A Year of Beer #15 - Budweiser Budvar vs Pitfield Lager

[smoky2004]

Tried the 500ml bottles of budvar for the first time yesterday, best lager I'ver drank, very clean tasting, no groggy hangover this morning, Budvar is the true king of beers!

[tehfear]

Have you ever tried coors light?

[ZakAvery]

@tehfear Yes. It's free from both flaws and flavour.

[Europimp39]

Being Czech, I do not like the final decision but to be fare I have never tasted that English beer :p

Good review of my favorite beer ;)

[DenisLD]

Great review... That's it I'm subscribing! Oh yes I am +)))

[ZakAvery]

Thanks Denis - I'm in a bit of a Christmas lull at the moment, but will resume shortly

[JonW9999]

Much prefer Budvar Dark! Mmmm.

[ZakAvery]

Hmm, I always find that bottled Badvar is a pretty good standby, in that it's widely available, rarely faulty, and usually pretty good. But you're right, the draught version is streets ahead.

[mlaudio72]

Great video. I've yet to get a bottle of Czechvar (or Pilsner Urquell) here in the states that tasted right. It seems that damn green bottle is the culprit. Had it on tap for the first time a few weeks ago...night and day difference! Wonderful!

[nige4958]

Why in the hell would anyone drink a lager from a wine glass? It's beer mate, not fucking wine. This type of pretentiousness is why people loathe you CAMRA know it alls.

[ZakAvery]

Thanks for your question, whorst. I find a wine glass useful as it means you can easily swirl a beer round to release aroma, and also that if you always use the same sort of glass, you can compare different beers easily.

I'm sorry you don't like my approach - perhaps you might like to post a video showing what you feel is the correct way to taste and talk about beer?

[Woody263]

Loved the video and glad you aknowledged and raised the "American company screwing over the czech" topic (as that really annoys me)

One thing I did notice that made me laugh was the plane going over; Being from London myself It sounded so familiar!

[ZakAvery]

Thanks for your comment. You should check out (or is that Czech out?!) the impact that InBev's purchase of Anheuser-Busch is likely to have on the original Budvar - there are some complicated and interesting arguments out there.

[joshooowahh]

When you say "catty" when describing the smell... Are you referring to cat pee? I often hear the earthy smells of some lagers to be described as skunky... both I guess are offensive adjectives although the smell is not quite as offensive as it sounds... Sometimes I find a cabbagey smell in some lagers...

[ZakAvery]

Thanks for your comment. When I say catty, I guess I do mean cat's pee - it's not very flattering or appetising, but it refers to the pungent, slightly feral aroma quality of the hops. I'm guessing Willamette hops are in there, as this tends to give what I perceive as a slightly dirty note - it's not a criticism, I think it goives a certain amount of life to a beer!

[ZakAvery]

The word skunky could also be applied, although this tends to mean that the beer has been "lightstruck", and the hop aromas have developed offputting skunk aromas.

Also, the cabbagey smell is probably dimethyl sulphide, or DMS, which is a by-product of the brewing process. In small quanitites, it can give a lager a nice grain character, but in larger quanitites it can be offputting. It's also responsible for the "sweetcorn" smell that you sometimes get in lager.