More Bern (+ Bear!)

Looks like I'll be spending the rest of my trip to visit Dan in Bern, Switzerland. This is more than fine with me as the city is gorgeous, everything is easily accessible by foot or the city's free bike rental (I've never had to use a bus), and the food and drink rocks.

To date some of the finer things that have gone down my gullet include:
-Tradition Rösti, a local dish thats basically Swiss hashbrowns with fried stuff on it.
-Rösti mit Wurst, I cant remember what kind of wurst, but you can see it in the picture.
-Fondue with tomato, onion, and garlic, because who doesn't love melted cheese?
-Döner Kebab on a tortilla, this was basically a Turkish wrap (lots of veggies rolled up with whatever meat their döner is plus some sauce and spice.
-Numerous salami and prosciutto sandwiches, they seem to love their Italian meats here.
-Tons of chocolate, mmmmmmmm... I like the ones with hazelnuts best.

Then, of course, there's been the Swiss beer. It hasn't been amazing but there are a few decent brews out there. And I at least appreciate that many breweries are producing zwickel (AKA keller, or cellar beer) beer, an almost lost style of unfiltered pale lager that's surprisingly flavorful.

Eichoff Klosterbrau Edeltrüb
Brauerei Eichhof
Alt Bier
C+ / 3.15
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.5 | drink: 3

This is a smooth and bready lager (seriously, it tastes like a decent loaf of white bread), but comes off more like an American lager. This is probably due to the use of corn, which steers the malt character toward Budweiser territory. The complete lack of hops doesn't help, but there's nothing offensive here - it just doesn't taste much like a good Alt as is indicated.

Kellerfrisch
Brauerei Aare Bier
Keller/Zwickel Bier
B / 3.7
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | drink: 4

Hazy gold appearance with low head retention. Light grainy aroma with a hint of hops. The flavor kicks things up, however, with mineral and slight (not unpleasant) sulfur and mineral tastes and toast with a long black pepper and herbs hops bite to finish the beer out.Light on the palate and very drinkable. It's a shame about the aroma, but this is otherwise a pretty solid keller beer and one of Switzerland's better lagers.

Tram Weizen
Altes Tramdepot
Hefeweizen
B+ / 3.9
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | drink: 4

Ordered a stange (.3L) with the traditional rosti (yum) at the Altes Tramdepot (old train station) brewpub.

Slightly hazy appearance witha fluffy white head. This beer greats you with a wonderful, big sugar candy and vanilla aroma. These elements carry over into the flavor with lightly roasted barley and sour wheat. The beer finishes with a touch of balancing hops. I'm digging the balance of yeast character and malts here. Definitely worth trying if you find yourself near the bear pit.

Bier Review: Best of Bern, Switzerland

The beer in Bern is good, but nothing's blown me away yet. Being, in the German part of Switzerland, the local breweries are all German styled and focus on basic lagers. This particular picture was taken, as you can see, while enjoying a game of Monopoly at the Glocke Hostel with a couple backpackers from the Philly area.

Unser Bier Pech Schwarz
Unser Bier
B- / 3.5
look: 4 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | drink: 3.5

Pours a black body with a tan head. The aroma and flavor are both a bit muted - not much is going on. Still there are mild cocoa notes also with bready, German grains paired with a smooth mouthfeel. Not a great beer, but plenty tasty and worthy of a stein.

Export Bier (Lager)
Rugenbräu AG
D+ / 2.4
look: 3 | smell: 2 | taste: 2 | feel: 3 | drink: 3

Poured from a green bottle with a pull-off top (sweet). Not bad for washing down German/Swiss grub, but otherwise it's just a mostly harmless Euro lager. There's a sizeable cheap lager tang, like Heineken but magnified. Otherwise there's a hint of malts and enough balancing bitterness to keep this drinkable.

Zwickel Bier
Rugenbräu AG
B+ / 3.9
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | drink: 4

Appearance is yellow with a short white head and lacing. The aroma is a touch musty (cellar-like) with a touch of sulfur and minerals over malts. The flavor has a bit of those earthy mineral notes with light, yet slightly creamy biscuit malts and a hit of peppery hops. All in all a fine zwickel. Don't like Rugenbrau Lager think this brewery only makes light lagers.

Bärni Dunkel
Brauerei Felsenau AG
B / 3.6
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | drink: 4

This is the darker option from Felsenau. Pours a dark amber with a white head that quickly disappears. The aroma is heavy with creamy caramel that continues in the flavor and is paired with dry toffee and light dark bread malts. There's a hint of spicy hops that make for a nice balance to the sweet malts. All in all, this is nothing amazing, but it's a tasty and drinkable dark lager. A bit like a marzen/O-fest but with more caramel.

Feldschlösschen Hopfenperle
Feldschlösschen Beverages Group
C- / 2.55
look: 3 | smell: 2 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 3 | drink: 2.5

I asked the beer store for the hoppiest Swiss beer. The two guys shrugged, mumbled to each other, then pointed to this. They were no help.

I will say this is an improvement over the regular Feldschlosschen offering. It's a clear, light gold with no head. The aroma is skunky at first thanks to the green bottle and then clears up to somewhat unpleasant husky grains. The overall flavor is smoother and blander (those tend to go hand in hand) with very light biscuit malts, an orangey flavor that kind of remembles hops and then a very subtle black pepper finish. Yeah, it's beer.