier of the weekend. **1/2

STYLE: Altbier

FRANKENHEIM ALT (Frankenheim)

Purchased at: Louisiana

I saw this on the pump at the airport and asked for “a beer” thinking I’d get that but ended up with fucking Becks and I’d been itching to get one ever since. It ended up being fine. Mort really liked it shouting “this is good beer” down the table in a toast. ***

STYLE: Altbier

 

V+ BERRY-X (Veltins)

Purchased at: Shell

There were other energy style drinks on offer, which were stupid for 3am on the night when I had to get up at 6am to catch a flight. This one was shared between three people and still didn’t get finished. **. Mike called it “fizzy blackcurrant”. My Untappd review reads “It’s like Ribena”.

STYLE: Radler

FRANZISKANER PREMIUM WEISSBIER (Franziskaner/Lowenbrau)

Purchased at: Tryp

This is the last thing I drank and it’s one of my favourite Weissbier’s. It also comes in a much larger glass than Veltins and isn’t that much more expensive. Basically if you like it, I would suggest sinking a few of these at Tryp. My review reads “the monks are alright”. I think everyone has had one of these. ***1/2

STYLE: Hefeweizen

 

Here are a few that Mike drank, which I didn’t:

FESTBIER (Brauhaus Zeche Jacobi)

“Not my style but I appreciate what has gone into it” **3/4

STYLE: Festbier

 

DOMINIKANER PREMIUM PILS (Holsten)

This is the beer he drank while I had the Boltens. *1/4

STYLE: Pilsner

 

CAB COLA & BEER (Krombacher)

“Cola and bier? More likely than you’d think” **1/4

STYLE: Radler

 

KROMBACHER WEIZEN HELL (Kromacher)

This is the wheat beer from the Turbinenhalle. I didn’t even realise it wasn’t Franziskaner and didn’t drink it. “fine” **1/4

STYLE: Hefeweizen

 

MONCHSHOF NATUR (Kulmbacher)

Mike drank this on the last night. I didn’t see it at all. “A very nice Euro Radler” **1/4

STYLE: Radler

 

V+ CURUBA (Veltins)

I smelt this and didn’t want it. Mort loved it and called it “great shit”. James gave this ****. Maybe I missed out but it was an energy drink in the middle of the night and I don’t do that.

STYLE: Radler (actually 5%)

 

MIXERY BIER + COLA + X (Karlsberg)

“CAB COLA WITH HAPPY SHOPPER COLA. COMPLETELY SHIT” ¾*

STYLE: Radler

 

BRINKHOFF’S NO 1 (Dortmunder Actien)

“Really nice and crisp”. ***1/4. Mike didn’t want to finish the weekend with the Veltins + we logged on the last night and drank this in Dortmund the following day.

STYLE: Pilsner

 

That’s all. If you want to join in the Untappd antics you can follow us thusly:

 

CerberusForsyth – Mike Kilby

Jamesarris – James Harris

Garyontaps – Gary

Brian1zvx – Brian

Gu3nni – Guenni

chris_gilder_1645

 

Thanks for reading. See you at Carat!

 

AF