Today, we’re taking you to Germany Alps — specifically the 1200-year-old Bavarian village of Aying, Germany, home of Ayinger Brewery, or Privatbrauerei Aying for the German speakers. This 148-year-old brewery has a deep family history and remained almost entirely unchanged until a new, updated brewery was built in 1999 to keep up with the growing market. Adhering to Reinheitsgebot, the German Beer Purity Law of 1516 means beer from Aying is brewed only from pure ingredients. Ayinger combines strictly traditional ingredients from surrounding farms with high-tech automation to ensure sustainable practices throughout brewing. Again and again, Ayinger has won awards for its beers, including the World Beer Cup and the Deutschen Landwirtschafts Gesellschaft – DLG (German Agricultural Society) gold and silver medals. Stop by Peaks & Pints for a flight of Ayinger beer called Peaks & Pints Beer Flight: Privatbrauerei Ayinger.
Peaks & Pints Beer Flight: Privatbrauerei Ayinger
Ayinger Bräuweisse
5.1% BV
Brewed according to the Reinheitsgebot Purity Law of 1516, this authentic Bavarian hefeweizen’s fragrance and flavor are distinguished by a refined top-fermented flowery-yeast character and an unmistakable, distinct banana aroma. The first sensation on the taste buds is full-bodied, very soft, and mild with a lively, champagne-like sparkle. A light, typical wheat beer taste is expressed, the bitter tone of which can scarcely be detected.
Ayinger Bavarian Pils
5.3% ABV
Ayinger Bairisch Pils in Bavaria, Bavarian Pils grabbed a gold medal at the 2017 World Beer Championships for its flavor of a fruitful barley harvest, seasoned with noble hops — a brisk golden lager with snappy hop aroma and velvety-soft malt flavor.
Ayinger Jahrhundert Bier
5.5% ABV
This beer was first brewed in 1978 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Ayinger. It has a golden-yellow color with a slightly flowery yeast, honey-ish aroma, tastes a little spicy, and is full-bodied in initial taste, mild before swallowing, and soft with a refined sparkle and fades with a well-balanced hint of bitterness. Conrad Seidl, known as the Austrian “Pope of Beers”, on the Jahrhundert Bier: “It is a malty beer that pronounces the precious earthy quality of malted barley.”
Ayinger Kirtabier
5.8% ABV
The “Kirtabier” is the only type of beer classified between “March” beer and dark export beer. It is brewed for one of Bavaria’s most important festival days, the “Kirchweih” church fest. The intensive double decoction mashing with the mixture of three malts gives the beer a warm, brown color and a well-balanced, full-bodied, solid, aromatic, malty quality. The salubrious character of Kirtabier is distinguished by a high degree of fermentation, a pleasant sparkle, and a distinctly perceptible bitter quality. The Kirtabier comes “premium cloudy” to the bar, unfiltered with that full cellar taste.
Ayinger Maibock
7% ABV
Maibocks (mai-, pronounced “my,” is German for May), like other bocks (stout lagers) are malt-forward, full-bodied beers with a stronger alcohol content than your typical helles or dunkel. The origins of the style date back to 1614, with Hofbräuhaus laying claim to brewing the first. But Maibock didn’t take off until the pale beer craze of the 19th century. While most bocks are dark in color, Maibock came at a time when the availability of pale malts changed how brewers approached beer, which is why you will occasionally find the term “Maibock” interchangeable with heller bock or helles bock (helle is German for bright). Do note there is some dispute as to the direct relationship between Maibock, often darker and maltier, and heller bock, paler and softer, but brewers — especially in America — like to play fast and loose with styles, usually making the style suit them and not the other way around. Ayinger’s German Maibock is a lighter representative than the dark doppelbocks from their brewhouse. Its golden-yellow color and malty aroma go hand in hand with the sweetness of a real bock beer, softened by Hallertau hops.
LINK: Peaks & Pints beer and cider cooler inventory
