Freigeist Abraxas - Gasthaus-Brauerei Braustelle

elNopalero

Texas

4.73/5  rDev +16.5%
look: 4.75 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.75

The Freigeist Abraxas was a curiosity pick in the rauchbier section (such as it is). A smoked wheat? Intriguing, to say the least.

No date stamp but the bottle looks old. Honestly I wouldn’t be surprised if this one has been sitting around as there are two separate clumps of yeast visible in the bottle but cracking it open it’s clear it still has a lot of life. A vigorous pour gave a cloudy hazy golden straw colored beer with a tremendous cloud of foam atop.

There’s a gentle dusting of smoke on the aroma. It’s light and nuanced, and it delicately compliments the weissbier notes. It’s a welcoming aroma! It’s kinda cool to smell it because it’s unlike anything I could have expected

The flavor is lightly smoked, with a wheaty smoothness. The tartness is dialed down--not a Berliner weiss sort of tartness, with a sweetness on the finish. Light, refreshing, with that great whisper of smoke keeping it interesting.

Serving type: bottle

03-12-2013 06:52:53 | More by elNopalero

avalon07

South Carolina

4.13/5  rDev +1.7%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5

A: Poured from a bottle to a pint glass. Had an orange color and a cloudy texture. There was an inch and a half of foamy, long-lasting head. Very good lacing.

S: A nice - and slightly unusual aroma of wheat, malt, and a smoky quality.

T: Tasted of malt (a decent amount), a bubble gum quality, wheat, salt, and the aforementioned smokiness (this is not an overly powerful element). A well balanced, easy to drink flavor.

M: A good amount of carbonation with a smooth, silky finish. Medium-bodied.

O: A well made, easy to like, drinkable beer.

Serving type: bottle

08-14-2012 12:09:07 | More by avalon07

Thehuntmaster

South Africa

4.2/5  rDev +3.4%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

375ml bottle 3,8% Abv.
Served chilled in an over sized wine glass
No bottle date, but I'm pretty sure it is fresh as it was sent to me directly from the brewery.

This is the 7th beer in my series of sours and is also my first Berliner Weiss!

Appearance: Moderately clouded, light golden-yellow body topped by a small, creamy white head that recedes pretty quickly but leaves some good lace.

Smell: Hmmmm, I think I served this one a little too cold as the smell was very muted to start. A little warming does the trick and increases the power substantially. The initial aroma is that of cooked green apples and pale malt, this quickly follows into tart (uncooked) green apples, lemon and some other citrus. Everything seems quite normal until right at the end of each sniff, where the tart fruit suddenly disappear behind salty, smokey cured meat! I have never smelled anything quite like this!

Taste: As with he nose, the majority of the flavour is made up of tart apples, lemon juice and pale malt. The smoke again makes an appearance in the finish with salty Black Forest ham and a little camp fire. The combination of of savory smoke and tart fruit works surprisingly well and is perfectly balanced so that neither hinders the other.

Mouthfeel: Just fuller than a light body with mild, fine bubbled carbonation. Moderate acidity, refreshing and easy drinking.

Overall: This is a really interesting beer, I never expected a sour rauchbier to work, but oddly this one does. One I will certainly have again.

Serving type: bottle

01-25-2012 13:22:40 | More by Thehuntmaster

stakem

Pennsylvania

4.18/5  rDev +3%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

375ml bottle into a snifter. The brew pours a golden copper color that displays a faint amount of haze. A finger of white head appears that slowly dissolves to a thin film across the top. A light swirl revives the cap to a half finger and places spots of lacing all over the wall of the glass.

The smell of this brew includes smokey notes of grain that are reminiscent of pete. It carries a light almost camp fire aspect about it that conjures up thoughts of cured meats. The smokey quality is ever-present, but it is not dominating by any means. This is quite an enjoyable aroma. As the brew warms up and it is swirled, it hardly gives up other characteristics to the aroma. However, what it does display includes some minor cheesy aspects, funk and lacto lemony quality.

The taste is tart with some hints of fruity lemon pulp. However, the tartness is immediately contrasted by a flavor of smoke that is quite pete-like. It clings inside the mouth with almost an oily feel that lasts long after each sip. The smoke runs throughout the entire profile but lets the tartness of the brew shine as well from start to finish. While the idea of smoke and tartness might seem like a really strange combination, it really works here.

This is a light bodied brew with a moderate to light level of carbonation. The smoke verse tart lemony quality certainly makes for an interesting experience, however I thoroughly enjoyed it. The alcohol is seemingly nonexistent and it is an easy drinking brew. For someone who likes both smoked brews and berliner weisse, this really was enjoyable with a pleasant balance. I wouldn't change anything about this brew except for maybe it's availability. I would love to be able to have this again without having to bother someone from Germany to send me some!

