Kloster Urstoff Märzen
Review Date 3/14/2016 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. My one criticism of the calendar is there are no bocks or doppelbocks (not fair!), but otherwise it’s just an amazing way to sample 24 German beers I’ve never seen before. I got mine a Costco here in Georgia and paid $59.95 for the box. 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.
We've made it all the way to Day 10 of the German Beer Advent Calendar. It's been said (by me actually) that every beer tells a story, but today we're enjoying Kloster Urstoff Marzen, a beer that actually tells two of them. That's because Kloster Urstoff Marzen is made by the Rother Brauerei of Roth in south central Bavaria, but for the Beer Advent Calander it is lizenziert to Privatbrauerei Egerer of Grosskolnnback, also in Bavaria.
Now, I know I've tasted Egerer beers before but never catalogued them; the beers of Rother Brau are entirely new to me. Rother Brau traces brewing at their site back to 1788, while they trace the origins of brewing at the Augustinian monastery in Munnerstadt, inspiration for Kloster Urstoff Marzen, back 625 years.
The brewery describes the beer:
Ein Spezial-Märzen mit einer angenehmen Stammwürze, vollmundig im Geschmack. Ab sofort auch in unserer praktischen 5l Partydose mit integriertem Zapfhahn erhältlich.
Kloster Urstoff Marzen has an alcohol content of 5.4% by volume. The motto on the can is "in Namen des guten Geschmacks" (in the name of good taste").
Kloster Urstoff Marzen pours to a beautiful russet color with a thick creamy head and a soft nutty malty nose. Taking a sip the beer is creamy and smooth up front with gentle notes of toasted nut and light chocolate, but I’ll say it’s a little less toasty nutty than I like in a Marzen. Not quite as good as the last Marzen I had from the sampler, Hosl Marzenbier. Still, the beer's creamy texture and gently balanced bitter finish definitely make this a beer I'd buy for sure if I ever saw it on store shelves.
I’m greatly enjoying my Beer Advent Calendar with the day 10 beer. Here’s looking forward to the remaining 14, and another assortment of 24 in 2016. We’ll be on the lookout next year at Costco, and following the beers on their Facebook page.
The beers of the 2015 Beer Advent Calendar:
Day 1 Alpinebrauerei Burgerbrau Alpen Stoff
Day 2 Ankerbrau Nordlingen Grandl Helles Lagerbier
Day 3 Herrnbrau Tradition Bayerisches Festbier
Day 4 Schlossbrauerei Herrngiersdorf Publiner
Day 5 Hofbrauhaus Friesing Huber Weisses
Day 6 Lowenbrauerei Passau Urtyp Hell
Day 7 Spath Brau Osser Osser Gold
Day 8 Hosl Marzenbier
Day 9 Wittmann Urhell
Day 10 Kloster Urstoff Marzen
Day 11 Egerer Eaglebrau Weizenbier Dunkel
Day 12 Egerer 1516 Schloss Weisse
Day 13 Barbarossa Pilsener
Day 14 Lausaria Romergold Export Hell
Day 15 Egerer Winter Weisse
Day 16 Kress Bayrisch Zwickel
Day 17 Egerer Winterfestbier
Day 18 Egerer Konig Wilhelm Ur-Weisse Dunkel
Day 19 Egerer Das Besondere Festbier
Day 20 Egerer Baren Weisse
Day 21 Bierkutscher Edel Pils
Day 22 Alpenkonig Gold
Day 23 Egerer Altbayrisch Dunkel
Day 24 Edel Bayer Urtyp Hell
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