July 1st, 2010 by Nate

Summer is good.
I love stating the obvious, ha! No seriously the reason I’ve not been posting so often is that I’ve been out enjoying a few drops of the good stuff whilst enjoying some Sun.

But I have been tasting some new beers that I’m keen to share. Above it the Edel Pils from the Brauerei Hebendanz, who’s been doing their things since 1579 . So I hope they know what they are doing.

For those non-German speakers, “Edel” is a similar word to that of the English “Noble”. An interesting name for a Pils, none the less this Forchheim located Brauerei has quite a range of beers from the obvious Pils through Weiss and even Radler bier (I’ll cover this one day.. one day).

So to the beer itself, it was great drinking this on my balcony in the summer sun and normally this would allow me to have a ‘higher’ rating for the bier. But to be honest, in the end this was just a mid-range Pils. Maybe not so noble in the end, but enjoyable on a HOT day.

Bavarian bier, German Bier, N, Nürnberg/Franconia Adventure, Pils

June 21st, 2010 by Nate

When the weather has been summer-like, I’ve been keen to get outside and enjoy it. The above photo was taken on my Balcony during a lovely Saturday afternoon. This is the the St. Georgen Braü Pilsener from the Upper Franconian town of Buttenheim.

This is yet another Small-Medium sized Franconian Brewery that’s been doing it’s thing for over a hundred years. In fact St. Georgen Braü has been around since 1624.

Their Pils to me was actually just as good as an Urquel. A perfect blend of hoppy and citrus like flavours. However as good as this Pils is, I’ve been informed that the brewery makes one hell of a Kellerbier. So good in fact that it’s get shipped throughout Europe to quality beer establishments. I’ve not yet tried this, but I will try and pick some up on my next trip to Nürnberg/Franconia

Buttenheim, Nürnberg/Franconia Adventure, Pils, Pilsner, St. Georgen Braü Pilsener, Upper Franconian

May 24th, 2010 by Nate

Do I really need to review the Urquell? There are few people who read my blog that would have never tried the effervescent Czech Pils.

My question to you guys is just how many times have you had it out of a can? This was my first experience with it and to be honest, it wasn’t much different. Possibly a little more bitter, but great none the less.
I actually had picked up a 4 pack of these half-litre cans for a recent 5 hour train trip, which was very worth while.

Anyway enough about the king of pils? Would we call it the king of pils? What is your king or favourite pils?

For me it’s not the top of the top bier, but certainly one of the best mass produced biers out there.

Czech Pils, King of Pils?, Pils, Pilsner, Pilsner Urquell

May 21st, 2010 by Nate

I’ve been a little lax on the posts recently, just been slightly occupied with drinking the beer rather than taking photos of and reviewing it. But I’m back with this Laško Club Export Pivo.

Straight out of the gate, this is pretty much another mid-range, 4.9% ABV, mass produced pivo. Having said that though, I liked this just a that little bit more than the recently tried Jelen Pivo. The difference, at least to me was in the experience of drinking it, which kind of had me focusing on different facets of the pivo.

Like most of Europe, we’ve had a really damn long winter which seemed to brutally stop during the first weeks of April, and thus presented us with stunning weather and gorgeous days. However since then the weather has reverted back to a crappy winter ‘stuff’.

Yesterady afternoon the sun finally broke through and I managed to sit on my balcony and have a cool drink whilst sitting in a warm sun. So I cracked open the Laško and enjoyed some vitamin D rays.

The thing that I enjoyed most about this pivo that the Jelen was that the Pils was quite sweet and malty, which was perfect for sitting in the Sun. No it wasn’t challenging, nor was it of great quality but it never seemed to try to be anything more than it is.

This is actually my first Slovenian pivo and I kind of wish I’d tried it in Slovenia. But as I’m not going there any time soon, this was the next best thing.

All in all, this wasn’t a great pivo. But I can honestly recommend that if you’re off to a BBQ and have access to this, grab a six pack and try it out with your mates.

Laško Pivo, Pils, Pivo, Slovenian Pivo

April 6th, 2010 by Nate

Beer comes in MANY types of packaging, but I have never, flat-out never seen anything like this Viru Pils before. Which is why I’ve always shied away from it. I don’t exactly know why, maybe it was the ‘mutton dressed as lamb’ feeling. Or even because it just doesn’t look like a beer bottle. Either way, I’ve walked past and ignored this beer for the time I’ve been living in Switzerland.
In the end I decided it was time to give the interesting bottle a try.

So a little background, Viru is an Estonian Beer. In Estonia Beer is actually called Õlu, which is almost identical in pronunciation to that of the Old English for Ale: ‘alu’ or ‘ealu’ (check out my post on this here).

To the Õlu itself: I was actually surprised. I guess it was the macho-bull-shit mentality to think that a Õlu coming out of a bottle such as this would be bad, but this was actually really good. Yes this is yet ‘another’ lager/pils, but this was done well. The malty flavour was actually subtly direct and gave the normally hop flavour a nice vanilla smoothness (yeah I just said that, but it’s true).

Being that this is the first Estonian Õlu that I’ve tried, I was pleasantly surprised. I would recommend this Õlu, so if you can, give it a go. On the other hand if you have tried it, what did you think?

Beer, Estonia, Estonian Beer, Estonian Õlu, Õlu, Pils, Viru

March 26th, 2010 by Nate

The above Pilsner comes from the same Bunny Brew (literal translation of Hasen Bräu) that produced the already reviewed Lagerbier. So there is no need to review anything about the brewery.

