As most Phoronix readers know or those that know me personally, Augustiner is my favorite beer. Specifically, Augustiner Helles is wonderful. It’s not the most unique beer or packed with some crazy flavor, but it’s just a clean, wonderful beer that’s good at any time. Augustinerbräu is Munich’s oldest independent brewery and is also extremely popular with the Munich locals.

Augustiner Helles in Munich.

Besides the Helles, Augustinerbräu also serves the Edelstoff, Dunkles, Weißbier, and Maximator (Doppelbock) varieties. The Augustiner Oktoberfestbier is based upon the Augustiner Edelstoff, but still very good. The Augustiner Weißbier is also great and refreshing when in a Munich biergarten.

A patron at Oktoberfest enjoying an Augustiner.

Unfortunately, finding Augustiner in American be a bit of a challenge. There is one distributor in America and they only offer sell the Augustiner Edelstoff and Maximator. The price of either kind in a bar/restaurant can be easily $15~20 USD per glass/bottle or from various beer shops a six pack can go for $20 or more, at least in the Chicagoland area. I’ve seen a few places carrying Augustiner for less in Michigan and California. In Munich and other parts of Germany, a half-liter bottle is only $1~2 USD.

For anyone visiting Munich, trying out Augustiner is a definite must. There’s also some wonderful Augustiner restaurants and biergartens, which I’ll save for another post.