My neighbour told me yesterday that he thinks 10 Euro is too much to pay for a crate of beer. Just so you know, he means a crate of 20 500ml bottles, so 10 litres. This in a land where I'm still amazed that I can buy 20 bottles of beer for 10 or 12 Euro that in Ireland probably would have cost over 30 Euro from an off-license. He's found a new one, which I think cost him 6 Euro for a full crate, but last summer it was all about Wüllners Braumeister Premium Pilsener. It's one of those beers that you don't know exactly who brews it, as it was contract brewed for a drinks wholesaler, a bit like Brau Wirt's Pilsner. As I recall, this one was going for 35c a bottle, but then it was only a 330ml bottle.It's really pale. Almost like white gold, but somehow looking like something you'd give to your doctor. It's got a nice enough light nutty, malty aroma and a surprisingly refreshing flavour. Oddly, a slight hint of something akin to toasted sesame seeds, biscuity malts and a brush with floral hops. It finishes dry, grassy, and with a light bitterness, and as it warms a carbonic edge makes itself known.. It's a bit thin overall, but at 35c something has to give, I suppose. Certainly nothing great, but it ain't horrible. If you're tight on cash, and you don't have a neighbour who brews delicious beer involving hops from the far reaches of the planet, that probably cost more to make than this stuff, it's a grand drop for a hot day and a BBQ.
8 comments:
It boggles the mind. 35c a bottle for what sounds like an ok beer. I paid €12 for a six-pack of Sam Adams last weekend!
However I do suppose that if there was a hint of raising taxes on beer in Germany the country would take to the streets.
Cheap lout, well done Sir.
I know what you mean-at that price, worth putting a few in the fridge, especially with the World Cup coming up.
And it's probably still better than most of the ghastly "world beers" from Russia and Italy that the big beer marketers try to foist on us here at premium prices.
Having said that, I did giggle a few years ago when I saw Rats Krone beer in a UK supermarket as such a "premium" import. I'd seen it in Germany the previous year and it was one of the beers that homeless people drank.
I'm slowly adjusting to the prices here Mark. I get a bit narky when I have to pay 1.70 for a bottle of Uerige Alt (most beers average about 90c for 500ml), but it's lovely :)
Plenty more where that cam from, Cookie. In the scheme of things, this is pretty cheap in a land where cheap lout flows down the streets.
Funny thing, Leigh, I stocked up with a crate of Koenig Pils (not cheap, but not crazy expensive) to fulfil the pils needs of the other guys in the building during BBQ season. Chap downstairs prefers the cheaper lout by taste :D
Barm, I wonder about some of the Czech beers showing up here recently, although by the price (65-75c) they're not quite billed as premium. That gets reserved for the likes of Altbiers and Duckstein, I think... But yeah, something with a foreign name can be shoved in as "premium". You'd have to wonder if the name Rats Krone would appeal to English-speakers though :D
Don't think Rats Krone lasted very long in the UK ...
I reckon the Czech brewers are the only ones who can undercut the Germans on price, and that's the reason you see them in the German market. The tetrahop scandal may set them back a bit — the Saxony brewers are certainly milking it for all it's worth.
So, is tetra hop like any other hop extract or is it a special hop extract (I read it has head enhancers or something)? There's plenty of German brewers using hop extract, so I'd wonder why they'd complain.
Tetrahop is hydrogenated in the production process which is presumably what makes it haram according to the Purity Law. Don't ask me to explain the science cos I can't.
Post a Comment