To the Bier itself, has a light and hoppy aroma to it. It’s not a strong aroma though, compared to say a Jever Pils. The bier has an initial strong pils flavour like it’s trying to make an impression on you, but then it ends in a soft dry, almost emptiness. Not something I like in a Pils.

All in all this was an average bier, with an average taste. Thus this bier gets 3 steins. Only one more than it’s cousin… I don’t want to write of the entire brewery, but so far things haven’t been spectacular. I hope the next style I try actually does impress me.

Bunny Brew, Fortuna Pilsner, German Bier, Hasen Bräu, Nürnberg/Franconia Adventure, Pils, Pilsner

March 4th, 2010 by Nate

Ahh my first post for March. I’ve been very busy working through a new collection of biers that I’ve acquired from various locations. I’ve previously mentioned my upcoming reviews of biers from Nürnberg and the Franconian region of Germany. But that’s not quite done yet, so here I present the Andechs Spezial Hell.

I was gifted a case of these beauties during the holiday season and so I’ve had ample time to review them. Rather than just post an overview after one bier I decided to hold out and share some more details after drinking, well, a few more than one

The Andechs Monastery Brewery has been doing their thing and turning out the good stuff since 1455 (yet another ancient middle age brewhaus). As you can probably see from their website these guys do have a wide selection of beir types, but I’m here to give you a review of their Special Lager (Spezial Hell).

Drinking these in large quantities did help me to get a good overall idea of the bier. I will be honest, I expected more from a brewery with such heritage. Thats not to say the bier was bad, it just seemed to fizzle out (literally) just when it seemed it was going to become good.

As you can see from the picture, the colour of the bier is strong gold, but maybe too clear. The foam lasted for a very short period and the flavour lacked the punch that a good 5.8% lager should have and was almost tart when you thought it should hit you with a bitter flavour.

All this being said, I still drank every bottle and enjoyed doing so. As I said, the bier wasn’t bad. It just didn’t meet my expectations. It’s quite pleasing to have friends, family and colleagues that know to buy you bier as presents. So where does that leave the review? Well I can’t get this adventure past 3 steins. But lesson learned. I’ll see if I can get my hands on some other Andechs brews.

Andechs Spezial Hell, Bavarian, Bayern, German Bier, Lager, Pils

February 24th, 2010 by Nate

In one of my local super markets, my usual hunting grounds for new beers, I came across the above conundrum. This is, as the label states, a Bohemia Clásica. Now correct me if I am wrong, but Bohemia is in the Czech Republic? Anyway after reading the label further I realised this was actually a cerveza from Mexico.

So initially I was skeptical as to the quality of this cerveza. The thing is that most Mexican export cerveza is pretty poor on quality. Yes cervezas like Corona or Sol are comically thin in taste, texture and well quality. Yes I am not against having one on a hot day, but much like the thing Australian lagers I believe that I enjoy the more challenging beer than just having some bubbling water with some alcohol and a twist of lemon.
Anyway, back to my skepticism…. I decided I would give this cerveza a try.

This straight of the bat smelt like a European beer, not a Mexican Cerveza, ok interesting. The aroma was hoppy and had a fresh malty scent to it. The the pour was a typical pale lager, but stronger than any other Mexican Cerveza I have seen, plus the head was stong and really seemed to lock the floral hops in. The flavour was exactly that of a Pils out of Bohemia. It wasn’t as good as your Urquel or anything from the Pils region, but this was a surprising Cerveza. I don’t think I’d buy any more of them, but it certainly game me a new perspective on Cervezas coming out of Mexico.

This is a Cerveza you should try and see if it works for you. For me I was more surprised than anything else, but I still enjoyed the Cerveza. Although I can and will buy better Bohemian pils in the future.

Bohemia, cervezas, Mexican Cerveza, Mexico, Pils

February 6th, 2010 by Nate

Well it’s that time of year, Carnival should have kicked off in the Roman Catholic regions of Europe and well most parts of the world. The Köln celebrations are particularly interesting and one that I believe all people should experience, although interestingly anyone who’s visited these celebrations will tell you it’s best visited single

Anyway the bier today is the local Köln brew called Kölsch. It’s a pils like bier although not as bitter and it is always served in a Stange (pole) or locally called a Reagenzglas (test tube), or Fingerhut (thimble). It’s a small glass so that the bier you are always drinking is always chilled.

Honestly I really enjoy Kölsch. The above is from Brauhaus Sion and isn’t a bad bier at all. The bier is slightly malty and does have pils like qualities, and I loved having the short glass as you always have a cold drink, which was perfect for a pit stop during a day of sight seeing around Köln or if you are partying it up this weekend.

German Bier, Köln, Kölsch, Pils

December 22nd, 2009 by Nate

So it’s recently and finally started snowing here. On my back balcony I’ve got my empty bottles sitting to be used in my next home brew (thats another story… for later). Tonight I stuck my head out and found the above situation.

It made me realise that I had drunk an entire case of this bier without reviewing the damn thing. So I thought I would do a post review of the bier. A Southern German, Western Bavarian brewery that specialises in it’s lagers, considered to be one of the better lager/pils bier in Germany.

The Hoppy and fresh bier that in all honesty can be drunk without complication, hence it’s popularity. The advantage for this bier is that it has texture, a very over looked quality in bier. Although this is something that is focussed on in wine sommelier scene, bier is generally overlooked for it’s texture. Thus this is what makes this one of the better lager/pils going around Germany.

Altenmünster, Bavarian, Bayern, Bier, German Bier, Lager, Pils