Zombräu

https://www.zombraeu.com/index.php/en/

Brewed by Zombräu OHG
Essenbach,Bavaria, Germany

Rising from the dead is the craft beer group, Zombräu, hoping to take over the world of a dying decrepit generic beer market. Once you try their beers you are truly shaken up, stirred and infected with the virus for top quality beer, your taste buds are activiated, and there is no going back. Welcome to the underworld of Zombräu!

Coming in some very eye catching logos, Zombräu, definitely have an interesting concept and story behind them. The names of the beers stand out too, with titles such as “MotorOil”, “Voodoo”, “Macumba” and “Insbierator”, all with themes related to the spiritual underworld.

In 2015, two brothers Tobias and Bastian Merches founded the brewery Zombräu, hoping to shake up a limited and somewhat strict beer market in their home in Bavaria, Germany. Finding an old warehouse with a connected house gave the boys the perfect opportunity to put their (dark) dreams into action. With help from parents and friends they opened up their own brewery. As a small start up enterprise that is based mostly on passion over money, the boys have decided to do as much as they can by hand to save on automation costs, also their spend on marketing and public relations is kept to a minimum, using social media, concerts and popup events to get the word out there. It truly is an underground movement!

I can certainly can see the attraction in these beers. Experimenting with exciting new styles, they are very unconventional in their style and approach, so much so that they consciously violate the purity law that German beers hold so dear. Breaking rules and doing something new, I love it! The traditional Bavarian wheat beers and lagers were a thing of the past, here they tried to do it differently. No beer styles are off limits. they brew IPA’s, Stout, Porter, Red Ale, Belgian beers and some specialty wheat beers, and more. Easy to see how spending time with Brewdog, one of the brothers (Tobi) came back a changed soul full of creative ideas and an action plan. In the beginning of 2013, Giesinger Bräu in Munich gave them an opportunity to brew a 5 hl brew of their finest IPA in their brewery, and the rest the say is history. Now the boys have a collection of beers, bottled and on sale ready to dominate the World, one town at a time.

Review: 0,33l Bottle of Zombräu Voodoo, an American style IPA: 3.7% ABV

The picture on the bottle shows some voodoo dolls dancing in the fires of hell (probably). Interesting!

On pour get a nice frothy head, with a very cloudy golden orange coloured beer. A good bit of carbonation resulting in quite a big white head.
Head sticks around, and there is some good lacing.
Looks fine, not bad.

On the nose I get a nice fruity smell. A typical IPA beer smell of hops, the fruits and toasted malts. Nothing wrong with the aroma, nice enough.

Not as hoppy as a regular IPA, still hoppy enough though to have some good taste and kick.
Nice and soft tastes, very manageable for someone like me who isn’t wholly enamored with the whole IPA thing (Heh I’m not a fucking hipster alright!). I guess the 3.7% ABV factors in here to the low hoppiness of the beer.

Tastes of hops, the citrus, caramel, and the malts.

Ok does goes a bit flat near the end, but overall it does have enough good tastes to be wholly enjoyable and for that it is not a bad, light IPA.

Review: 0,33l Bottle of Zombräu Alter Pottbar, a Porter: 5.1% ABV

The logo for this one has a sleepy village and a church, with a nuclear power station in the background. Impending doom perhaps? The calm before the storm?

This is a porter which was stored and aged for half a year in a whiskey barrel!

Usual enough appearance we would expect from a porter, jet black colour with a decent sized white head, good and frothy. Good bit of carbo, took a bit of time for it all too settle.
Head maintains very well, and some good lacing. Yeah, got all the basics of a porter right.

Aroma was strong, definitely could smell the bourbon aroma. I found it quite strong on the nose, also got some smokiness and an earthly feel from the beer.

For the taste, the whiskey barrel aroma has an affect, it is quite strong in the taste as well. Tastes old, tastes earthy, tastes like a root vegetable, something from the ground. That coupled with the bitter hops and barley malts is certainly a very strong tasting beer, very strong. It is a bit overpowering too, all consuming in both taste and aroma. You need quite a strong constitution to drink these boyos!

Certainly a brave and unusual style.

Review: 0,33l Bottle of Zombräu Motor Oil, an Imperial Stout: 7.5% ABV

Motor Oil, what a great name for a beer, and especially for a stout, very good. “200% Stout, Guaranteed satisfaction” written on the bottle, ok I guess but a 100% would be good enough for me!

As you would expect, a pitch black colour with a smallish white head on pour.

The aroma is pleasant, a typical stouty smell of dark chocolate, roasted malts, espresso, caramel, all detected. A nice aroma.

On the taste, I get the chocolate, the dark malts and the caramel, some licorice
Very smooth tasting stout, very nice, light too, not too bitter, and I like the espresso soft taste in the background. The alcohol is well balanced with the roasty flavours, well hidden.

It is a good effort from the German boys here. I mean it is never going to be like a Guinness or whatever but its not a bad stout. I do think stouts (and Porters) are the one style that is quite difficult to get right for a general brewer, as there are so many variables to think about, and the bitterness needs to be just right. This is not so complex but definitely drinkable and quite easy to relax with.

Not bad, some good black oil to get the old engine kicking on again.

Review: 0,33l Bottle of Zombräu Richtfest Bier, a Heller Bock: 6.6% ABV

My Google translate tells me that a Richtfest Bier is a topping beer. A topping beer is related to an old German custom, a topping out ceremony, where after a hard day of construction the labourers celebrate their success with a beer.

On pour get a nice frothy white head with a beer that has a lovely hazy amber-ruby colour. It really is a lovely looking beer, very nice.
Nice white head, maintains well.
Decent amount of lacing.

The aroma is quite strong on the nose, very hoppy and sour on the nose.

The taste is quite strong, lots of deep rooted hops on offer here.
Not the most easiest beer to drink. Full of hops, the grains and the barley, and the fruits. All exploding on your taste buds, quite a tough strong beer to drink!

As they say on their website, “we also did not save on hops”, that might be the understatement of the century, it looks like they threw in every hop they could get their hands on!
Not smooth, with high bitterness, if you are a hop fanatic then this is the beer for you!