The King of Beers?

I couldn't resist. König Pilsener isn't necessarily claiming to be any such thing, as the name comes from the founder. It was acquired by Holsten in 2000, and since 2004 has been under the Bitburger Group. Widely available probably everywhere, it's a kind of local beer for me, as Duisberg is only an hour away by train, and I've spent many a happy night standing on platform 13 of Duisberg Hauptbahnhof, while travelling home from Dusseldorf airport, looking through the broken glass at a König Pilsener sign across the street and wishing I was there instead of trying to get home at 10:30pm on a Friday night with drunks talking to themselves around me. But I digress...

Golden, with a fluffy white head that dissipates into a tight white scum with considerable lacing, König Pilsener has a fresh, hay-like, citric and perhaps a hint of honey on the nose. The flavour is interesting. I want to say juicy-fruit chewing gum, but that might be going too far. There's a fullish malt thing going on, balanced by a reasonable hop flavour that gives fresh hay and slight floral notes.

I quite like this beer. It has enough malt to keep me interested, and while it's not as bitter as some Pilsners, the hop flavours are full and round.

The glass was a gift from my sister-in-law's boyfriend. I was delighted as I had a couple of bottles loitering down in the cellar, so one promptly came up to it's rightful place.