Drink This! Cheap Beers of Europe

Over the past five months, I've traveled N.E.S.W. over the European and African landside. I've collected my fair share of beers. Cheap Beers! I've already posted a few of them, but now I will finish the beer...err, job off.

I will also spice up the blog series with a few nice beers too! Here is a great link on a fav of mine...not just a beer, also a meal!

Generic Light Beer...Croatian Style!

As soon as I saw this beer in the store...I knew it was something special!

This was my second trip to Croatia. I really enjoyed my first visit to Split. I guess it's safe to say...I kind of fell in love with Croatia. The people are very nice, and they love to eat meat...lots of it! They also have several real good beers and wines.

This beer was by far the cheapest beer on the shelf. For one half liter, I spent a whopping...36 euro-cents. So for a little more than two 8oz cans of beer, I spent around 50 cents. I great deal for beer drinking on the cheap! The logo was what first caught my eye. It just seemed to be a generic logo. I was right. The red box the the white "M" in it is the stores generic brand. Pivo is Croatian for "beer" and Svetlo is Croatian for "light." So this is in fact...generic light beer. YUMMY!
You can tell by the picture this beer had a really nice pour. The head was thick and aromatic. The color golden-amber. I was really starting to get excited about my cheap Croatian beer. However...the excitment stopped dead in it's tracks as soon as I took a drink. The aromatic smells of the head were gone. There was suprisingly NO taste in this beer. It tasted like lightly flavored water. 4.0% flavored water.

Don't judge Croatian beers by this! They do make a fantastic beer. I guess you could call it the Bud of Croatia...Karlovacko. Very tasty. As for the rest of Croatian beers...??? Well I think this video best describes them:

Why Not Be Yourself For A Moment...Cheap Beer Review

I've decided to embark on a new gastronomic adventure...in beer! Everywhere you look there is some guy touting about the latest and greatest beer du jour! I admit...I do like to read about those beers and drink them too. However, after a year of living in Italy...away from many of such beers, I've decided I should do the opposite. What about those beers...no one drinks nor blogs about? What about those lack-luster beers? Well...they are everywhere here in Italy! Long gone is my huge selection of German, Belgian, and Czech beers. Everywhere I look...cheap beer from the "non-beer" making countries.

"Why not be yourself for a moment," is the catchphrase from what appears to be a pedestrian, middle-class, non-descript Swedish beer maker. This beer has been in production since 1965. I found my Norrlands Guld (7.2) at my favorite home away from home....IKEA, for 1 Euro. Roughly $1.35!

My eyes first were drawn to the word "DYNAMIT" on the very top of the can. I thought maybe this can was packed with explosive hops and barley. Then the three trout caught my attention. What advertisement agency told these guys..."Hey...put three fish on the can if your really want to sell a lot of this beer." Of course the magnificent Swedish landscape that rounds out the can puts me at ease. Will this beer have notes of fish, spring water, and dynamite?

Here is the review. I was completely ready for a crap beer that possibly might be made from left over IKEA meatballs. However, that was not the case. The beer is a whopping 7.2%, but it went down like a 3.2%. It has a delightful ashy and fruity taste. The head was thin and deflated only moments after the pour. Very little after taste. In all...a pretty good beer. I guess I will have to go back to IKEA and try it with those famous meatballs! The beer was almost as good as their advert campaign. Please enjoy the Swedish commercial!

OK Beer...Had Better!

Found another Belgium beer at the store. I'm a sucker for Abbey beers. I think it is so awesome monks make beer. In all actuality, I've spent a good bit of time thinking about this. Here's how the thought process goes. I believe in God...check. I believe in good beer...check. I look good in brown....check. Making beer for the lord has to be the best gig in town. Right? :)

Here is my take on Affligem Blond 1074: It poured very nicely, fantastic head, aromatic smells, and a bold color. However, when the beer reached the back of my mouth, the taste went a bit wonky. It still is a good beer and I would drink it again.

You should check out Affligem's website. Some wicked cool chanting monks. You can't visit the abbey, but you can visit the cultural center where you can also buy cheese and wine.

Yummy French Beer?

Well, this trip to France made things really clear to me. I think I'm more French than Italian! Shelly and I chowed down on some great food during our stay. However, we did pick a crappy salami. I however, redemed this sloppy choice with the fantastic La Goudale beer. This 7.2% Blonde poured out with a creamy head. Their website says it is a recipe dating back to the middle ages. Translated: This beer is awesome! The problem...you probally won't be able to find it in the USA. According to the website:

Among the major distributors : Atac, Auchan, Carrefour, Casino, Champion, Cora, Géant, Intermarché, Leclerc, Match, Monoprix, Super U.

There are a few places in the states you can find it. Check out RateBeer to find a place near you.
This beer has intense malty flavors, with hints of some earthy undertones. The flavor fills your mouth and goes down smoothly. Beer Advocate gave this beer a solid "B." I give it a solid "A." If you ever find youselves in France...stop by an Auchan or Champion and pick some up. You can thank me later.

Yummy Italian!

OK! So we've been in Italy for almost a year and I'm now just getting to my first Taste This! blog. Suffice to say I've had my fair share of: wine, risotto, bruschetta, pizza, parmigiano, mozzarella, speck, soppressa veneto, balsamic, and soups...which I will post about later.

My first blog begins now...

The other day I duped Shelly into a trip to a small shop in our town. It is very small and non-descript...with the exception of what appeared to be a large jug I've seen locals fill with wine. Lots and Lots of wine. I've been trying to get Shelly into one of these stores...called an Enoteca for awhile now. (FYI, you can also buy fresh milk this way too!) Today was my lucky day. We walked into the enoteca and it was decked out with old fashion radios, wine, olive oil, balsamic oils, and even some beer. (Of course I bought that too!) Along the side wall were four giant tanks. They kind of looked like old gas pumps. Then the mecca! The back wall had 40-50 taps. The tanks and taps all had different types of local/regional wines. YEP! This place is like Costco, except they only sell wine in bulk. Here's the kicker! IT IS SUPER GOOD & CHEAP! You pick the wine you like, and give the owner the vessel of you choice. No lie, someone brought in a water bottle and filled it up! You can buy as little as a water bottle up to 50 liters. We opted for the 5 liter option. (Roughly 1.3 gallons.) Of course the fun didn't stop there. We then had to buy bottles and lids...and as you can tell, drink a few glasses before we made the transfer to small 1 liter sized bottles. The price per liter for this wine is about $6. If were to buy this wine in a bottle at a regular store the price would be around $12. Shelly and I have been drinking this wine all weekend. It is sooo good in fact, I was suppose to go TDY for an overnight trip, but stayed home and drank this wine instead. Of course I had to get up super early the next morning for my news story coverage.

The fun in the store didn't stop there! The owner was very hip and happy to speak English to us. Our Italian is waay bad still. He told us he loves to drink and eat. Shelly and I thought to ourselves..."We Do TOO!" He said, he only likes to eat and drink the best, so that is why he has this store full of only the best. He brought us over to the olive oils. There were three different levels available. Light (leggero), Medium (medio), and Intense (intenso). Normally, we pay about $4-6 for a large bottle of olive oil. The oils here ranged from $15-50. Thankfully, there was a sample pack. We spent the majority of Sunday eating bread with these oils and drinking our new wine. It was a good Sunday!

There was also a nice selection of balsamic vinegars. Some aged up to 30-years. The owner was very nice to us and gave us two samples of 30-year vinegar. We've not tried it yet. We also bought a case of some Italian beer that has won several gold/silver medals in world-wide best beer contests. More to come on the beer!