Fernseh-Pils-a-thon 2013

Thanks for that report!

I have been on the lookout for some Flensburger Pils for a while. I will continue the search and buy some when I see it.

Cheers!

P.S. Is there a brewed on date listed on the bottle?

 

How common is Flensburger over here in the US? It looks like they also have a dunkel. Can anyone comment if it's the in the Bavarian style or if it's one of those "dark pils" kinds?

 

Not sure how "common" it is, but...

 

Just did a quick check of a local chain (Binny's in the Chicago area) and it looks like the various Flensburger beers are available around Cook County -- including the Dark.

Next time I'm near one of these places I'll have grab some to judge for myself.

 

They were being imported by a company out of Texas with limited success. One of the problems I see on the horizon is the pricing in 6-packs. It might appeal to many homebrewers to get some sweet, once-used flip-top bottles, but from what I can tell by wholesale pricing, it will be on the shelf for $14.99-15.99 per sixpack. My first thought was, why not in the 0.5L flip top and sell as a single, but I guess time well tell.

I must also try the dunkel - not sure what it is without research.

 

Holy sh**t! I saw $13.99 at the nearest Binny's and thought it was 12 pack prices... maybe I need to review that...

 

“ …it will be on the shelf for $14.99-15.99 per sixpack”

I envision a lot of old Flensburger on the shelves?

Cheers!

 

They are sold as singles at my local bottle shop. I think 2.99 for the 0,33. Still too rich for my blood.

 

I agree guys. The bonus with the other German "Fernsehbiere" in the US is that the 0.5L is acceptable at $2.49-3.49, maybe the higher ABV and best-of-class (Vitus & Co) brews can command a $3.99/0.5L (all Germans shaking their heads in general), but as a 6-pack, this will be a tough sell.

 

My "go-to" 6-pack of German pils (if I can really be said to have one) is actually the Koenig 4-pack of 0.5 l cans. I can get it here for $7.49.

 

A six-pack of Jever is about 10 bucks.

Prost!

 

Many of the large factory brews ship a lot of beer to the US and 6-packs can be found between $8.99-10.99, at least here in CA. I think one of the main factors with the higher price for Flens is the expensive flip top bottle with porcelain stopper that unfortunately will land in many garbage cans after one use.

 

Here's another Pils-a-thon. This time I simply went to my local supermarket (REWE) and bought what was in cans. I'm not a fan of Pils, so this is dive into the deep end of cheap beers.

They're not all Fernsehbier. The candidates:



(From left to right)
Basically, I went after cheap, canned beer.

Licher Pilsner. For me in FfM, a "local." It's now owned by Bitburger. It's a local Fernsehbier, brewed in a town north of here. 0.65€

Pfungstädter Edel-Pils. Another "local," from a town about 30 minutes by car south of FfM, just south of Darmstadt. 0.79€

5,0 Original, here a beer from Oettinger in Braunschweig. Originally, this non-brand was started by Feldschlößchen in Braunschweig, which was overtaken by Oettinger. According to wiki, it was started as product without ad campaigns, without saying which brewery it came from. Almost like a generic beer. 0.45€

Turmbräu Premium Pils. On the can, it says it's brewed by the REWE Handelsgruppe (Business group). Brewed by the Karlsberg (Karlsburg outside of Germany) Brauerei, of Homburg, Saarland, a true mass contract brewer that spits out all kinds of brews. 0.35€!! (This makes it a few cents more expensive than a liter of pure or sparkling water!)



As you can see above, they all looked the same.

Licher: some aroma, not much really. Flavor - sweet Pils malts, less bitterness, weak flavor but tolerable at first. All flavors are mild, but the aftertaste is too malty sweet.

Pfungstädter: nice Pils malt aroma. Middle amounts of bitterness, still a sweet, malty aftertaste, but better than Licher's.

5,0 Original Export: (I know, comparing an Export to a Pils isn't right, but they didn't have the Pils in stock yesterday, so it's all I had.) No aroma, ok a little malts, but emphasis on little. Almost no bitterness in flavor, just sweet (it's an Export, duh), cloying Pilsner malts. The aftertaste is really cloyingly sweet.

Turmbräu: sweet Pilsner malt aroma, not bad. Some malt flavor, but has some taste of chemicals. Too sweet, a little watery.

The best was Pfungstädter, but surprisingly, there wasn't a huge difference between the 4. However, they're all a helluva lot better than any of the BMC offerings. None of them were as bad as the 4 I tired a month ago. If you had very limited budget and low standards of taste, the Turmbräu would be good for you, for it wasn't horrible but it wasn't worse than a little below average either. I don't think I'll ever drink any of these beers again, but I can understand why people buy these beers.

 

Licher was also a go-to beer for me (I lived in Bad Vilbel & Bad Nauheim, the heart of Licher country). The pilsner was always mediocre, I preferred the export. Best served in a 0.2 liter Willibecher.

I liked a lot of Pfungstädter's seasonals, the normal line-up always seemed middle-of-the-road. Thanks for the reviews!

 

Speaking of Flensburger, sitting around and drinking a Flensburger Pils, and I have to say I'm completely underwhelmed. It's good, got a decent amount of sweet Pils malts, especially in the back and aftertaste, but not too sweet and some other discount/cheap Pils' can tend to be in Germany. There's also a decent amount of Noble hop bitterness, but for a good North German Pils, I expected more. I've had this style much better hopped with Tettnanger or Hersbrücker, and though it's smooth and süffig (German for "drinkable"), I really feel underwhelmed from what I remember from the 80s in drinking this beer. Similarly to Jever, the IBUs seem to have been dropped, but that may be my mind playing tricks on me through the fog of time. Again, it's not a bad example of a North German Pils, but it really should pack more of an IBU Noble hop bitterness.

 

“Similarly to Jever, the IBUs seem to have been dropped …”

Tony, thanks for your report but I have to say I am disappointed to hear that. It seems that the ever increasing decrease in German Pilsner IBUs (as reported by Conrad Seidl) is very much an ongoing thing.

Prost!

 

I guess their stance that manly = hoppy only works to a degree and if they want to sell more beer they'll have to go mainstream like every other industry brew before or after them did and will. Why are we even talking about this anyways ?

 

OK, let's talk about your recent trip to Austria. Did you drink any interesting beers there?

Prost!