Zwei helles, bitte!

Spring can be warm in Vienna. As I was coming from a meeting, the thermometer showed more than 20 Centigrades. It was hot being on tram number 71, and I had more than an hour before my next appointment. Just before the Rennweg tram stop I saw several pubs. Obey your thirst, a commercial for a soft drink told us once upon a time. I did that. I jumped off the tram and entered the taproom advertising a beer I had not tried before. It was Hubertus.

Gasthaus Binder was a place for both a meal and some beverages. I was not hungry, so I went for the beer option. Being in Vienna, I asked the waiter for a large glass of pale lager, helles.

The helles arrived, and to my astonishment I was not given a half litre of Hubertus. Instead, a glass of Ottakringer helles was there to take care of my thirst. The Ottakringer helles is by no means a bad beer. In the glass it is a pale lager with some carbonation and a medium sized head. The aromas were fruity with a touch of grains. In the mouth I felt more fruits. Then there was a somewhat bitter finish. I liked the beer, and it was a nice pale lager for a thirsty person.

I was ready for another beer, as the Ottakringer helles went down in a few minutes. I asked for another helles from another brewery. This time a helles from the Hubertus brewery appeared. The brewery's logo is very nice. The first time I saw it I thought of the Jägermeister logo, which is alike.

In the glass the Hubertus helles was very fizzy. It was a pale lager with a large head. The nose was malty, but there was not that much taste from the beer. I felt some apples and a touch of malts before a watery finish.

My visit to Gasthaus Binder was short and enjoyable. The friendly bartender spoke an Austro-German dialect that was difficult to understand, but he did a great job serving me. There were more draught beers on sale, but I had not time to check them out. But perhaps next time in Vienna?

A visit to the Schweizerhaus

The easiest way to get to the Prater park in Vienna is by taking the U-Bahn to the Praterstern metro station. The park is next to the station, but first you must walk through the fun fair.

There are several eateries and restaurants in the Prater park. One of them is the traditional Schweizerhaus, which has a large beer garden. The menu has an extensive selection of Austrian courses, and there are several beers available on tap.

The Czech Budvar golden lager is the main beer at Schweizerhaus, but you can also get Budvar's dark lager or a G'mischtes where you get a mix of both lagers. Also available as draught beers are Grieskirchner Dunkles, Paulaner Hefe-Weißbier, Rotes Zwickl and the alcohol free Clausthaler.

I have had my share of Budvar on my visits to the Czech Republic, so I started with a Rotes Zwickl after sitting down at the beer garden. This brownish beer from the Ottakringer brewery is a naturtrüb beer. In the glass it had very little carbonation and a medium to small sized head. The nose had malts and a touch of yeast. In the mouth malts and caramel had a dance together with a touch of sourness before a bready finish with some yeast. A lovely beer!

In retrospect I should have taken another Rotes Zwickl or tried the Grieskirchner Dunkles. Instead I went for a beer I know very well, Paulaner's wheat beer. For some reason I had a craving for a weizen, and I knew that I would get a good one.

Paulaner Hefe-Weißbier has a lot of banana in the nose, and the taste is dominated by banana, bread and a touch of spices before a sweet and lasting finish with more banana. The beer is lovely, and it is one of my favourites. It is also better as a draught beer than from bottles, so it was pure bliss. The Paulaner brewery knows how to make an excellent wheat beer.

I left Schweizerhaus knowing it was a great experience being there. The beer was good, the weather was good and the beer garden was good. Actually, life and Vienna was good.

A taste of Austria

It is time to enter Vienna for the first time. The capital of Austria is a beautiful city, and the monumental architecture of Vienna is interesting to behold. Vienna is easy to reach. Many airline companies have flights to the Austrian capital, and Vienna is one of the Central European hubs in the railway system. It is easy to get from Vienna to more or less any major Central European city by train.

Beerwise Austria seems like a country of pale lagers. The helles (pale lager beer) is sold everywhere, and at most bars this is what you will get if you order a beer.

The Austrian macro breweries seem to have most of the beer shelves in the supermarkets in Vienna together with some international brands. Breweries like Ottakringer, Stiegl, Zipfer, Schwechater and Wieselburger are new names to me, and it will be interesting to take a look at (and taste!) these beers.

First out is Stiegl bier from Mozart's home city Salzburg. This is a pale lager with some carbonation and a medium sized head. In the nose there is some malts and a touch of sweetness. In the mouth grains and sweetness dance along before a partly sweet finish. Normally I am not a fan of sweet pale lagers, but this one was nice.

Ottakringer is a Viennese brewery. The Ottakringer helles is a very pale lager with some carbonation and a medium sized head. I feel fruit and grains in the nose. In the mouth this beer has a fruity feeling before a semibitter finish. It is a lovely beer that I believe to be an excellent thirst quencher in Summer.

Kaiser Fasstyp is another pale lager. There is some carbonation and a medium sized head. The nose has malts and sweetness. In the mouth I feel sweetness before a finish where grapes take the lead. In addition to this the beer has a metallic taste that probably is from the can. Kaiser is a boring beer that is not to be recommended.

But Vienna can be recommended. The city has a fantastic system of trams, buses, trains and metro lines that makes it easy to get from one part of the town to another. And there are also some interesting beer sites to be found in the Austrian capital.