Beer For Dummies

A book that I am currently reading, unfortunately with long breaks in between, because of lack of time. From the little I have read, I can tell you that it's well written, and in a way where you can skip something you find uninteresting or boring or not what you're looking for at the moment and just jump to the part which you care for. You will learn about different beers styles and so many more things.

Here is a link to download it, so you can have a look yourselves. If you find it helpful, consider buing it and keep it in your library for future references.

New Beer In The House II

  I went to the doctor the other day for the first time since I moved here. I don't think I have met a more indifferent doctor in my life, plus when I asked him if it would be okay to take the pills he had prescribed me, because of a deficiency I have, he gave me a blank stare, and looked it up on Wikipedia, using Internet Explorer, for God's sake! Then, not being able to find what he was looking for, he shrugged it off and he told me that they probably know at the pharmacy and I should ask there. And allright, maybe it's logic not to know everything medicine and every deficiency by heart, but I think you should have checked before he prescribes me the pills, since when I registered with him to be my doctor, I gave him my patient history and pardon me, but I think a patient's history plays a significant role to the medicines and cure processes he is supposed to take and follow.

 Anyway, when I got out his office and took my pills from the pharmacy upstairs, I notice an Asian Supermarket so naturally I think "Let's check for beers!!". And yes, they had some asian beers allright, the ones you can see in the following photo.

  From left to right, that's a sort-of-nutritional drink, made of malts but the ingredients are also hops, so I myself consider it a non-alcoholic beer. Then there is a Trio Extra Stout, which is supposed to be from Suriname (not so asian after all, huh) but I see now is brewed in the Netherlands, then a Chang Beer Export from Thailand, an Iki Beer that's supposed to be japanese but it's brewed in Belgium and it seems very hazy, a Sapporo Premium Lager which actually is japanese and a Bintang Pilsener from Indonesia.
  Looking forward to try them, in about fiffteen days when I will be done with the darn pills.
  When I paid and went out I discovered my bike was stolen, during the ten minutes I was in the supermarket. I was a bit frustrated of course, but eventually all worked out well, as I was able to find a second hand bike in a much better condition than mine (it even has brakes!) for only fifty euros. For the thief, I hope he breaks his neck in a tragic accident, after he has unsuccesfully tried to brake with my faulty brakes.

Carlsberg

ABV 5,0%

 I got this beer in a WORLD OF BEERS packet (possibly the worst beer related buy I ever spent money on - the packet itself I mean, beers were alright).
 A small green bottle of 250 ml, with only its neck covered with a label, while a relief of the word CARLSBERG can be found four times around the bottle.
 I crack the bottle open and a smell of malts goes straight into my nose. The head is white in colour when I pour it, one finger in height and seems thick in texture. A lot of bubbles rising hastily to the top. The head disappears after a while, leaving a thin film covering the sutface of the beer, but no lacing around the glass.
 The aroma of this beer comes mostly from the malts, with a nice strong smell. Some hops aroma too, but very faint.
 The taste is very malty too, thus sweet. But only at first, since the aftertaste is pleasantly bitter. Very refreshing on a hot day like this one.
 Dry on the palate, quite thin on the body and light carbonation, give this beer a high drinkability.
 Overall a very nice beer. I had it many times before but mostly straight from the bottle and I could also easily find a cold one at my local bar. Now that I can't find it around the corner anymore (except in cans which I'd rather not) I appreciate it much more.

3.35/5

Pilsner Urquell

ABV 4,4%

Even from within the green bottle, you could tell that this beer is crystal clear. And so it was when poured. A deep golden colour, very clear, with some bubbles rising to the surface. The one thing dissapointing though was the head, because it didn't have any. Okay, it had maybe half a finger and that dissaperaed straight away. I read some other reviews though and almost everyone was ecsatic about the creamy head, which I obviously miss. I'll try to get my hands on another bottle, just to make sure that it was only my bottle. 

edit:once again, a small white head that disappears completely, very fast

A nice aroma of slighty roasted malts, with maybe some floral notes.

Taste is also on the malty side, but on the small amount of time that stays in your mouth, manages to appear quite balanced between the malts and hops, and to that certainly helps the bitter aftertaste.

Urquell has a full body and just the right amount of carbonation. It leaves a dryness on the palate. 

