As expected, when I walk by a pizza place (all are sitting outside of course) the majority of people are drinking large (500ml) bottles of Peroni. Probably the second favorite is Heineken, yes in the nasty green bottles that are always skunked. People seem to love it! But if you prefer the taste of fresh skunk in your beer, I guess that is your right. It's a socialist country after all! ;) And yes, sadly I have confirmed that the Heineken is skunked here too. It was the only beer choice at one of my work parties. That said, there is a ton of interest in the fact that I brew and people are interested in learning about beer. People are asking me weekly when they are going to get to try my beer. The equipment is now here, somewhere in storage. I won't get to see it until I have a permanent place to live, probably in September. So if all goes well, I will serve some hefeweizen (a quick beer to make and clearly popular here) in October! The other item of note is, we have beer every Friday....at work. There are bottles of beer/booze in the lunchroom all of the time. Clearly alcohol is viewed differently here. It is the 22-30 year old grad students that are buying the beer so I can't give them too hard of a time about buying the cheap stuff in bulk. A grande (500ml) bottle of Peroni is like 70 cents!
So back to Peroni. The surprise to me is how many "different" beers that Peroni makes (http://www.birraperoni.it/home/ and see below a photo from their website). The whole list is a bit deceptive as they are owned by SABMiller and so is Pilsner Urquell etc. but there are Peroni beers that I had never seen before. Clearly, the craft beer market is heating up here and even the big boys are trying to make sure they tap (pun intended) into that. I have tried several of their "birra artigianale" (craft beers) and can sum it up with one word, "meh". Nothing special so far. Same goes for Birra Moretti. Clearly they have a preference for STRONG beer. Everywhere seems to have what they categorize as "double pilsners" which are high alcohol yellow fizzy beers. Probably the best common one is Ceres Strong Ale from Denmark.
So what has been worth drinking that I can find within walking distance, my current mode of transportation? There have been a number of decent hefeweizens from Germany including Franziskaner Weissbier and Domfürsten Weissbier. Other German finds that you can't get in Frederick include a true Bock, Kenner Bockbier, and a zwickl, Kenner Zwickl. I know, I know, that last beer looks like a play on my name but it isn't! I had only tried one before, one I judged at a comp one time so this was the first commercial zwickl I have had. A zwickl is a fresh, unfiltered beer. It is kind of loose category and can be an ale or a lager. Traditionally, they were not even bottled. They typically have low carbonation and the key thing is to serve it unfiltered and fresh. The one I tried was basically a cloudy, German-style pilsner. I liked it. Kind of like a pilsner with more body, a bit yeasty and flavorful. Another very common beer to find here is a Radler and several of them have been German or Dutch. A radler is often a pilsner missed 50/50 with lemonade. They are very refreshing when it is hot and low alcohol so easy to consume (like 2-2.5% is typical. The original beer would be twice that). I have tried several (as it is hot!) and my favorite was a grapefruit radler (Pomelo Radler) from Dreher, an Italian company. Julie is going to love how easy it is to get a Radler as she enjoys that style! Not sure she is up to drinking 500mls of it but I will get her training.
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| Dinner one evening, about $3, Radler included |
There also has been a pretty decent selection of Belgian (or Dutch versions of Belgian beer) beers! Most common is Belgian blond (Monastère Bière Blonde, La Chouffe), Belgian pale ales (Abbaye de Forest Blonde) and witbier (Laurentius Kloosterbier White Blanche among others), but I have also found Saison Dupont Biologique! This tasty saison was only $5.30 for a 750ml bottle. IF you can find it in Maryland, it would be easily cost 4x that.
There are many small stores around me and most carry only 4-5 different beers. Typically, you buy by the individual can or bottle but occasionally you see a 3-pack, rarely a 6-pack, or you can buy the whole case....often for cheap. That is how the grad students buy the Peroni, cases of the 500ml bottles fill our cold room at work! The biggest grocery store near me has a much better selection, a full row or probably 50 kinds of beer and featured the ONLY IPA I have seen so far. It was Long Hammer IPA from Red Hook. Not the best IPA around but when you haven't had one for weeks, it tasted pretty good. It was expensive. It was on sale and I suspect it was because nobody was buying it. I bought the last 6-pack. It was 1.96 (euros) per bottle which today works out to nearly $13 a six pack! So the Saison Dupont was a much better value.
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| Best beer selection near me |
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| Best beer selection near me |
The other thing of note is ALL beer in every store has been sold warm. The stores actually have very little cold storage space, likely since electricity is so expensive. When you buy beer at a restaurant, however, there is a cooler right up front so you can pick out what you want which is nice.
So although it has not been beer heaven so far, I am not going thirsty either. Clearly the beer scene is changing here and fast. With places like this: http://www.beer-shop.it/, where you can get beer from all over the world (including Frederick's own Flying Dog) shipped to you, it is not long before there will be cold beer in every store.
After this, I need a beer!
Ciao
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