Brewed By: Radeberger Exportbierbrauerei (Oetker Group) in Radeberg, Germany
Purchased: 1 Pint 0.9oz bottle (16.9oz) from a 4-pack bought at Binny's in IL; 2012
Style/ABV: German Pilsner, 4.8%
Today we are cracking open a German Pilsner from Radeberger. The Radeberger website is fucking horrendous. It rapes you with a terrible flash intro, and I don't know what happens next and I don't care to find out. Strike one for their shitty website. According to Wikipedia, Radeberger started back in 1872 under Zum Bergkeller, where he founded the brewer in the town of Radeberg. Radeberger ranges number 9 among Germany's best selling breweries. Radeberger was the first brewery in Germany to brew their beer exclusively in the Pilsner style. In 2004, the Oetker Gruppe purchased the company and made Radeberger private. According to Wikipedia, Radeberger appears to be the favorite beer of Charlie Harper in Two and a Half Men. That last tidbit of trivia is more useful than the Radeberger website, which is saying a lot.
If you roll over to the German Beer Institute, you can get the breakdown of the Pils style, but there's not much to it:
The beer pours with a nice 3-finger's worth of white head. The head is surprisingly fluffy and foamy, and it's hanging around. The beer has a pale golden color (not captured very accurately by my picture), and you can see quite a bit of carbonation rising upwards from the transparent body. In bright light, the beer looks about the same....there is some lacing, and I'm fairly impressed with head retention, which is dominating the American Macro Lager style.
The aroma on this is grainy Pils malt, a hint of snappy biscuit, refreshing cleanness, a hint of honey and biscuit, and some faint and grassy Noble hops.
The taste on this is pretty nice, with a clean profile that doesn't have any terrible off flavors or skunk. Jeez, what a kind thing to say about a beer. "It doesn't taste like ass!" But seriously, this has a nice bready/biscuit/dough/cracker thing going on, with some zesty hop astringency, a lttile bit of grass, a hint of citrus, and a little bit of fruity/green apple. This has a dry, malty finish, with those Pils malts standing out nicely.
This is really clean, refreshing, drinkable stuff. At 4.8%, you can session this. Palate depth is great for the style, complexity is also solid, and the mouthfeel is medium-light. Up front is some Pils malt, grain, bread, honey; this rolls into hop astringency, grass; this rolls into more grain, Pils malt, and some more hops goodness. The finish is dry and biscuity. You do get that hard water thing, the Pils malts stand out, and some green apple runs through.
Rating: Above-Average
I'm feeling a Decent Above-Average on this. There's not much to complain about here...or discuss for that matter. This is a solid Pilsner, and an enjoyable if not surprisingly more complex beer than I was expecting. You could pair this with potatoes and sausage, fish, Japanese food and sushi, or even peppery chicken. Good stuff.
Random Thought: Fuck you Phillip Rivers. You got the Peyton treatment.
If you roll over to the German Beer Institute, you can get the breakdown of the Pils style, but there's not much to it:
"Pils is arguably the most successful beer style in the world. Nine out of ten beers drunk in the worldtoday are made according to the Pilsner style or a style directly derived from it. Pils is a very blond, brilliantly clear, moderately effervescent lager, modeled largely after a beer style invented in 1842 in the Czech city of Pilsen. Pils is often strongly hopped with an assertive up-front bitterness bite. It emerged in the north of Germany. Perhaps the classic representation of the style is Jever Pils, a beer from a small town by the same name. Jever Pils is being imported into the United Sates and is available in many parts of the country."I'll maybe go into the history some other time, but the writeup the German Beer Institute provides is very good. If you check out the BJCP guidelines for the German Pilsner (2A. German Pilsner (Pils)), you'll see they describe this as a beer with a light, grain, Pils malt character, with some hints of flowery spice, or noble hops. This should be a clean beer with no fruity esters or diacetyl. Let's glass this beer up and see if it's any better than their website.
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| Radeberger Pilsner |
The beer pours with a nice 3-finger's worth of white head. The head is surprisingly fluffy and foamy, and it's hanging around. The beer has a pale golden color (not captured very accurately by my picture), and you can see quite a bit of carbonation rising upwards from the transparent body. In bright light, the beer looks about the same....there is some lacing, and I'm fairly impressed with head retention, which is dominating the American Macro Lager style.
The aroma on this is grainy Pils malt, a hint of snappy biscuit, refreshing cleanness, a hint of honey and biscuit, and some faint and grassy Noble hops.
The taste on this is pretty nice, with a clean profile that doesn't have any terrible off flavors or skunk. Jeez, what a kind thing to say about a beer. "It doesn't taste like ass!" But seriously, this has a nice bready/biscuit/dough/cracker thing going on, with some zesty hop astringency, a lttile bit of grass, a hint of citrus, and a little bit of fruity/green apple. This has a dry, malty finish, with those Pils malts standing out nicely.
This is really clean, refreshing, drinkable stuff. At 4.8%, you can session this. Palate depth is great for the style, complexity is also solid, and the mouthfeel is medium-light. Up front is some Pils malt, grain, bread, honey; this rolls into hop astringency, grass; this rolls into more grain, Pils malt, and some more hops goodness. The finish is dry and biscuity. You do get that hard water thing, the Pils malts stand out, and some green apple runs through.
Rating: Above-Average
I'm feeling a Decent Above-Average on this. There's not much to complain about here...or discuss for that matter. This is a solid Pilsner, and an enjoyable if not surprisingly more complex beer than I was expecting. You could pair this with potatoes and sausage, fish, Japanese food and sushi, or even peppery chicken. Good stuff.
Random Thought: Fuck you Phillip Rivers. You got the Peyton treatment.
Nice review. I just got a six pack of these and I'm looking forward to cracking them open even more now.
ReplyDeleteJust picked some up at bevmo and I really like it.
ReplyDeleteIn the UK it has just replaced the DAB beer under the ALDI own label. The DAB pils was excellent so I'm not sure why ALDI changed. A 330cl bottle costs about 67p, (or about 50c US), with an ABV of 4.7. It is sold as Steinhauser, as was DAB, and the labelling has been tarted up. Excellent stuff and outstanding value.
ReplyDeleteDAB isn't a Pils it is a Dortmunder/Export/Helles definitely NOT a Pils at least as far as I recall.
DeletePS Radeberger is a damn good Pils though! I think I read somewhere that it was Prinz Bismarck's beer of choice and more recently Putin's favourite beer when he was stationed in Berlin when he was in the KGB.
DeleteI have been drinking this beer for a while now. My local liquor store has it all the time for a buck less than Bevmo sells it for. At the $6.99 per six pack, 16.9 oz. cans, it is pretty much the best value in a decent pilsner avaliable around here, except for when Costco has Trumer cases on sale for $25.00. I drink the shit out of this beer.
ReplyDeleteI use this beer in my bong and then pour the contents on back yard ant hills.It also cuts through the cotton mouth very well (^u^)
ReplyDeleteI like to drink my Rad bong water like an Otter Von Bismarckian ,so zu zagan " DAS GOOD RAD!"
ReplyDelete