Mahrs Bräu
Brewed by Mahr’s Bräu
Style: Helles
Bamberg, Germany
The Mahr brewery, with a history dating way back to the 17th century, is situated in Upper Franconia, in the city of Bamberg, northern Bavaria, Germany. The name of the brewery comes from a Karl Mahr who purchased the brewery in 1840. The early brewery changed hands a few times but since 1895 it is owned by the Michel family, now into its 4th generation of ownership under the stewardship of Stephan Michel.
They produce all the usual suspects one would expect from a large German brewery….. a Kellerbier, Pilsener’s, seasonal beers, a few varieties of bocks, a hell, and celebratory beers for local and regional gatherings, and a beer to be opened on New Years day. The beers are sold mostly in Western Europe, but also to the USA where they have their biggest market share worldwide.
Review: 0,5l bottle of Mahrs Bräu Bamberg, Bamberger Original Helles: 4.9% vol.
Love the bottle and the logo, a striking light blue winged man, bit strange but stands out.
The appearance of the beer is one of a crisp golden yellow colour with a small white head. A lot of carbonation on the pour, gushing out, but it all quickly evaporates and the head dies a quick death. Bit flat in the look, not great at all.
Get a general lager smell on the nose, malty, grainy, earthy hops but not much of an aroma, pretty much odourless. Disappointing.
A full bodied beer on the taste, nice and crisp is the initial reaction, all smooth and easy to drink, good first impression. Sweet malts and grains to the fore.
There is a slight aftertaste that is a bit “yuck”, but its ever so slight. Afterwards though, it does gnaw at me.
Got that bitter taste a lot more in the second bottle. Was too much for me to ignore and enjoy this beer. Overdid it with the hops, powering over the malts, overbearing, and lingers. Could be the spiciness too.
Overall a disappointing beer.
The Obermühle Steinen mill wanted a beer to celebrate its anniversary, so they approached Wäfler, a Lucerne based brewery, with the idea of producing a beer made from corn, as a gift to its customers. Unfortunately, over time, the brewery went bankrupt and so was the end of the special beer. But there was a clamour from the public who had got found of this unique beer. So a new brewery was needed to continue this production. Not least the beer was a financial hit for the mill too! In 1978, the Rosengarten brewery was asked if they would be prepared to produce a specialty beer with the maize from the Obermühle Steinen, and they agreed, and so in 1980 , the brewery launched the Maisgold.
The beer is brewed with a share of about 30% corn from the Bruhin mill and from the Linthebene, barley malt and hops. The corn causes it to be tasty, light and rather sweetish.
Initial taste is that its a very light beer, with a lot of malt.
Not a whole lot in the bottle too which is a bit disappointing. 
In the late 1990’s, the Lion Nathan brewery in Australia produced a beer called “Duff Beer”. 20th Century Fox brought legal action against the company. The product was ordered to be pulled off store shelves and destroyed, even though the beer had no direct relation to the comedy series, or any similar colouring or logo design. A similar thing happened to Duff Brewery in Dunedin, New Zealand who were brewing their stuff well before even the Simpsons were on the box. To escape heavy court cases and legal drama the company changed the name eventually to McDuff in the end!
For the actual show version of the beer, Duff is made by Duff Breweries in Springfield, small town USA. Duffman, a superhero kind of guy, is their always enthusiastic spokesman all the time wearing a utility belt full of cans of Duff Beer. The beer’s slogan is “Can’t Get Enough of That Wonderful Duff”, though there are others.
Very carbonated on pour, all fizzing away no end, resulting in a very nice and white frothy headed beer that has a nice clear golden colour. Some slight lacing going on. The beer manages to maintain its head throughout. Overall its a pretty decent looking beer. A good start!.
Not without problems it has to be said, as Heineken, or more like their Greek subsidiary, Athenian Brewery, were fined £25 million by the Hellenic Competition Commission (HCC), for abuse of the market by squeezing out competitors through exclusivity agreements and aggressive practices of domination, over a 15-year period. The company was found to be in breach of Greek and EU competition law. Macedonian Thrace Brewery who initiated the lawsuit are also seeking damages from the parent company, as a small Greek brewery they felt stepped on by the large multinational and its aggressive behaviour in distorting the local market. It is said that Athenian Brewery had used “exclusivity agreements” to force publicans to stock Heineken brands, and by offering wholesalers “significant economic motives” to promote their own specific brands while at the same time to refrain from introducing competing products. Well all is fair in love and war I guess!
Aroma is of sweet malts, but overall it is quite light on the nose.