Fernseh-Pils-a-thon 2013

Well, if you ever get here: http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/2288/ Give their Pils a try!

I thought it one of the best I've ever had! ( http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/2288/18563/ )


Prosit!!

 

Schönramer Pils is excellent. If you find it anywhere, go for it. I don't know where you live, but probably you will have to order it in one of the online shops. Amongst others, I did a few times at Bierzwerg, but their variety in Pils seems to be a bit lower than some time ago. Maybe there are also some good Getränkemärkte in your area where you can ask for and order specific beers?

 

Probably gonna order it together with my next haul since I order in batches anyway and I still have some other domestics lined up. (hard to believe I've had no Weihenstephan yet)

Pils for me is hard to gauge to be honest because I don't know how a "good interpretation" of that style is "supposed" to taste like and I've always disliked the supermarket varieties. Admittedly, there does seem to be some good variation even within styles. Just recently noticed that with some Belgians and remembering how good Weizen can be. (my dad's big on Bavarian beers)

 

“Pils for me is hard to gauge to be honest because I don't know how a "good interpretation" of that style is "supposed" to taste like and I've always disliked the supermarket varieties.”

Several of the aspects that I look for in a German style Pilsner is a pleasant balance of Pilsner Malt flavor/aroma with Noble Hops flavor/aroma with a dry finish.

Below is something I posted in a past thread on the Germany forum:

As I posted previously, below is my (long awaited?) review of Rothaus Tannenzäpfle. I am performing this review in the context of a compare & contrast with Troegs Sunshine Pils.

Appearance

Sunshine Pils: Light straw color with a nice fluffy white head.

Tannenzäpfle: Light straw color with a nice fluffy white head.

Aroma

Sunshine Pils: Aroma is dominated by very noticeable pilsner malt aroma; there is some Noble hop aroma there as well.

Tannenzäpfle: Aroma is basically a ‘twin’ of the Sunshine Pils. I mostly perceive the pilsner malt aroma but there is some Noble hop aroma in the background.

Taste:

Sunshine Pils: Substantial flavors of pilsner malt nicely balanced by the prominent hop bitterness/flavor with herbal and floral notes provided by the Noble hops.

Tannenzäpfle: Very similar to the flavor of the Sunshine Pils. I would venture to say that the taste is a bit more dominated by the pilsner malt but there are indeed flavors from the hops. I would say that the Sunshine Pils is a tad more balanced in the malt/hop flavors.

Mouthfeel

Sunshine Pils: A nice ‘chewiness’ from the pilsner malt but finishes dry. Not as dry as a Jever but pleasingly dry nonetheless. Compared to the Tannenzäpfle it has a softer mouthfeel.

Tannenzäpfle: A nice mouthfeel from the pilsner malt and on the dry side. The mouthfeel is more prickly than the Sunshine Pils but I do not think that is a liability; I like the mouthfeel. Maybe the Tannenzäpfle is a bit more highly carbonated?

Overall

Sunshine Pils: This beer rocks on every level: Substantial pilsner malt present, substantial hop presence from the generous use of Noble hops. The 2013 version of Sunshine Pils is a WINNER! The sound bite review of this beer is: WOW!

Tannenzäpfle: This beer rocks too! It is like a battle of the bands!?!. I really enjoyed this beer as well. If it gets distributed to the US as BA Einhorn has posted (and it is reasonably priced and not too old) I will buy Tannenzäpfle in the future. It is also a WOW beer!

For the ‘interested reader’ below are details on these two beers as provided by the breweries on their respective websites.

“Tröegs Sunshine Pils®

Alcohol by Volume: 4.5%

Hop Bitterness (IBUs): 45

Color (SRM): Straw / Golden

Availability: Seasonal (April - August)

Malts: Pilsner, Crystal

Hops: Saaz, Hallertau Mitt.

Yeast: Lager

2012 Gold Medal Great American Beer Festival - German-Style Pilsner”

Rothaus Tannenzäpfle

“Das beliebteste Bier aus Rothaus ist das Rothaus Pils. Besonders beliebt ist unser Pils in der 0,33 l Flasche als Rothaus Pils Tannenzäpfle. Mit 12,4 % Stammwürze und 32 Bittereinheiten nimmt das Rothaus Pils eine herausragende Position unter den Pilsbieren ein.

