Stomachs on legs are proud to present

Part 2 of an adventure in which a beer lite-weight tries out brews from the local kiosk, biomarkt and 'beer museum' shop in Cologne, Germany.

It doesn't get much more lite-weight than Neumarkter Lammsbrau's BLOND.
"Blond ist in!" said one website.

In fact though, and unfortunately for Neumarkter Lammsbrau, boutique beers like this are not the order of the day. As you would expect, traditional German beers rule, though Belgian beers are well-stocked at beer-shops and the bigger commercial brands (Becks, Corona etc) have their time in the sun, quite literally when it comes to their summer time offerings..

I bought a Blond from the Biomarkt (organic supermarket) and took it to the park to accompany our first BBQ of the season.
Quite like the packaging... one review said that only the label gives this beer 'Discotauglichkeit' (Disco-friendliness).

It would have benefitted from being more chilled than it was after 5 minutes in the freezer when I popped back home to pick up the picnic mat. Passed the Blond to DJ Adlib and his reaction was also a bit non-plussed. "Tastes like beer."

Conclusion: a very easy-to-drink gold beer, certainly clean and organic seeming: inoffensive with very little mouth-tackiness and very mild astringency, some would say a little on the bland side. But I would drink it again for the clean mouth feel alone e.g. on a summer afternoon.
This Blond is easy.



Went back home and cracked open another offering from the Neumarkter Lammsbrau brewery and my favourite German beer so far: the organic Neumarkter Lammsbrau Dunkel.
After commenting that he finds my increased alcohol consumption quite amusing (maybe it's like seeing your mum open a beer at the breakfast table), Denis aka DJ Adlib had a sip and said: "Somewhere near Malzbier" which was also Carmen's reaction when we tried it for the first time the night before.
That's what I like about it. It's as malty as these fake-beer malt-drinks called Malzbier, which are so delicious with their cold syrupy foamy maltiness, but must be about 5000 calories each.

This Dunkel combines toasty malt with just the right bitterness for refreshingness. A bit sticky on roof of mouth, creamy, full-flavoured but not super heavy. I read one review that suggested 'barnyard' notes. I wasn't sure but I thought I might have tasted chicken's feet.

Champion. Any time I'm in a beer mood after work or about to watch Muay Thai downloads from the K-1 fan forum, this will be my go-to beer from now on. Even if the package isn't so disco.

Here's a well-written review which says "The smoothness of this beer is out of this world, the medium body and moderate carbonation level make you want to take a sip quicker and quicker." The review goes on to note "the palate is clean from start to finish with only a ghost faintness of cooked veggies."