Germany’s Favourite Son: Krombacher Pils

According to our favourite “encyclopedia”, Krombacher Pils is Germany’s most consumed pilsener, produced by the second best selling brewery in the country. This is actually a great deal, considering we’re talking about Germany, “the beer country”.

• Name: Krombacher Pils
• Brewery: Krombacher Privatbrauerei Kreutzal
• City: Kreutzal-Krombach
• Country: Germany

This beer pours with a typical light golden color and a quite generous foamy white head with a decent retention. There’s not much going on in there for the nose, since the aroma is quite subtle, but there are some grainy as well as some mild hops in the background. The taste follows the nose. It is fairly mild and neutral (though not watery). There is more stress on the malts than on the hops, but still a pretty nice balance between the two. The finish is slightly more bitter than some other pilseners, which is just perfect.

I can see why this beer is so popular in Germany, since it’s obvious they’ve put a lot of work into developing it. It may not be the best beer, but it certainly is among the best pilseners I have tasted. I like it.

• Style: Pilsener
• ABV: 4,8%
• Ingredients: water, barley malt, hops, hop extract

RATINGS

• Appearance: 4 / 5
• Smell: 3 / 5
• Taste: 4 / 5
• Overall: 4 / 5

• Bottle: 3 / 5

The Festival Beer: Paulaner Oktoberfest Bier

In honor of the gretest beer festival in the world, the German Oktoberfest (in progress from September 21st to October 6th), I give you a special edition of one of Germany’s most popular beers.  Ah yes, the Oktoberfest – every beer lovers dream destination with the famous beer jugs, pretzels and sausages. We’ll meet someday soon!

• Name: Paulaner Oktoberfest Bier
• Brewery: Paulaner Brauerei
• City: Munich
• Country: Germany

If you can’t enjoy beer in the original Oktoberfest environment, at least you can treat yourself to a bottle (or several) of this beer. It’s not the same, but it will do. This one pours out with a attractive clear golden color, which is topped with an average, about a finger of it, of white head. The head doesn’t have a great retention since it quickly settles down to a white circle around the edge.

The aroma is sweet and grainy with some addition of hops to it. The taste is light and follows the nose. There is a malty beginning, followed by a grainy and slightly yeasty body with a medium bitterness. It all comes together into a pleasant and easy to drink beer which is also quite refreshing. It could offer a bit more taste, but it’s still pretty awesome despite this. The plus side is that it contains 6% of alcohol, although you can’t really feel it. You could easily have a couple of big ones in a row.

• Style: Oktoberfest / Märzen
• ABV: 6%
• Ingredients: water, barley malt, hops, yeast

RATINGS

• Appearance: 3,5 / 5
• Smell: 4 / 5
• Taste: 3,5 / 5
• Overall: 3,5 / 5

A Queen of Beers: Warsteiner Premium Verum

One of my favourites German Pilseners, although to be completely fair, it has been a very long time since I had it so things might have changed. Will have to give it another try, if I manage to grab it sometimes soon (not available in my country, sadly).

• Name: Warsteiner Premium Verum
• Brewery: Warsteiner Brauerei
• City: Warstein
• Country: Germany

This beer look exactly like a true beer should look like. A clear and golden body is topped with a decent foamy head (about two fingers of it). The aroma is mostly grainy with the addition of some hoppy smell. No sweet aroma here, which is nice. A typical pilsener aroma really. The taste is wonderful as well. At least as I recall. A balanced mixture of grainy and malty taste, slightly more on the grainy side, as not to make it sweet. The finish is pleasantly bitter, just hoppy enough to give you that beer kick, but not too bitter as well.

A very balanced beer. It’s easy to drink and refreshing, but still offering a lot of taste, so no watery feel to it.

• Style: Pilsener
• ABV: 4,8%
• Ingredients: water, barley malt, hops

RATINGS

• Appearance: 4,5 / 5
• Smell: 4 / 5
• Taste: 4 / 5
• Overall: 4 / 5

Classic German: Veltins Pilsener

I knew Germany produces a great number of beers, but still I couldn’t quite believe the numbers I found online. More than 5000 beer brands are produced in around 1300 breweries all around Germany. Impressive, I must say. So today’s beer is just one of these 5000, but it’s a very nice one, although I haven’t had it for quite a while now.

• Name: Veltins Pilsener
• Brewery: Brauerei C. & A. Veltins GmbH & Co.
• City: Meschede-Grevenstein
• Country: Germany

Veltins pours with a typical golden color and a hefty white head with a good retention. The aroma is very subtle – you can smell some grains along with the malty aroma. The taste is light and slightly watery. It’s not sweet, but it starts with a medium bitterness and also finishes on the bitter side. Light, refreshing, pleasant and drinkable.

• Style: Pilsener
• ABV: 4,8%
• Ingredients: water, malt, hops, yeast

RATINGS

• Appearance: 4,5 / 5
• Smell: 3,5 / 5
• Taste: 4 / 5
• Overall: 4 / 5

A Strong German: EKU 28

Today I will be presenting a German beer, which is only one out of more than 5000 beer brands produced in this beer-loving country. I must say I haven’t heard of EKU before I saw it on a shelf, so I think it’s fair to say it is one of Germany’s lesers known brands.

• Name: EKU 28
• Brewery: Kulmbacher Brauerei (Schörghuber)
• City: Kulmbach
• Country: Germany

This German beer with a weird name EKU 28 pours out with a clear copper color. The content is quite bubbly, and is topped with a white head that settles down to a thin layer quite quickly. The smell that hits your nose after pouring it out of the bottle can be described as malty, with a hefty addition of alcohol smell. The taste is strong, and it follows what the aroma indicates. It is initially sweet, with a very strong alcohol taste – it has a feel of some sort of liqueur. You can also feel a slight addition of caramel, which is followed by a bitter aftertaste. It is not really made to my liking, so I will keep away from this one.

• Style: Eisbock
• ABV: 11%
• Ingredients: water, barley malt, hops extract, hops

RATINGS

• Appearance: 3,5 / 5
• Smell: 2 / 5
• Taste: 1,5 / 5
• Overall: 2 / 5