La Bière – Gänstaller Kellerbier

In France a famous drink is the easy, but refreshing combination of Amer Picon and a beer. So, when I was looking for a drink to mix with the Kellerbier (cellar beer)  from the new brewery Gänstaller, I decided to come up with a variation. Instead of Amer Picon, I chose an organic, Bavarian Amaro. However, besides the drink I also reviewed the beer in a new episode of Beercules.

Gänstaller is run by Daniela and Andy Gänstaller which brew their beer in two breweries in a 25 km radius around Bamberg. For the Kellerbier, they use the classic combination of water, malted barley, hops and yeast. Afterwards, the beer rests in tanks according to the Franconian cellar beer tradition. The resulting lager has 24 International Bitters Units and an ABV of 5,3 %. All Gänstaller beer comes in 440 ml cans.

Winey and smooth

The Kellerbier starts off with a pleasant sip and only a medium carbonation. Since, not an excessive amount of hops is used there is just a slight bitterness and you can taste more light malt notes. In my opinion, there are also some white wine notes and a hint of citrus zest to be found in the lager. All in all, it is a very round and balanced beer, which is perfect for mild summer nights.

Underlining the herbal notes

Well, I kept things simple for a drink using the Gänstaller beer. As mentioned above, I replaced the Amer Picon with Amanero from the Schnitzer Distillery. This organic Amaro has quite some powerful herbal notes which I thought would nicely accompany the cellar beer. To make the drink a bit more refreshing, I added the slightest hint of lime. I guess a quarter of a lime pressed into the drink is already enough.

The “La Bière” starts off with herbal notes from the Amaro. However, after a short while the winey notes of the beer catch up and counterbalance the bitter notes. Beneath all of it lies a certain freshness from the lime juice. In the end, the beer cocktail is quite refreshing, but also suited for colder Summer nights.