Please help me solve a beer style mystery!

[gallagherman]

I spent some time in Germany a few years ago, before I was big into beer. I had many a good liters, but one style stood out. Many places always served a Helles, a Dunkel, and a "Spezial" or "Speziale" (which means "special"). If I remember correctly, the Spezial was usually golden but kinda cloudy. I don't think it was a wheat beer, but a lager. The BEST beer I had there was a "Spezial" by Augustiner. What the heck is a Spezial? What style does it fall under, and CAN I BREW IT?!

Please if anyone knows what I'm talking about chip in, or if you don't, just tell me I drank too much over there and my brain work doesn't anymore.

Thanks

 

[weirdboy]

I think it's a Hefe.

I am not intimately familiar with Augustiner, but looking at their brews on BeerAdvocate, the only one that sounds plausible is their Hefeweizen, Augustiner Brau Weissbier.

(please excuse my lack of appropriate umlauts and essets)

 

[jmo88]

It's An old brewery specializing in smoke beers. Here's a link. Maybe the name is used for other styles as well though.

http://www.sheltonbrothers.com/beers/beerProfile.asp?BeerID=10

EDIT: reread your post And missed the Augustiner part.

 

[gallagherman]

It's An old brewery specializing in smoke beers. Here's a link. Maybe the name is used for other styles as well though.

http://www.sheltonbrothers.com/beers/beerProfile.asp?BeerID=10

Spezial wasn't the brand, it was the name of the beer. You'd go to a biergarten, and helles, dunkel, and spezial would be the options. It definitely wasn't a smoke beer.

 

[Walker]

Was the beer lightly (almost NOT) carbonated?

 

[david_42]

Does this sound about right?

Augustiner Edelstoff
Pale lager - Spezial.
Lemon, ginger and butter aroma, sweetish taste with butter, pepper and malt aromas, bitter finish with hop, citrus and grass aromas.
A pretty good beer with lots of fresh hop flavours and a touch of maltiness. One of the best examples of this difficult to brew style.

 

[homebrewer_99]

Not what you're looking for, but something to read...

http://www.germanbeerinstitute.com/styles.html

I checked the Augustaner website and a bunch of other German sites (on my favorites list). The best I can come up with it was probably a Helles Vollbier although usually only the Weizens are cloudy.

 

[gallagherman]

Does this sound about right?

This does sound about right, it may have been slightly more alcoholic and the lemony and gingery notes sound familiar. I guess I'll have to return to Germany to really know the answer!