Croatian beer - Pan Lager

Another beer from Croatia brought to me by the same guy who brought the last one.  For some reason I thought he had brought me a Croat and a Czech beer.  Nope I must have misheard.  This one is a Pan Lager or Pilsner by the Carlsberg Group's Croatia division.

Pan Lager - The brewery's website describes this as a pilsner and I would concur.  It pours a brillant straw gold with a generous white head.  The photo doesn't do it just because that was just a bad pour on my part.  The aroma is definitely hoppy and the taste is slightly bitter from the hops.  It does finish crisp and clean.  Once again this one has two strikes against it, a green bottle and only .25L.   As a pilsner I'd have to say it was a hit, not too hoppy, but for me I'm just not a fan of pilsner's so it's more a long foul ball, close but not quite.

Winkler Brau Pils

This is the last beer I managed to get my hands on from the Winkler Brauerei in Amberg. 

This pilsner pours a pale clear golden with just a small head that leaves hints of tracing down the side.  The aroma is all hops.  The taste is clear clean and full of hops.   The finish is crisp and smooth.  Not a bad pilsner.

Monchshof Orginal Pils

On tap or I should say out of the bottle today is Monchshof Original Pils.  I've stated repeatedly that I'm not a fan of the highly hopped bitter Pils that I keep finding in Germany and I was prepared to not like this Pils.  Here's what I thought.  A pale pale yellow that poured with almost no head.  Not much of an aroma to penetrate my perpetually inadequate sniffer.  A clean crisp taste that finishes with just enough bitterness to let you know that you are drinking a Pils.  Almost a balanced taste.  I was pleasantly surprised to like this beer.  It was a nice change of pace to not be overwhelmed by bitter hops. 

Paulaner Original Munchen Hell

This week's beer is the Paulaner Original Munchen Hell.  I'll be honest I've tried to stay away from the Paulaner beers since you can get them in the States.  But this beer and the Salvatore I had a couple of weeks ago make me want to change my mind.  They are just darn good.

A helles beer is a light colored lager that was introduced in the late 1800s to compete against the Czech Pilsners that were being introduced into Germany.  As you can see it's a golden color with a good head.  It goes down smooth without the bitterness that I've noticed that many of Pils have.  It does have a bit of malty flavor but it really isn't that noticeable.  Overall this beer really reminds of the popular light beers from the US, but that doesn't do the Paulaner Original Munchen Hell justice since it is not a light beer in the American sense.  The German's managed to make a smooth tasting light colored beer without watering it down or using ingredients other than water, barley, or hops.  This is a beer that I could drink all day and I'll definitely be looking for at the store.

It's Time For A Cold Budweiser From.......

The Czech Republic. I bet you thought I was going to say St. Louis, Missouri. Well there is a Budweis, Czech Republic and there is a brewery there that uses the name Budweiser Budvar for it's beer. There have been lawsuits between them and Anheuser-Busch you can read about the lawsuits and Budweiser Budvar here.

I picked up a six pack of Budweiser Budvar the other day just to give it a try even though I normally don't drink beer that comes out of green bottles. For some reason I'm just not a fan of green bottled beer. I didn't think it was too bad. I'll probably give it a try again and at $4.60 a six pack you can't beat the price.

I tried some of the other German beers they had in the shopette here the other day. A Bock and a Pilsner from the Dinkelacker-Schwaben Brewery in Stuttgart. Both were pretty darn good and they were only a $1.00 for .5 liter. That's cheaper than a 20oz Diet Pepsi.

If you've seen the post on the family blog you saw that I've also indulged in wurst, kraut and a weis bier this weekend. At this rate I'm really going to have to rack up the miles to keep the pounds off.