In rec.food.drink.beer John S. > wrote:
> On Jul 21, 4:40 pm, John Frum > wrote:
>> Ratebeer v. Beer Advocate
>>
>> Which do you reckon is better?
>>
>> What are the strengths and weaknesses of each?
>>
>> TIA
>
> Difficult to say one is better than the other. Both are resources for
> information that have different approaches.

Don't really care about either, but when I find a new beer that I
care enough about to see if anyone else has found and posted about
it somewhere (like about once a year?), I go to ratebeer. To which
I went just now, to post (so ****ing sorry about any formatting
problems!):
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Zwickel/Keller/Landbier

"Three related, minor, lager styles..." Whoops.

ObPedanticismThatYou.veHopefullyHeardBeforeElswher eBetterExpressed:

First, Zwickelbier. A "Zwickel" is what the sampling tap on a fermenting vat is (informally, usually) called. Zwickelbier as a style, such as what North American beergeeks are typically concerned with at places like ratebeer.com, simply does not exist. There are numerous beers which are marketed as "Zwickelbier", though they.re sold in bottled, kegged, and/or jugged at breweries. Real Zwickelbier is what you get when someone pours you a sample from a fermenting vat.

Next, Kellerbier. Beer served at the Keller, the lagering cellar. In Franconia/Franken, it.s usually dug into a tree-covered hillside, which has been used to lager beer for centuries. Little countryside brewers found that people would come to the Keller to buy their beer: To take home, but also to drink there. The latter is more important nowadays, of course, and so Kellerbier just means beer served at the Bierkeller. Most are pale, at least nowadays.

Should be basically what beer was back in those days: Unfiltered, poured from kegs hauled up out of the Keller and tapped on the spot. Sorry, the famous "Kellerbier" from St. Georgenbräu no longer seems to qualify, as it.s served under gas--even at the brewery.s own Keller--most probably filtered, and supposedly even colored to make it darker than most other fränkische Kellerbiere. There.s just something missing from St. G.s. Economy of scale, maybe?

And...Landbier. Means absolutley nothing--stylistically or otherwise. Simply means "country beer". Can be dark, pale, malty, hoppy, filtered, unfiltered, etc. Says nothing about serving style. Jever or Becks could bottle a "Landbier", and it would be ever bit as authentic as Rittmayer's(Hallendorf)...though the latter.s brewery is actually located in the country. Or at least in a country village.
So then...is it really accurate to lump these as "three related, minor, lager styles"? Is it fair to those wanting to learn about obscure "deutsche Biere"?

Figure out how to replace the first five words of
http://ratebeer.com/ShowStyle.asp?StyleID=74
and then move on to the rest of the verbiage there...and then explain how Victory Braumeister Harvest Pils can even be remotely considered next to such beers as Roppelt.s Kellerbier. Go on, I dare you.

Was only motivated to post this because of the sublime, sensory-delighting excellence of the brand new Aufsesser Zwickelbier I picked up in *Bügelflaschen* at the bottle shop yesterday, ironically. Don.t make me post a review...
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TRIED to post that, but couldn't, because I can't bet bothered to keep up
with passwords, and they can't be bothered to send my password per Email
timely enough.

So, discuss. AFA the other webbie goes, yay for them.