So I’ve just got back from Gordon Biersch (the original one in Palo Alto, CA). I only live four blocks so I go every couple of weeks or so. I used to go more often but that’s another story that I’ll save for later.
I started with their current seasonal beer, the Sommerfest. It is billed as a Kolsch style ale though most would think it a lager. Light golden in colour it has a faint but sweet malt fragrance. Flavourwise it is light with a little fruitiness but no discernable hop character. There are faint elements of the banana character often found in a wheat beer. There’s not a lot of body to the beer nor much carbonation. Overall, refreshing and easy to drink but neither particularly distinctive or tasty.
Next up was Gordon Biersch’s flagship beer, the Marzen. It’s rich mahogany colour raises expectations of a rich flavourful beer but it’s toffeeish malty aroma is lacking any complexity in flavour to back it up. It has little body or effervescence. The Marzen was never my favourite style of beer but I’m sure it used to be better than this.
Onto the Schwarzbier. Like the name suggests it is black (or really, really dark brown) but that’s pretty much it as far as this beer goes. It has negligible aroma, a thin roasted malt flavour and watery mouth feel.
Last up on this particular evening was the Hefeweizen. Like all hefeweizens it is an wheat beer left unfiltered so that the yeast remains. The yeast gives a haze to it’s yellowy brown colour. The GB hefe exhibits the classic citrusy banana aroma that characterises the style. A taste of the beer delivers citrus with some vanilla, a little clove and a wallop of banana. It has a pleasant palette with a slight tingle on the tongue. Definitely the best beer of the night.
It is true to say that Gordon Biersch has never been my favourite brewery as their beers tend to be dominated by a malty character whilst my taste run to the hoppier end of the scale. This withstanding I still believe that their beers have dropped in quality of the last couple of years. They seem much thinner and less characterful than they used to. Whether this was an intentional move to make them more accessible to the average beer drinker or just a drop in standards it is hard to say.
So why do I still go to Gordon Biersch ? I go because the staff are friendly & helpful and the places with better beer in Palo Alto are either dives or more expensive for the food. There is no perfect bar in Palo Alto so compromises have to be made and unfortunately sometimes it is the quality of the beer that has to be compromised.
Anyway, now that I’m home I can have an IPA to add the hops that were missing from the GB beers.
I also noticed a certain fruity effervescence to the Sommerfest.
You say that about every beer.
Not true, their Heff is just hangover juice.
Sorry to hear that Gordon Biersch has gone downhill. Do you know if this is a global phenomena or just your local branch (do they each brew their own or ship from a central brewery)?
I’ve only been to the one in Seattle (about six years ago). The beer was good (and better than I was expecting from a USA brewery), but the beer at Pike’s Microbrewery was better. GB had a dark wheat on which at the time was the best dark wheat I’d tasted.
Hi Kev,
They do still brew at the Palo Alto branch but whether it’s all brewed there or some of it shipped is in from the main brewery in San Jose (where they brew the beer for bottling) I don’t know. Gordon Biersch don’t own the brewpubs any more, they had to sell them as California law sets a limit as to how large a brewery can get whilst still owning pubs.