A couple of new beers popped up in our local grocery store, so we had to try them. We have seen a few restaurants around here with the Hofbräuhaus Traunstein logo on display, so we guessed it was a smaller local beer.
Upon further investigation, we discovered this was a private brewery from southern Bavaria (Traunstein is not too far from Chiemsee) and has been around since Elector Maximilian I founded it in 1612. See, the royalty had declared a monopoly over weißbier, so Maximilian started this brewery in order to help pay off debts he'd inherited. Traunstein survived the Thirty Years War with relatively little damage. Through the years, the brewery survived wars and fires, passing through different hands until being acquired by the Sailer family at the end of the 19th century. In fact the beer saved the brewery at least twice - they extinguished the fires with buckets of beer!
Today, Hofbrähaus Traunstein is a medium-sized brewery (10M liters per year), focusing on a mix of beer and hospitality (guesthouses and restaurants). They use Hollerdau hops, local malt and are the last brewery to transport their beer with horse-drawn carriages.
The Weißbier was quite good. It had hints of the standard banana and clove weißbier flavor, but was not overwhelming. It was nicely carbonated and unfiltered. Overall, we recommend it, especially to someone who enjoys a subtle weißbier rather than a sweet, strong one.
We also tried their helles.
The helles was OK...not bad but also nothing special. Not hoppy, not malty, not really much distinctive at all. It's definitely a decent beer and totally drinkable, but nothing exceptional.
We're looking forward to seeing what else might turn up on the shelves soon!