Holzknecht Hefe-Weisse Dunkel
Review Date 12/9/2017 By John Staradumsky
For Christmas of 2015, my wife bought me a really cool present: BeerAdvent Calendar 2015 from Kalea. In truth my wife got me a lot of nice presents (she’s the best wife ever), but the nice thing about the Beer Advent Calendar is you get it early. You have to, since it’s comprised of 24 different imported German beers in a box with little doors that you open, one per day from December 1st through December 24th. All of the beers are listed on the side of the carton, however, so be careful not to look and spoil the daily surprises!
I love German beer more than beer from any other country on Earth, so this was definitely right up my alley. Knowing this, my wife got me another for 2016. I told you I was lucky! Last year we got no bocks and doppelbocks and they are back! Overall, this is an amazing way to sample 24 German beers over 24 days, and I look forward to it every year. I got mine a Costco here in Georgia and paid $59.95 for the box once again. That might sound steep, but when you distribute that price over 24 different half liter cans, it only works out to $2.50 per can. Not a bad deal at all looked at that way. It certainly does not stop these from selling; I stopped in at Costco for the first week of November and they had two huge pallets. I was on my lunch break and had to get back to work so did not buy one then. A week later when I went to get one, they were almost gone.
For 2017, there are few differences in the beer advent calendar from last year. Once again, it’s labeled as the “Brewer’s Advent Calendar” but the year is back, it is clearly marked as 2017. Last year it was not, the year before it was called the “Beer Advent Calendar 2015”. Nineteen of the beers are returning favorites from the prior two editions, with five new ones I have not seen before.
For Day 3 I got a can of Holzknecht Hefe-Weisse Dunkel from my beer calendar. This is an Egerer beer that I think is made only for the calendar. On their Facebook page, the calendar folks say:
Since the 1920s the small town of Großköllnbach is home to the prestigious brewery Egerer. Today the brewery is owned by the same family, now in fourth generation. Purest water from its own well, the Heinrich-Franz-Well, is only one of the key ingredients that make great beers from Egerer. Malts sourced from regional producers and hops from the nearby Hallertau finalize the products. It’s nice brown with a perfect head. The aroma has notes of dark bread and honey with a off-dry flavor. Medium long aftertaste but a nice and dry finish.
A little research was in order. Egerer makes a Dunkel Weizen under their own name, and has packaged various beers in the same style in the calendars before. At 5.3% alcohol by volume, this one is slightly stonger than any of the others.
Egerer Holzknecht Hefe-Weisse Dunkel pours to a cloudy brown color with a thick rocky head of foam and a luscious dark malty slightly smokey nose. Taking a sip, the beer is smooth and drinkable with a soft nutty maltiness and hints of smoke, banana and clove. Not as robust as other examples of the style I have enjoyed but still and all tasty and satisfying.
My can has no production date stamped on the bottom as these generally do, just:
EXP 03/2019
Looks like they got smart and abandoned the European date formatting, which was confusing to Americans. They have also extended the shelf life.
I’m greatly enjoying my Beer Advent Calendar 2017 with the day 3 beer. Here’s looking forward to the remaining 21, and another assortment of 24 in 2018. We’ll be on the lookout next year at Costco once again! Follow them on their Facebook page.
The beers of the 2017 Beer Advent Calendar:
Day 1 Schlossbrau Rheder Original Pils
Day 2 Herrnbrau Tradition Bayerisches Festbier
Day 3 Holzknecht Hefe-Weisse Dunkel
Day 4 Bergbrau Pale Ale
Day 5 Egerer Altbayrisch Dunkel
Day 6 Kartauser Doppelbock Dunkel
Day 7 Alpenkonig Gold
Day 8 Ankerbrau Nordlingen Grandl Helles Lagerbier
Day 9 Herrnbrau Jubilaums Sud
Day 10 Lowenbrauerei Passau Urtyp Hell
Day 11 Bierkutscher Edel Pils
Day 12 Zwonitzer Rauchbier
Day 13 Wittmann Urhell
Day 14 Hofbrauhaus Friesing Huber Weisses
Day 15 Perlernzauber German Pale Ale
Day 16 Alpinebrauerei Burgerbrau Alpen Stoff
Day 17 Egerer Das Besondere Festbier
Day 18 Schlossbrauerei Herrngiersdorf Publiner
Day 19 Rieder India Pale Ale
Day 20 Memminger Gold Marzen
Day 21 Egerer Eaglebrau Weizenbier Dunkel
Day 22 Edel Bayer Urtyp Hell
Day 23 Kress Bayrisch Zwickel
Day 24 Egerer Kress St. Bonifacius Bock
Glad I tried it? T
Would I rebuy it??
*Pricing data accurate at time of review or latest update. For reference only, based on actual price paid by reviewer.
(B)=Bottled, Canned
(D)=Draft