Untergärige Hefe aus eigener Reinzucht vergärt das Rothaus Pils, bevor es ca. 4 Wochen in Ruhe reift. Dabei bildet das Pils seinen kräftigen und eleganten Geschmack und seine hohe Rezenz aus. Rezenz nennt man das durch die Kohlensäure im Bier ausgelöste Frischegefühl.”

The most popular beer from Rothaus is the Rothaus Pils. Very popular, our Pils in 0.33 l bottle as Rothaus is Pils Tannenzäpfle. With 12.4% Plato Wort and 32 IBUs, the Rothaus Pils takes an outstanding position among the Pils beers.

Bottom-fermented yeast from your own selected ferments the Rothaus Pils, before it conditions about 4 weeks. The Pils possesses strong and elegant taste and its high Rezenz. The feeling of freshness that is triggered by the carbon dioxide in the beer called Rezenz.

Thanks again to Tony. He is da man!

Prost!

P.S. My wife watched me as I poured the two beers for evaluation. After seeing the two full glasses she stated: looks like you have Irish handcuffs! Her next comment as she saw me writing notes after looking/smelling/tasting was: Look at you, writing stuff down. She then came over and took two sips from the two glasses. I felt compelled to ask: So, what do you think. Her reply: the Troegs is much better. Well, that is her opinion (not one that I personally agree with). My wife likes to ‘remind’ me that she is a super taster so you may want to listen to her opinion vs. mine. I will never claim to be a super taster.

P.S.S.. I am going to save my bottle of Rothaus Pils Tannenzäpfle as a souvenir. Every time I look at it I will think of Tony.

 

Ha, thanks for those notes! Interesting comparison. I do remember liking Rothaus over the general supermarket stuff when I've had it in the past but it's been quite some time since I've had some.

 

Southern Palatinate, close to Alsace-Lothringen/the border of France. Left of BaWü. Relatively soon I'll most likely relocate to Trier, though.

 

Yes, Wissembourg and that whole area is very picturesque. But as long as we are in France, how about Meteor Pils from Hochfelden, just 45km southwest of there? I had stopped into a tavern for lunch and ordered a beer, not expecting much
(hey, it´s France), but was very pleasantly surprised by Meteor Pils. The next day, we drove to the brewery and had a look around. Pretty good size regional brewery with a long history. The pils is better than German Fernsehpils and has a very pleasant aroma through the use of Alsacian Strisselspalt hops.

http://www.brasserie-meteor.fr/fr/prehome

Anyone seen Meteor Pils in the United States? Halftimebeverage.com used to carry their Lager, but I have never seen the Pils. Anyone know where to find it?

 

Wissembourg or Weißenburg as we call it is just half an hour from here. I haven't had any French beers to be honest. Haven't heard of Waldhaus either but I'll be on the lookout.

After the relocation I'm gonna be a bit closer to the Benelux area, maybe I'll be able to see some more Dutch stuff. When we were at the Bierpostamt in Schwerin they had quite a few Dutch beers that were supposedly pretty interesting and there's been stuff brewing over there, too. Although I think I'll see some more varied selection in general considering it's an actual city.

 

Waldhaus is not far from you. And of course Alpirsbacher pilsner is quite nice.

 

Hopefully. Given the proximity to Trier, you might as well land in a Bitburger hell.

 

Oddly enough, Bitburger makes me nauseaous now. A few years ago that was one of the few supermarket beers I could drink.

 

I'm taking this thread back to it's original purpose... Fernsehbiere!

I went to both Lidl and Aldi today and bought the Germany's cheapest beer, which all come in plastic bottles. Now, I've nothing against plastic for beer, and the advantages are obvious for weight, breakability and production costs, and they're fully reusable with a paid deposit.

First, Lidl has both name brands and their own brand. Grafenwalder is their brand.

The price per 6-pack for Bitburger, Tuborg and Holsten is 1.99€ and 1.79€ for Grafenwalder.