Overall, a nice and refreshing beer. I had it once on tap and the colour was hay golden, while it had a very average taste. From the bottle it's like I am drinking a totally different beer, which might be true, you never know what a bar owner serves as X beer.

3.7/5

The beer that defined the style Pils, when it was first brewed on the Czechish town of Plzen. I think I read once that the water there plays a significant role to the crispiness of this beer. Long ago before I get interested in beers (other than just drink'em) I had a girlfriend from up there and she was telling me how cheap beer is in Czech Republic and how much better than the ones we had. Well, maybe I would be there if it wasn't for life's strange games.

Keizerskroon Premium Pilsener

ABV 5,0%

This specific brand is exclusively sold only into two specific supermarket chains, the EMTE and the GOLFF. The closest branch to me is sixteen kilometers away.

Colour is golden yellow, with two fingers of white head that disappears completely, very fast, leaving no lacing on the glass. Some bubbles rising to the top on a steady pace. On the official website I saw a nice photo with a creamy, thick head, I wonder why I didn't get the same too. Oh, well..

Pleasant aroma of malts, but very faint. 

Some sweetness from the malts is traceable into its taste, but again, very faint. All in all this beer has a very neutral taste. 

Very clear on the body, medium thin and right amount of carbonation for my taste. 

Overall a beer that was very pleasant in drinking it, and maybe the lack of a unique taste works on its favor.Still, much better than the majority of pilsners on this market.

2.9/5 

Salitos Tequila

ABV 5,9%

Another beer mix, and as with all the others this isn't anything special. A clean glass bottle of 330 ml. I poured some in a small glass just to witness the head and the rest drunk from the bottle. Colour as one can easily see from the transparent glass bottle is golden yellow. A thin white head which left me very fast, and so did the bubbles who were at first present.

Now, on  my bottle says that this is 58% beer and 42% soft drink, but it doesn't say anything about tequila, at least not in english or dutch. In other languages it mentions something about tequila, but I can't really get it. Anyhow, I personally don't smell any tequila, which is a good thing, I smell though a strong lime aroma. Well, that sums it up.

Taste is sort of sweet at first, but the aftertaste is mostly sour from the citrus.

Heavily carbonated and with a light body.

Not so much different than the other tequila flavored beers out there, maybe it's nice out in the sun, drinking it on a beach bar.

2.83/5
look: 2.5 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 3

New Beer In The House

Lately I have turned into a real sporty guy, running and walking and biking as much as I can. It's for a good cause, and for every one kilometer I run or bike, Samsung will donate one euro to a kids hospital, or something similar. You can even invite others and form a team, combining in that way your kilometers. My team has only one member, me, and right now it's on the 8th place, having raised 68 euros. That's another motivation for me, to see my one-membered team rising to the top (to be honest I think the 8th position is the best I can do, I started a bit late and the rest of the teams have raised much more money, to the point I can't reach them).
So today I took my bike and went to a nearby city,because there is supermarket there that sells a brand of beer exclusively. I biked 16 kilometers there, grabbed three bottles, biked 16 kilometres back and tossed them in the fridge. I raised money for the kids, I got some new beer and I exercised. It's a win-win-win situation. Maybe you would think by now that it's a very special beer.. Well, no. It's just another cheap pilsner, costing 40 cents a bottle.

Tasty Lady

ABV 6,2%

I did a little search before I open this bottle, and is registered on both the sites I use in order to find information about a beer, as an IPA. I would say that this was my first IPA but something on the taste makes me feel pretty sure that I have tried something similar before.Yes, this tastes more like a belgian strong ale.
A 330 ml bottle, with the silliest label I've seen on a beer so far, just the two eyes of a woman, looking at me, trying to seduce me (?), then the beer's name and on te bottom the words "By women". Poured into my sort-of-tulip glass, this bottle gave me a deep orange coloured beer, with one finger of white head, a few bubbles rising to the top and lots of tiny things floating in it, I guess is unfiltered, although I didn't find any info about that.On the second pour the beer was even more hazy.
Aroma is sort of fruity, with just some hoppy and citrus notes, as described on the bottle.
Taste is bitter as expected, and even more bitter on the aftertaste. Very pleasantly drinkable, although maybe I should have left it a bit more in the fridge.
On the body it has medium thickness, and light carbonation.
Hmm, not a bad one, but if this is how IPA's taste like, then according to the popularity of the genre this must have been a poor sample.