Serving type: bottle

01-23-2012 02:15:43 | More by stakem

ktrillionaire

Florida

4.15/5  rDev +2.2%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

Backlog review, drank at urwithdave's house, with captainredbeard and gtreid.

A - Pours a rustic golden-apricot hue, and is capped with a persistent wisp of white froth.

S - The nose is lightly tart, almost sulfur-y, and has some very vague medicinal smoky notes, atop of a very wheat-y pale base. Smells interesting; at once strange, and familiar.

T - The flavor offers some tart citric and lactic notes, and has some grainy pale wheat flavor. The smoke is not percieved in flavor. Mild to moderate tartness overall.

M - The feel is very light and yet pert; it has nicer effervescence than most examples in this style.

D - I love Berliners, and this is quite a good one. Though the 'Smoked Berliner' concept sounded crazy, it has only a modicum of smoke character.

Serving type: bottle

06-18-2011 03:19:57 | More by ktrillionaire

Gtreid

Florida

4.2/5  rDev +3.4%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5

3rd brew of sour night. Bottle poured into a tulip.

A: Hazy golden orangish color. Pour drops a nice fluffy head that retains well.

A: Sour citurs and grains. Lemon, grapefruit, and a touch of biscuit.

T: Just right for a berliner. Slightly tart, but not too overpowering. Great citrus, lemon, grapefruit flavor. Finishes tart and dry.

M: Light body, aggressive carbonation. Very nice.

D and overall impression: Drinkability is through the roof on this one. Overall, a great berliner, and one that I could crush on a hot summer day. Skal.

Serving type: bottle

03-16-2011 15:02:33 | More by Gtreid

crnipeter

Slovenia

4.13/5  rDev +1.7%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4.5

375 ml bottle with BB June 2011, into tulip.
Pours slightly hazed golden body with short lived white, bubbly head. The lack of head retention makes sense due to low hop content and the acidity therefore does not add negatively to the overall impression.
The aroma is fruity (apple, pear) and lightly sour with notes of smoked malt.
The initial lemony sourness never gets overpowering and is quickly replaced by unobtrusive smoked malt flavor. I couldn't tell whether the sourness was derived from usage of lactobacteria or simply by mixing the malt with hot water and sustaining the temperature long enough to allow the lemony sourness to develope from yeast action, but the individual flavors are clean and easily pinpointed at. The smoky character is of burnt wood without heavy, fleshy flavors of bacon or fat. Light bodied with low carbonation and refreshing with excellent drinkability. Abraxas is a a kind of hybrid between Berliener weisse and Rauchbier, successfully seeking balance between smoke and sour.

Serving type: bottle

12-01-2010 22:27:17 | More by crnipeter

rhinos00

Colorado

4.05/5  rDev -0.2%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4

Big thanks to Brian over at Ratebeer for sending me this rare treat. Poured from a 375 mL bottle into a Corsedonk tulip glass.

A- Pours a murky mango color with a dull gold hue towards the outsides of the glass. Produced a fingers width of white head that dissipated rather quickly.

S- Pure and aromatic. The moment the aroma hits my olfactory senses I pick up notes of fresh baked apples. Notes of pears are also detectable. Interestingly enough, the more I became desensitized to the baked apple aromatics, the more the beer started to smell like a fresh bowl of lilacs.

T- Upfront a tart, sourness sits on the palate ever so briefly. It then subsides, providing a lighter, dry apple / graprefruit flavor. Finishes with slight lactic, wheat acidity. As the beer warms an undertone of smoke is noticeable.

M- Light bodied. Leaves the palate semi-dry. Could have used more carbonation.

D- Very drinkable, especially at 3.8% Great spring / summer beer.

Overall, reminded me of a cross between a berliner weisse (25%) and an apple cider beer (75%). Definitely hits the spot on this warm, spring evening. My only gripe is that it could have used a lot more carbonation. Definitely a solid session beer.

Serving type: bottle

04-05-2010 23:52:04 | More by rhinos00

BlackHaddock

United Kingdom (England)

4.38/5  rDev +7.9%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

Dark green 0.75 litre, capped sparkling wine shaped bottle, given to me by one of the brewers, Sebastian, while at the Pre-ZBF 2010.

Murky, dull orange colour, an old gold look, white collar and a wispy covering. I poured the beer into a 'Kasteel' chalice three times, my Berlinerweiss glass was at home!

Apples, sour cooking apples smell, as the beer warmed a lightly smoked ham aroma started to appear and replace the cooking apples.

Dry, semi-sour, citrus tartness, grapefruit more than lemon sour, a pleasant acidic sharpness and interesting on the tongue.

An outside sunny day beer, not a winters evening robust warmer. A very good Berlinerweiss type beer, I'd forgotten how good they could be.

The 3.8% ABV was a shock, felt a lot stronger and fuller than that, very drinkable.

Serving type: bottle

03-15-2010 20:44:02 | More by BlackHaddock