The price per bottle is here to see.... 29¢, and the deposit is almost the same price at 25¢!


In Aldi, by contrast, all you get is their own brand, Karlskrone. Unfortunately, they didn't have a Pils but only had the Gold.



Here it's 1.69€ for a 6-pack, or 28¢ per bottle, and again, the deposit is almost the same as the price of the beer with beer in it.


Notice who makes their beers. Brauerei Martens in Belgium for the Aldi beer Karlskrone, and Frankfurter Brauhaus from Frankfurt an der Oder for Lidl's Grafenwalder.



So how do they taste? I'm just going to give my basic impressions.

Grafenwalder:
Aroma: Decent Pils malt in the nose, actually quite good. From only the aroma, I'm impressed, though there's not much hop aroma.

Karlskrone Gold
Aroma: Some slight Pils malt aroma, almost a chemical smell, but overall not horrible.

Grafenwalder:
Flavor: It's flavor doesn't live up to it's promised aroma. The Pils malt sweetness is underperforming here, more it's tartness and an average Pils flavor. There's some hop bitterness but it's modest at most. It's almost too sweet but not malty enough, if that makes sense.

Karlskrone Gold
Flavor: Very disappointing in flavor. I get just a little Pils malt flavor, some bitterness and then tartness, and then more sweetness. It's almost good flavor-wise but not quite average even.

Grafenwalder:
Mouthfeel: Not bad, thickish, a little dry and enough mouthfeel to feel satisfying.

Karlskrone Gold
Mouthfeel: Weaker, not watery, but not at all satisfying.

Grafenwalder
Overall: Not bad, not horrible but not that great. If I want a beer and I'm flat broke, this wouldn't be bad. In fact, it's better than the heavyweight Fernsebiere like Bitburger or Warsteiner. It's maltier, and for the price, not horrible. But it's not worth buying if you want good to great Pils. 2.6 of 3

Karlskrone Gold
Overall: Again, not horrible and better, at least maltier, than Bitburger or Warsteiner, but not worth buying if anything else is available. But, if you're broke, for the price, you can't go wrong here. 2.3 of 5

Both of these beers are better than BMC beers, but which German beer isn't? For the price, they're frighteningly not bad.

 

Coming back to these from Lidl and Aldi, the more I drink of these beers, the more I feel I'm drink a beer-soda. Not real soda or a soda-mix, but if one imagined beer as soda: spritzy, "refreshing" but just enough beer taste,... just enough... to make you feel you're drinking a beer, but not enough to be a serious beer. So... beer-soda is my new schema for these beers.

 

It's always fun to read your reviews of cheapo German beers. Keep up the good work. Have you tried Lidl's Perlenbacher Pils brand by the way? They sell both Perlenbacher and Grafenwalder in 3.5% versions here and Perlenbacher is the better of the two I think, it's actually tasty considering its low abv and unassuming store-brand labeling. It's dry, has a slight bready note to it and has a notable bitterness compared to the Swedish offerings in this product segment (a product segment which should be outlawed and thrown onto the scrapheap of history if you ask me). It's very refreshing I think. Then again I do enjoy my German tv-pilsners, someone has to I suppose . So I'd be curious to hear if the 4.9% version is actually sort-of good.

 

What blows me away is that the brand name Fernsehbiere are only EURO .20 more expensive per 6-pack. Why even sell both?

Sorry folks, but German food & drink is still on the race to the bottom.

 

And with the EU wide market to source from ALDI and Lidl will have some ways to go before they hit rock bottom. There's probably an abundance of macro breweries in eastern Europe which would like to supply store brand gold and pils beers at razor thin margins, lower than even German (or Belgian) brewers are able or prepared to accept.

 

Simply worth mentioning: these prices INCLUDE 19% MWST/VAT. Crazy stuff - even cheap beer in the states looks expensive compared to this.

 

Exactly how they can produce beer that's not horrible yet's cheaper than the bottle is a lesson BMC beers could learn from. But it's also a sign that mediocre beers are the norm in Germany, and Fernsehbiere have to compete with them, and still lose on price. Only thing keeping them up is the marketing juggernauts that fosters brand loyalty to them... actually them could be said for BMC beers.