Enjoy flavorful, crisp lagers at von Trapp Brewing, located at the Trapp Family Lodge in Stowe, Vermont.
Over the course of many visits to Austria, Johannes von Trapp, the youngest son of Maria and the Baron, gained an appreciation for the crisp, clean Austrian lager beers. When the craft beer movement in the United States gained momentum in the early 1990s, there was a noticeable lack of focus on lagers. It’s not surprising, considering that lagers are more challenging to brew, take longer to mature, and are therefore more expensive to create. For two decades Johannes dreamed of building an Austrian-style brewery at the Trapp Family Lodge, and in 2010 that dream came to fruition.
A humble brewery with the capacity of 2,000 barrels per year attracted attention under the name Trapp Lager, and the brewery received requests from all over the United States. The von Trapp family, who had always been reticent to commercialize their family heritage, realized that they had a product deserving of the family name. The new facility, completed in 2015 under the name von Trapp Brewing, allowed the family to expand beyond their home territory and spread the gospel of craft lagers.
Can, best before 11/19/24, drunk 10/8/24. Clear, warm peach-hued copper. Medium-sized, light beige head steadily to spotty cover. A touch of rust/metal at first (very light), but falling off completely and quickly. It reveals rich bread, caramel, honey and red fruit with a bit of herb from the hop. Clean. Moderately aromatic with crisp yeast character on the finish. Rich and malty with caramel, warm, freshly-baked bread and low but pretty ample maltiness. Drying out with some cracker and more hop on the finish. Very clean, very malty and drinkable. They've done a nice job for a filtered, force carbonated beer, I must grudgingly admit. There's ample, deep texture and the carbonation is neither too great nor too prickly.
My can looks a bit different than the one pictured. No cursive, just printing. Light brownish tint and clear in the glass, reminds me of some cream soda I used to drink as a kid. First taste is a little more bitter than a real old country dunkel, and the wife agrees. She's german herself and has a palate for the real thing. Maybe its because the alky level is a little high, and you can feel it. Anywho, I was glad to have a chance at tasting this baby, and I'm not totally disappointed.
473mL can. Pours almost clear blonde with white head. Has a nice, bitter smoky nose; some dry straw. Flavour has smoke, straw, wheaty malts. Really nice smoky lager.
Pale and a bit of haze. Thin head. Nice beech smoke and hints of sweet malt. On the palate, the malt is actually dryish, a bit biscuity. Lots of beech smoke. The malt I would say needs a bit more sweetness to balance. So it's okay; you can tell it's not Franconian because it's got a bit of harshness, from a bit of smoke/residual sugar imbalance, but it's not bad.
16 oz. can, pours a clear golden with a medium white head. Aroma has a real nice campfire smokiness upfront and dry bready malt. Flavour is a nice honeysuckle character along with light-to-moderate smokiness. There's a touch more residual sweetness than I'd want, but I like the malt character a lot here. This is very nice.
Pretty solid Oktoberfest, a healthy mix of biscuit, toasted bread, caramel, and a touch of berry and yeast, followed by a firm floral bitterness. Tasty.
My can looks a bit different, just plain red and brown with printing vienna on it, no cursive. Almost clear, light haze, palish brew. Slightly sweet nose. First swig is a little sweet, typical vienna, not in yer face tho. Just a typical well made vienna. I like it when the brewer doesn't try to add shit to a style in an effort to make it theirs. This is a stand alone good drinking brew; I typically don't care for most domestic viennas cause they're so over the top, cloying and forwardly unbalanced. Good level of co2 actually makes this quite quaffable for me. Not bad, just a well done on style vienna for a change. Finishes medium sweet mild caramel candy ending.
Can, best before 1/15/25, drunk 10/1/24. Deep peach-bronze-maize. Large, beige head, well-retained. Clear. Some peachy fruitiness with a good bit of wood and grapefruit. Don't really love or understand the Centennial component here. Biscuit and cracker from the malt supports well enough and the beer is clean and quite hoppy. Substantial bitterness and it's rather bland and chalky/woody. You do get the peach, nectarine and other tropical fruits but it has to compete with this somewhat ruinous Centennial component. Malty texture with biscuit and dough and good attenuation. Definitely an IPL, though of course it's unfiltered and called Kellerbier, but it seems much farther removed from the historic kellerbier. Get rid of these ridiculous Centennial hops and maybe you have something closer and brighter.
On tap at Central Jersey Beerfest in West Windsor, NJ. Slightly hazy orange gold pour. Frothy white head. Citrusy aroma hints at grapefruit. flavor follows nose. Light malt and bittersweet grapefruit. Finishes herbal and bitter.