Holland Import
Swinkels Family Brewers

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From:
Swinkels Family Brewers
 
Netherlands
Style:
European Pale Lager
ABV:
4.8%
Score:
73
Avg:
2.7 | pDev: 22.59%
Reviews:
5
Ratings:
16
Status:
Active
Rated:
Sep 24, 2020
Added:
Jan 11, 2015
Wants:
  0
Gots:
  4
No description / notes.
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Ratings by Gagnonsux:
Photo of Gagnonsux
Rated by Gagnonsux from Texas

3.01/5  rDev +11.5%
look: 2.75 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3

Jun 13, 2015
More User Ratings:
 
Rated: 3.75 by eldoctorador from Chile

Sep 24, 2020
Photo of monkist
Reviewed by monkist from Hungary

3.24/5  rDev +20%
look: 3.25 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3 | overall: 3
Well okay, I read people saying how bad this beer is, how watered down it is, blah blah blah. I must say up front that it’s NOT like some others say, it isn’t like Heineken either - or at least not this version (I’ve seen these at 4.8% ABV, however the one they have imported in Japan has only 4.6%...) It smells okay though, somewhere resembles of a pilsner but its taste is like they said, it’s diluted, watery, then what? It’s not awful, at least. Very easy to drink, something you vould chug one after the other, especially on a hot summer night - which I might see myself doing at one point in the next month or so, as I still have 23 cans more left...
Jul 03, 2020
Photo of gvickery
Reviewed by gvickery from Texas

3.05/5  rDev +13%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3
These come in the ridiculous green bottles and a cardboard holder that leave the bottles on the ends exposed to uv rays. I got a six pack from the local grocery for about $5.50. Excluding the 4 bottles on the ends that were moderately skunked, the 2 from the middle were actually not too bad. Not a lot of smell going on, just your basic malt hop thing. The taste was surprisingly more complex than I had imagined. You can taste the generic malt, biscuit, grain flavor but there is a substantial amount of bittering hops. I would say it’s a little more flavorful than Heineken but it has a lingering bitterness that sticks I’m throat that is not very pleasant.
Apr 14, 2018
Photo of puck1225
Reviewed by puck1225 from Texas

2.8/5  rDev +3.7%
look: 2.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 2.75 | feel: 2.75 | overall: 2.75
Bought on a whim at the local grocery store. Clear yellow, little head or lacing. A pleasant sweet smell. Taste is typically grassy and a bit sweet with a little citrus lemon. A ok beer.
Aug 31, 2017
 
Rated: 2.61 by Johnct from New York

Jun 11, 2016
 
Rated: 3.05 by EOC from Mexico

May 16, 2016
 
Rated: 3 by paulish from New York

Nov 02, 2015
 
Rated: 2.18 by mcthfg from Korea (South)

Oct 18, 2015
 
Rated: 2.67 by cmbeddoe7997 from Texas

Aug 10, 2015
 
Rated: 3 by krome from Illinois

Jun 29, 2015
 
Rated: 1 by nathanmiller from New York

Jun 18, 2015
 
Rated: 1.87 by Beer-Zombie from Oregon

May 09, 2015
Photo of jamesmk48
Rated by jamesmk48 from Texas

2.78/5  rDev +3%
look: 2.5 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 2.75 | overall: 2.75
For 4.89 a six pack, not bad at all. This would be a good hot day/work beer.
Apr 13, 2015
Photo of Jugs_McGhee
Reviewed by Jugs_McGhee from Colorado

2.38/5  rDev -11.9%
look: 2.75 | smell: 2.25 | taste: 2.25 | feel: 2.25 | overall: 2.75
BOTTLE: 11.2 fl oz. Green glass (ugh...). Branded pry-off pressure cap. Generic label art and design.

4.8% ABV. Reviewed live as a Euro pale lager. Served cold into a pilsner glass at low altitude in Austin, TX. Expectations are low given the brewery.

No bubble show forms as it's poured.

HEAD: 1.5 fingers wide. White in colour. Decent froth. Somewhat thin. Not real full or creamy. Weak. Retention is above average - about 3 minutes. Leaves some light lacing as it recedes.

BODY: Clear translucent yellow of average vibrance. Clean; no yeast particulate or hop sediment is visible.

Appears well-carbonated. It's a pretty generic appearance for the style overall.

AROMA: Sweet, with syrupy malt extract, generic grassy hops (Noble?), and a clean yeast profile of mild attenuation. Some might notice faint buttery notes indicative perhaps of diacetyl off-character.

No booze is detectable.

Aromatic intensity is average.

Overall, it's a pretty generic aroma. This is more or less what most Europeans think of when they think of a "beer" smell.

TASTE & TEXTURE: Malt extract/maltose dominates, lending it an off-putting syrupy sticky feel. Has some cheap barley to fill out the body, as well as some lowest common denominator grassy hops (probably Noble). Smooth and wet. Overly sweet. Far from well-balanced. The build is simple, the carbonation too high, and subtlety nonexistent. This is a paragon of mediocrity. Shallow in terms of depth of flavour. Average duration and intensity of flavour.

Not oily or anything, but the texture is even worse than the taste, and holds the beer back, restricting drinkability.

OVERALL: The kind of cheap swill we've all had in university. It'll find its market, but for my money I'd sooner go for Trader Joe's' offerings if I'm after a generic lager in the budget price range. Not really worth trying, and perhaps worse even than you'd expect. This brewery even has better offerings, but this isn't undrinkable and I've certainly had worse.

D+ (2.38)
Mar 03, 2015
Photo of Pegasus
Reviewed by Pegasus from Texas

2.85/5  rDev +5.6%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 2.75 | feel: 3 | overall: 2.75
Appearance: Clear, medium golden in color, with a coarse, white quarter-inch head, which retains well. The carbonation is slight: a few fat bubbles drift lazily to the surface. The lacing is thin and scattered.

Aroma: Pale malt and modest grassy hops dominate the aroma, and a little mineral note from the water. None of the typical skunk found in this style is present, as the packaging is an aluminum can.

Taste: Opens with crisp pale malt, soon followed by some moderately sharp hops with a harsh medicinal note. As the taste progresses, the hops overwhelm the mild sweetness of the pale malt, to the point of seeming heavy-handed. The medicinal quality of the hops seems to rise to the end of the taste, and after.

Mouth feel: Smooth, fairly soft, pleasant, with little carbonation felt.

Drinkability/notes: Not too bad, an obvious Heineken knockoff, but nothing to write home about. It was reasonably priced at seventy-nine cents a can at a local grocer.

Presentation: Packaged in an eleven-point-two ounce aluminum can, served in a New Belgium Brewing chalice.

Other notes: In Europe, "Holland Import" is labelled as "Holland Import Pilsener Bier".
Jan 11, 2015
Holland Import from Swinkels Family Brewers
Beer rating: 73 out of 100 with 16 ratings