#101: Czech 1, 2, 3 and 4

A while back I spoke about Budvar being one of my go-to session lagers, and I've only now realized that I've yet to dedicate a full article to it. To beef this one up, I decided to try some of the other popular Czech lagers that are so readily available in the supermarkets here, in the form of Staropramen, 1795 and Pilsner Urquell. Of course, all of these beers are pilseners. 

First up is the Budějovický Budvar, also known as Budweiser Budvar and Czechvar, depending on where you happen to be in the world. It pours a crystal clear golden colour with a conservative white head. The aroma offers some sweet, light malts with slight vegetal notes and a touch of metal foil in the hops. Standard stuff. The taste improves on things, with the corn-like vegetal note being ousted and replaced by a lovely biscuit malt character that turns into a syrupy sweet finish. Tasty and just a bit creamy, this is a very satisfying lager. 

Next up is Staropramen, which pours a surprisingly dark shade of amber and supports a nice big head. As expected it's all sweetness and grain on the nose, with hints of fruity, zesty hops thrown in, particularly of the citrus peel variety. Not much changes on the palate, with the light malty sweetness and syrupy finish complimenting the quiet hop profile, almost smothering the tiny hint of bitterness. After a while, you start to notice more prominent caramel and maple syrup notes on the aroma, something you don't get in the Budvar. Once again it's undeniably tasty and very refreshing. Another satisfying lager.

1795 is brewed by the Budějovický Měšťanský Pivovar, as far as I can tell. Paler than the Staropramen but darker than the Budvar, it too supports a small head. The aroma isn't much different from the previous two, with a return to the metallic bite and corn-like malt sweetness as in the Budvar. However, the taste is vastly different from that particular beer. Chewy, sugary sweetness is the order of the day, and the effect is not a million miles away from the dark marzipan sweetness of a doppelbock, although it is much less welcome here. It remains drinkable and all that, but I reckon one bottle is enough. Not half as refreshing as the other two, mind.

Finally, we have the original pilsener. Pilsner Urquell pours dark again like the Staropramen and also sports a big white head. The sweetness on the aroma is similar to the 1795, although it has much more of grainy malt character to it, along with a touch of citrus. The taste is even better, with nicely balanced malt and hop profiles dipping on one end into the toffee malt regions and on the other end into bright citrus peel hoppy regions. The experience throughout, however, remains generally light and very refreshing. Again, a satisfying beer all round.

And now, to pick a favourite. 

Budvar was already a staple of mine, and I was expecting a good showing form Pilsner Urquell, but I was not at all prepared for how much I enjoyed Staropramen. It's a genuinely good beer. All four are worth a try if you've never had them, with 1795 being the only one I'd be happy to leave behind for good.

#45: Euro 2012 - Beer Quarter Finals

Ok then, with the actual Quarter Finals starting tonight I thought I'd better get my act together and announce the second group of beers in the last eight of my own tournament. I do have a confession to make though - I've let Italy down by failing to hunt down any of their craft beers. I was convinced that I wouldn't be able to find such in my area, but The Beer Nut pointed out to me that I should be able to get some Brewfist beers at least, which would surely represent the Italians better than Peroni... As such, I'm going to have to go with Spain instead, to be represented by Estrella Daura, simply for being a light and refreshing drinkable lager that is Coeliac friendly. As someone with Crohn's disease, I appreciate beers like this cropping up on the shelves, whether or not I need the option at this point in time. However, it seems unfair to me that Spain (or Italy) should suffer a poor beer representation and as such, I will allow for a 'substitution' if I get the chance to try a better beer before the competition ends. Otherwise, I promise I'll prepare better for the World Cup in 2014! On with the qualifications then...

In Group A, Poland escape the drop with Zywiec. It's a fairly standard Euro Pilsener-style lager that is cheap as chips and goes down well with strong curries or anything chilli. Fair enough, it may not be an obvious Best In Show, but when Greece and Russia are the two to beat, it was easy for me to make the call.

In Group B, Mikkeller's Texas Ranger chilli stout was a very interesting proposition - Beer Geek Breakfast was also a contender - but like football, my own Euro 2012 isn't always fair, and I've opted to send in La Trappe Tripel for almost purely sentimental reasons. I picked up a bottle of this in a supermarket in Amsterdam, and for someone whose love of beer extended to the various bottled macro lagers we have clogging up Irish shelfspace, you can understand that my tastebuds went into orgasmic shutdown under the caress of my first Trappist Tripel. I soon got the Dubbel on tap, and I was sold to real beer. Good job, Netherlands.

In Group C, it's as I've said - Spain with Estrella Daura. During my first flare-up, I was struggling to find the cause of the terrible stomach pains and was advised to opt for Coeliac friendly food where available. Result.

Lastly, in Group D, with England already through on London Pride, it's got to be France with 3 Monts. This was my first Biere de Garde and I really have to scope out some more of this stuff. It's very, well, farmy, with grainy malty tastes that actually put me in mind of a good lager, as opposed to the Belgian-style Pale I was expecting. Surprisingly (and dangerously) for an 8.5% beer, it drinks extremely well, with only a light dry heat at the end warning you of your imminent intoxication. Very refreshing, good warm weather beer, yet still fulfilling and nourishing. Great stuff.

