Beck's
Brauerei Beck & Co.

Poured into a restaurant stemmed pilsner glass. Pours a medium golden amber with a small white head that dissipated quickly with slight lacing. Aroma of mild pilsner malt, light grassy hops, a hint of lemon and a hint of grain; a touch of green bottle skunk. Flavor follows, lightly sweet pilsner malt, light grassy hops with a hint of citrus and mild grain; slightly sweet finish with wisps of hop bitterness. Light skunking noticeable. Medium bodied with light to medium creaminess. At a restaurant with a mediocre beer selection (but great Afghan food), and realized I'd never reviewed Beck's before although I've certainly had quite a few over the decades. It actually was a good selection for the meal. Apparently brewed now in the states by a macro brewery, it tastes exactly like that: a mild domestic take on a continental German pilsner; tamed down and benign. Light in flavor, with light hopping it would not have satisfied me as a drinking beer, but was a good complement to food because of the mellow flavor. I won't be seeking this out, but won't hesitate to get it again while eating out with no other options. So sad about the green bottles.

This is my arch-nemesis in terms of German beer. If you're an obnoxious football ultrafan on Deutsche Bahn looking for something to spill on passengers while you carouse through the carriage, this might be your brew.

Bottle 0.33L.
Clear golden body with a large, frothy, white head, mostly lasting with some nice lacing.
Light-to-moderate malty (cereal, grains) and light hoppy (grass) aroma with some notes of bread.
Light-to-moderate bitter and light sweet flavour; short balanced finish.
Light-to-medium body with watery texture; average carbonation.
Feels somehow “attenuated”.

Ulice 9/8 2015. 50 cl can from local market "Voli". Beck's classic silver label with their key-like logo.

Pours clear very pale yellow with a big white head. Settles quickly leaving thin lacing og the side of the glass.

Aroma is sweetish with a sour tang. Sweet pale malts and bread. Sour grains.

Medium strong carbonation. Thin, watery, lively and tingling texture.

Flavor follows the nose and is dominated by sweetish malts with a sourish undertone. Aftertaste is sourish.

Ok thirst quencher if consumed cold. Should not be enjoyed lukewarm.

Looks good. Smells horrible. Tastes the way it should, but it's still not for me. The hops stick around too long in the aftertaste. Yuck.

 

 

 

The most middle of the road, serviceable beer, that I can think of. I grabbed a Double-Deuce, and proceeded to ice this baby, until the point of freezing up. 5%abv, and now, no longer a product of German origin, I am dismayed at my youth. I once, loved this beer, and especially the Beck’s Dark. I digress, this brew, has become a byword among the multitudes of tall boy/bomber choices. If Luke Wilson was the most average man in the”IDIOCRACY” …Beck’s is the beer equivalent. It’s fizzy…it’s slightly skunky…it’s gold…it’s not bad, but not great either. It’s a tie between the Packers & Cowboys. Cheers!

 

Drunk at Hannover airport Lufthansa lounge. Regular glass.
-Extremely pale yellow colour. Small foam head. Average look.
-Smells lager but not a lot.
-Very average beer taste
-Carbonation can be felt a lot

Regular brew

Tastes like a Mexican Pilsner. Smells like cracker, sulfur, and metallic hops. Tastes like it smells, with a sweet grapelike malt flavor appearing and maybe a bit of pepper. Aftertaste is… awkward. Tastes like a normal cheap beer, almost like a combo of Modelo and Foster’s, but worse. Could be a Chinese beer, honestly. The worst German beer. Apparently it’s Gordon Ramsay’s favorite. A real charlatan, that lad.

 

 

Pours a clear, very fizzy pale lager gold with a strong white head that, white tight, is still closer to foam than cream. Bitter breadiness on the nose, slightly acidic. Balanced sweetness on the tongue - generally very neutral, in a deliberately clean, German way. Savoury hops, with a slight copper in the aftertaste.

If you had to describe the word "beer", this might be a good contender for a generic exemplar - there is nothing superlative about it, except that it may be the most ordinary beer around, which somehow makes it worth remarking on.

Beck's has been my go-to, everyday beer for nearly 40 years, since college when everybody I knew drank it. And now it's also my wife's. Every other beer we get is judged against Beck's.

What you think of this beer probably depends on what you grew up drinking. Most people I knew drank Coors and Bud, and I hate Bud (for some reason). Until I got to college, then I was introduced to Beck's.

Beck's is always good with any light to medium flavor foods as much as it is alone. I'll drink a darker beer with stronger foods like beef, but BBQ pork, chicken, and fish, it just matches with perfectly. We'll drink Beck's with fish and seafood, sometimes going with Sapporo and similar beers as an alternative.

Matched with foods that don't have overpowering flavors, Beck's enhances and elevates the food's flavors, while the food enhances and elevates Beck's flavor. My wife can sip Beck's all day long on a day off, while I'm more likely to drink one to start my day off and one later with our food, if it fits.

Beck's is also my go-to for cooking when a non-dark beer is required, especially German food in general, even more so with North German foods that I grew up with. My family came to America from the same area in Germany that Beck's was created, and not so surprisingly it excels when paired with North German foods like fish (cod and halibut), light sausage and kale, and, honestly, braunschweiger. If you eat any liverwurst, try it with Beck's, it's just comfort food to me.

 

 

 

Wow, this is garbage!
Like any other German lager