Tasting

What does beer from the Swabian Alb taste like? A Helles from Ehingen or Zwiefalten smells of grain and fresh bread, tastes lightly sweet, and finishes dry. A Hefeweizen from the region is fruitier, with banana on the nose and clove in the finish, filling the glass with dense foam.

Three breweries serve as good examples. Berg Brauerei's Spezial is a Helles made with Alb barley, Zwiefalten's Helle 1521 is a monastery beer brewed with Tettnanger hops, and Kronenbrauerei Laupheim shows how a small family operation, producing around 4,000 hectoliters a year, builds its range. All figures come from the breweries themselves.

The right glass for a Helles is a slim mug or a 0.5-liter Willibecher, while wheat beer calls for the tall, curved wheat beer glass. Its shape gives the foam room to breathe and keeps the yeast in suspension. The same applies at the inn, where you're often simply handed the brewery's own glass.

Serving temperature for a Helles is around six to eight degrees Celsius (roughly 43–46°F), slightly warmer for wheat beer. Served too cold, a Helles loses its malt aroma; too warm, it turns flabby.

When pouring, tilt the glass, let the beer run down the side, and straighten it only at the end. This builds a firm foam head that locks in the aroma. For wheat beer, the last bit of sediment and yeast from the bottle is poured in carefully at the end.