Super Bowl Beer Sampling
I like professional football, more specifically the NFL, so Super Bowl Sunday is a special day that is typically reserved for imbibing copious amounts of alcoholic liquidities, parking ones ass in front of a preferably huge television, watching the million dollar thirty second commercials and eating various finger foods. During a recent trip to the local suburban strip mall, I made the decision that I wasn’t going to forget this Super Bowl. I decided that this special Sunday would provide an excellent window to do some beer sampling. I must say that my usual beer selection would be the run of the mill Canadian lager, to which I will not mention the name, which sort of like vanilla sex, good but not really all that exciting. I wandered into the accompanying liquor store, and decided to peruse the beer selection for something exotic, something special, something European. I am not sure if you have recently visited a liquor store in Alberta lately, but the price of beer has become ridiculous. I could tell you a sentimental story about how I remember when the price of beer was… but I will save it as it will date me. After nearly choking over a thirteen dollar six pack, I decided that my sampling would be done based off of 500 mL cans of 4 various import beers coming in at an average of $2.45 per unit. Not cheap, but not unreasonable for 2 liters of the nectar of the gods. It is a cost I am willing to incur for this review.
The Beers
Grolsch
Website: www.grolsch.com
5.0% alcohol
As the Bears scored the touchdown on the opening play of the game, I began to taste this Dutch treat. When I think of Dutch beer, I immediately think of Heineken and I found this beer tasting and smelling remarkably the same. It is deliciously smooth, with a quick finish and subtle bittersweet aftertaste presented in a rich golden color. I would drink this again and could see them going down in mass quantity.
Pilsner Urquell
Website: www.pilsner-urquell.com
4.4% alcohol
Halfway through the second quarter, I cracked open this Czech offering claiming to be the original Pilsner. I can’t qualify this fact but I can qualify its soapy opening and mid taste with a bitter, bitter finish and goldish tint. The taste of this pales in comparison to the Grolsch. I would have expected this beer to be stronger than 4.4% with such expressive flavors. As this tasting continued, this beer started to be tolerable, although I wouldn’t buy it or order it from a bar again.
DAB Original
Website: www.dab.de
5.0% alcohol
At the end of the 3rd quarter, I sampled this German Pilsner throat charmer. The hue of this beer is much lighter than previous tests, and it had a distinctive citrusy smell. It also poured with a nice, frothy head. The first taste took me aback as I still had the Pilsner Urquell taste in my mouth, but the second taste confirmed that this is a simple, uncomplicated beer with a slight bitterness at the end. This is my kind of brew; smooth and gentle with the ability to be chugged.
Holsten Premium
Website: www.holsten.de
5.0% alcohol
Game over, Bears lose. Time to drown my sorrows in the final test subject, Germanys Holsten Premium. So by this point I am pretty soused, so I have this feeling this is going to be the masterpiece of the collection. Boy was I wrong, this has a metallic tin can taste which can probably be attributed to the fact that it came from a can. Strangely though, I do not recall this sensation with the three other test cases. It is bitter from start to finish, and is the palest of the bunch. I could just be trashed, but I continued to drink it and its not half bad, although not great either.
Verdict:
Beer coupled with the right situation is an excellent choice. I recommend drinking it en masse, and trying several different kinds in one evening to really broaden your horizons. Coupled with delicious breads, cheeses and animal flesh, it can be quite a refreshing and enlightening beverage.
- Super Bowl Beer Sampling
- by Adrian Bryksa
- Published on February 15th, 2007
-
Beer:
Grolsch
Pilsner Urquell
DAB Original
Holsten Premium
More from Adrian Bryksa:
-
2007 Calgary Tattoo and Arts Festival
They can tell the world that you are an outlaw, or let people know that you were young and dumb once and have some souvenirs to show for it. These days, they can be a lifestyle indicator or be can added as a one of a kind piece of art.
-
La Vieille Ferme Red 2006
When I saw this inexpensive French red, I imagine myself drinking wine out of a tumbler at some rustic vineyard in the south of France.
-
Bodegas Enrique Foster Reserva Malbec
Due to the fact that people know I drink wine, it seems to be the standard gift gesture when people come to my home as a guest. Conversely, when I go to someones house, I like to do the same.
-
Rocky Mountain Food and Wine Festival 2009
For the first few years, we saw it through the eyes of guests and we kept coming for the wide assortment of beers, spirits and wine. We enjoyed the wide swath of restaurants and retails showing off their samples of delectable nosh.
-
Annie’s Lane Riesling
I love the versatility that Riesling offers from its potential presentation as a sticky sweet late harvest or as mouth-puckering dry example and all of the spots that it can occupy in between.
-
David Walker Wines launches Mission Hill’s Perpetua and Quatrain
When you are a wine freak like me, getting sent invites to wine launch parties brings a combination of nerves, excitement and anticipation.
Other recent features:
-
O Restaurant & Lounge revisited
Calgary has a diverse set of urban communities, most of which have the ubiquitous strip mall watering hole. In the South West community of Marda Loop, a reinvention of this paradigm has been established.
-
Predictions 2010.. and beyond!
So 2010 eh? Almost but not quite (no year zero they say) another decade? It seems like just yesterday that the world was waiting for Y2K. R4NT started publishing in March 2001, so we’re not quite 10 years old yet, but in internet years we are already a senior citizen.
-
Invictus
No matter what, the reality of Nelson Mandela is something that deserves screen time. Should this film even remotely intrigue the masses to take interest in this figure, the world would likely benefit greatly from it.
-
The Road Less Traveled.
The 3PO characters take on a life of their own, for the cartoonist, a serious approach to the development of the characters is taken to deliver Rankel’s ideas in the best possible light, in the most humoring light.
-
Rocky Mountain Food and Wine Festival 2009
For the first few years, we saw it through the eyes of guests and we kept coming for the wide assortment of beers, spirits and wine. We enjoyed the wide swath of restaurants and retails showing off their samples of delectable nosh.
-
Runnin The Poirier Riddim
If you can’t handle hard hitting, body jerking, up tempo beats and heavy bass fused together with dancehall, kuduru, soca, afrobeat and blaring horn sounds, then you are in no way ready for the riddims Poirier has to deliver.