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Description
The Gessner private brewery looks back on almost 400 years of tradition and has been brewing the best beers in Sonneberg since 1622. The family business is now run by the 14th generation (currently Manuela and Bernd Schäfer), an experience that you can taste: The traditional expertise, together with crystal clear water from its own well, guarantees the best raw materials from the region and the highest Thuringian brewing art real quality beers. In 1997 a completely new brewery was built in Sonneberg, which is one of the most modern breweries in the industry. With a beverage output of 145,000 hl, we are today the largest private brewery in Thuringia.
7/10
Fine enough
Tried
from Bottle
on 03 May 2026
at 12:05
8/10
Definitely a good bock
Tried
from Bottle
on 02 May 2026
at 14:49
4.5/10
—
Appearance 5
Aroma 5
Flavor 4
Texture 4
Overall 4.5
Bottle from a local supermarket in Penig. Looks very simple. Beer in the glass with a small head. Sweetish-malty aroma. Starts mild, malty, sweetish. Some bready-moldy notes. But finish well balanced. Okay.
Tried
from Bottle
on 18 Apr 2026
at 16:58
6/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 5
Flavor 6
Texture 6
Overall 7
Very pale colour, large frothy head that stays long. Aroma is white bread, pleasant grassy hops. Light bitterness. Light body, soft carbonation. Simple but very good.
Tried
from Bottle
from
Firma Handlowa Maria
on 16 Dec 2025
at 20:49
5.9/10
—
Appearance 7
Aroma 6
Flavor 5
Texture 6
Overall 6
Clear dark golden with a foamy fluffy head. Metal, roasted malt, citrus, marzipan, some caramel. Metallic bitterness, malty sweetness. Medium to full bodied, oily texture, lively carbonated, metallic bittersweet finish. Not the best Festbier, quite metallic and not balanced, but gets better as it settles.
Tried
from Bottle
from
Getränke-Quelle
on 17 Jul 2025
at 20:17
6/10
—
Appearance 7
Aroma 6
Flavor 5.5
Texture 6
Overall 6
0,5 l swing top bottle from kappldav123. Thanks a lot! BB 06.12.2025. Clear golden in the glass two finger white foamy head. Grainy aroma with bitterhop, caramel elements. Taste starts grainy, increasing malt mit caramel. Mid bitterness. Some metallic hints in the aftertaste. Mid carbonation. Not bad.
Tried
from Bottle
on 14 May 2025
at 20:13
5.1/10
—
Appearance 7
Aroma 4.5
Flavor 5
Texture 5
Overall 5
0,5 l swing top bottle from Erzengel. Thanks a lot! Fat clear golden in the glass, more than one finger white foamy head. Thin citrus grassy aroma. Taste has floral sweetness, grassy, little bit caramel, cheap alcoholic. Below average carbonation. Typical Heller Bock.
Tried
from Bottle
on 20 Mar 2025
at 21:03
6.9/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 6.5
Texture 7
Overall 6.5
0,5 l bottle from kappldav123. Thanks a lot! BB 17.09.2025. Clear daek red brown in the glass, more than one finger light beige foamy head. Looks really good. Roasty nuts, caramel and malt on the nose. Taste the same in a smooth way. Decent bitter hop. Pleasant alcoholic. Long lasting roasty malt aftertaste. Nice one.
Tried
from Bottle
on 18 Mar 2025
at 21:57
6.9/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 5
Flavor 7
Texture 8
Overall 7.5
Bottle with swingtop 0,5 ltr: Clear amber coloured brew with an moderate dry bitter taste with hints of caramel, toasted malts and some fruitiness.
Tried
from Bottle
on 29 Dec 2024
at 11:13
6.4/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 6
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 6.5
Bottle, 500 ml, courtesy of kajser27. Shared with and MiroB. Dark orange with short lasting white head. Malty, caramel, grainy, bitterish. Light to medium bodied.
Tried
from Bottle
on 05 Dec 2024
at 21:31