So there we have it. 

The eight Quarter Finalists are as follows;

Budějovický Budvar - Czech Republic

Paulaner Hefe-weizen - Germany

Beoir Chorca Dhuibhne Carraig Dubh - Rep. of Ireland

Fuller's London Pride - England

Zywiec - Poland

La Trappe Tripel - Netherlands

Estrella Daura - Spain

3 Monts - France

Unlike the real Euro 2012, the Semi Final draw will be done completely randomly from an actual hat, to liven things up a bit.

In the meantime there are some interesting prospects in the cupboard, with Straffe Hendrik Quadrupel awaiting appraisal, Piraat awaiting reappraisal, and Paulaner just might finally be written about properly on this blog. 

#39: Euro 2012 Group Stages and Loosely Linked Beer Talk

Euro 2012 started on Friday, with Poland, Greece, Russia and the Czech Republic fighting it out. Needless to say, the tournament didn't start for me until Spain played Italy yesterday. It was a promising day, with Cork winning the Munster Semi-final and Italy and Spain ending in a draw, an Ireland win would have been perfect. Flags and scarves up, Sam Adams in the fridge, cheap Ireland charity t-shirt on the back... Anyway, we know what happened. In an effort to redeem my national pride and to desperately induce some sense of superiority over the Croatians, I reflected on the fact that we have better beer. Well, probably. I did some research a few weeks before the tournament - as I planned to stage my own Euro 2012 of Beer - and I realised I was going to have trouble buying and trying the beers from some of the participating countries, especially at short notice. For example, I don't know where in Cork I can get my hands on some Croatian, Ukrainian or even Russian beer, and some countries (Spain, Poland, France, Portugal) are only represented in my locale by absolute toss.

So instead, I will do one beer per matchday, with the first four obviously in hindsight (I told you I'd be distracted). 

For matchday one, it was really no contest. I've never had a Greek or Russian beer, and I have to make this clear, I'm not about finding the best beer, just my favourite, and in this case Budějovický Budvar takes it for the Czech Republic. A full-flavoured pilsener that I found ridiculously enjoyable with my curry a while back.

For matchday two, we had more interesting prospects. Netherlands, Denmark and Germany all produce fine beers, with La Trappe, Mikkeller, Wieckse Witte, Paulaner and Weihenstephaner all vying for the considerable honour of being called my favourite. Portugal and beer is a venn diagram that in my mind only has one tiny and insignificant interception - Sagres. Nothing there, then. I would even consider Heineken for the Netherlands, because I have to say having a 250ml glass of the stuff on tap in a sunny Amsterdam really is a much different experience to being served a pint of the fizzy water we get here. That's all redundant, though, because I don't think I was ever not going to choose Paulaner Hefe-Weissbier for Germany.

Matchday three was once again more straightforward. Italy and Spain don't offer much that I've experienced and enjoyed - Peroni was my most recent, with it being unremarkable and, to be honest, not even very refreshing, which I consider the very least a beer like that should be. Croatia was a no-go for me so Ireland have it in the bag. It's a close battle between Porterhouse Brainblásta and Beoir Chorca Dhuibhne's Carraig Dubh, with the latter edging it for it's massive success in making me really enjoy it, despite it's obvious handicap of being a porter.

Finally, matchday four had England and France fighting for the points on the pitch, and they were really the only two contenders in this group. I do know that Sweden have some goods to offer, but I can't say I've tried any, so I can't vouch for that. I also have to admit that I've been slacking on my research - I haven't tried Trois Monts yet. It appears on paper to be the best French beer I can get a hold of, with the only others I can get a hold of being Kronenbourg 1664 and Desperados. It would have been unfair to the good people of France if I put either of these forward only to get destroyed by any number of classy English ales. Don't worry, though, I plan on selecting 4 runners-up beers to make up a quarter finals scenario. How these will be selected is shut up, that's how. Seriously though, rules and regulations for this competition are corrupt on a Turkish football scale. Anyway, my winner for Group D has got to be Fuller's London Pride. It might not be groundbreaking or game-changing, but it's damned delicious drink. Quaff away, but with Trois Monts on the horizon, a beer of a style I am very much attracted to, England may not exactly be running away with it. Money permitting, Sweden may also launch a late challenge for the remaining spot...

So, a recap of the top placed finishers in each group:

Budějovický Budvar - Czech Republic
Paulaner Hefe-Weissbier - Germany
Beoir Chorca Dhuibhne Carraig Dubh - Ireland
Fuller's London Pride - England

Once again, I can't stress enough how the competition is about me finding my favourite and most enjoyable drink, as opposed to judging what is technically the best beer. I simply haven't got the beer knowledge for that sort of thing, to be honest. Also, in an effort to make this as fair as possible, I'm only going to allow one entry per country. This is mainly to prevent me from giving Ireland two beers in the quarter finals, though it doesn't account for me being forced to choose relatively shit beers for countries that I just can't get good beery access to.

Spain, Portugal, Poland, Russia, Italy... I apologize in advance.