Stiegl Freibier

If you love malt and especially the deep, beery, throat-hum of barley malt you will love this Austrian big hitter in a small bottle from Salzburg’s ancient Stieglbrauerei. The label says Stiegl’s been making beer since 1492, so you’d expect them to know how to put together a good brew. And this is nothing if not beer as it used to be made, yet, a mite miraculously, without the alcohol. Uncapping gives an instant hit of rich, sweet maltiness. The pour is sophisticated and creamy, forming a head that foams and sinks to a fine creamy layer. Deep cream caramel overpowers the tastebuds at the first sip, deepening in complexity with prickles of citrus in the cheeks from the gently persistent fizz, rejoining the malt with a twist of hoppy bitterness on the palate, and a fine long bittersweet finish. Technically this is a lager as it is bottom fermented but it presents more like an an amber ale, and while you’d have to be a malt maniac to drink it all night, if what you’re after is a big hit of old fashioned malt beeriness, only without the alcohol,  this will more than fit the bill.