3.5/5

Bavaria 0,0% Rosé

ABV 0,0%

A bottle of 300 ml, at home. On RB is not considered a beer for a number of reasons that I can't really understand. To me, since it has water, hops and malts, is as beer as many others out there. Bottle says to roll it three times and then pour it. That, I didn't do. The bottle gave me a light pink coloured beer, quite hazy. One finger of head that dissolved quickly and left a very thin layer on the surface and some lacing around the glass.
Aroma is of fruits of course,  mostly raspberries and some strawberries. But underneath those smells someone can find the annoying corn smell, thankfully not so strong.
Taste is also of raspberries, very sweet. Leaves behind a subtle corn aftertaste.
Very thin body, almost watery, with light carbonation.
As someone can guess this is for people who are driving later, for pregnant women etc. With that in mind it's not that bad.

2.8/5

Impulsive shopping

I went to buy some beers today into a shop I knew they had a specific -average- beer on offer. When I got there I noticed they didn't have any left. Which sucks because it was the second week they are supposed to have them on offer but they're already out and they were out three days ago when I visited again. Don't they ever restock?
Anyway, the sales woman came to ask if she can help me, I say "no, thanks, I am just looking for a different beer to try", but she keeps buzzing around me. I hate when they do that, they see someone with a bag on his back and they assume he's gonna steal their liquor. Anyway, I notice a packet called "Beers of the world" but the lady's still around me, so I am starting to get anxious and I decide to get that and just go out of there. Eventually I paid 10,50 for a packet containing 6 beers. That's 1,75 for each and they are just common beers, only not so widely available here. I can easily say this is my worst beer buy.

That's what the package contains. A Pacifico Clara, which I already had in Mexico, a Bud (same case) a Krombacher Pils which I had in Germany, a Carlsberg in a bottle of 250 ml, which I can find in Greece in the more proper 330 ml bottle (and I have already tried), an Austrian and a Spanish one, which are actually the ones making the package worth a bit, but certainly not for 10,50. 

Moral of the story, never making haste decisions when buying beer.

New Glass

                           The new glass I bought today and next to it a bottle of Houblon Chouffe.
                                         Soon I'm gonna see how it looks like when full :)

Salitos Mojito

ABV 5%

I think my first time I had this one was a year ago while I was having dinner with my girlfriend at a mexican restaurant. I couldn't possibly take any notes back then since I was in the middle of a dinner, but nevertheless I kept some mental ones, on which the following review was based.

From bottle. Colour is green-ish yellow.I liked the appearance and the way it changed under the light. Aroma of mint. Light taste, also mint, refreshing. I would honor it during the summer months if it was nearby available,still, I give it a low overall score since it contains less than 50% beer.

2.65/5
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 2.5



One year later, this beer mix is more widely available, at least in my city, since it's one of the new beers at the local supermarket. When I saw it I thought to give it another try. Also, coincidenly, my girlfriend is going again tonight to that restaurant for dinner ( I am staying home to drink more beers). This is my re-review, much more different than before.



330 ml white glass bottle with a twist-to-open crown cap, at home. This is surely made to be drunk straight from the bottle, but I poured it into a glass anyway. Colour is transparent green-yellowish, with a head that leaves the beer straight away. No bubbles whatsoever in the glass. 3,5
Aroma is of limes mostly with a subtle mint smell. 3
Taste is also of limes and mint. The mint flavour much more stronger on the aftertaste. Somehow, they managed to make it taste like a mojito, so whenever your girlfriend complains that "you only drink beer, beer, beer, try something else for once, for god's sake" you can order this one if it's available and pretend you drink a summer cocktail. Or just order your favorite beer and just ignore your girlfried anyway. 2,5
On the body is as thin as water, and quite carbonated, to the point that your first sip will make you think that you drink soft drink, or maybe an energy drink if you take the colour into account.Makes sense of course, this one is 58% mojito flavoured soft drink and 42% beer.
Overall, and after taking a look on the ingredients, I don't think I will look for it any time soon, too many chemical craps. I am pretty sure that if I add lime juice and a mint leaf into my ordinary lager it will be better than this.

Appearance 3,5
Aroma 3
Taste 3
Mouthfeel 1,5

Overall 1,5