Beer of the Weekend #84: Bitburger Premium Pils
Tonight I heard the word “scamper.”
Like “rumble” and “romp,” “scamper” is not an everyday word. It’s not used in idle chit-chat, like “We were out of PBR, so I scampered over to Dirty John’s.” It’s a football word, used to describe long touchdown runs by little scat backs. Tonight it was used by Rece Davis during ESPN’s telecast of the Dike-New Hartford vs. Aplington-Parkersburg game. It gave me a hard on. Well, not really, but you know.
FOOTBALL!
The beer this weekend is Bitburger Premium Pils brewed by the Bitburger Braugruppe Gmbh of Bitburg, Germany.
Bitburger is the beer BevMo! describes as “just BEGGING for a heat wave!” Well, here’s your heat wave.
As much as I love hefeweizen, I’m getting a little burnt out on it. Last week, while reviewing Hacker-Pschorr Weisse, I couldn’t help but think, “Yep. It’s a hefe.” I reviewed it unenthusiastically, which is uncommon. So this week I decided to take a break. The heat wave gave me a chance to put Bitburger to the test.
I originally planned to buy Paulaner Premium Pils. From my experience, a Paulaner version of any beer is usually a good introduction to the style (the dopplebock — Paulaner Salvator — was lacking, though). It’s been a while since I had a true pilsner (unless you count LaBatt Blue, the “Pilsner-style Canadian lager”), so I wanted to ease back into the style with a brewer I trusted. However, as I realized last week, I shouldn’t always trust BevMo! I took a sixer of PPP from the shelf and peeked at the freshness date on one of the bottles. The label read “Produced on 6/08.” WHOA! And I thought a beer from February was old. I replaced the sixer on the shelf and checked a bottle from the only other six-pack of PPP: “Produced on 3/08.” I put it back on the shelf and grabbed the Bitburger.
On my way to the register I saw one of the friendly BevMo! experts in a wine aisle (he was sitting on the floor examining bottles on the bottom shelf) and I thought about being a good beer drinker and telling him about the potential skunk bombs in the German section. But I didn’t. I’ve been meaning to write a BeerAdvocate review of the store, so I’ll mention it there.
Serving type: Six 12-ounce bottles.
Appearance: Poured in a 16-ounce pilsner glass. Clean, clear golden color. A finger of head developed but dissipated almost instantly to a leave a ring around the edge.
Smell: Nice barnyard malts, though there’s much more snappy bitterness than there would be in a German lager.
Taste: Oh, malty goodness. That’s about it, but it’s still crisp and tasty. There is a slight hop bite at the end, but nothing major.
Drinkability: As BevMo! says, it’s “BEGGING for a heat wave.” Well, it got one, and it hits the spot. There’s zero complexity, but it quenches.
Fun facts about Bitburger Premium Pils:
-Cost: $9.99/sixer at the BevMo! on Beach.
-Serving temperature: 48ºF.
-Alcohol content: 4.8 percent ABV.
-Food pairings: Beers of the World recommends this vague shit: “A fine aperitif to stimulate the appetite.” Like what?
-The brewery’s slogan “Bitte ein Bit,” which appears on the carrier, can be translated to “A Bit, please.” According to Wikipedia, the slogan in the ‘80s “was ‘Abends Bit, morgens fit’ (‘Bit in the evening, fit in the morning’) implying that the consumption wouldn't lead to a hangover.”
-Founded in 1817, Bitburger claims to be the first brewery to use the term “pilsner” (in 1883).
-Here’s an interesting fact found in Michael Jackson’s Great Beer Guide: “At a time when most breweries were local, Bitburger could distribute by rail: a line had been built to carry cannon from steelworks at Saarbrücken to the Prussian army.”
-Bitburger Pils is also sold in 5 Liter mini kegs. I’ve always wanted to get a mini keg, but I’m too chicken. Though, if PBR came in a mini keg, I would have no problem with relocating the very few foodstuffs my roommate actually has in the fridge. Pathetic piece of shit.
-Bitburg is located in west Germany, very near the border with Luxembourg.
The Quiet Man’s grade: B-.
Like “rumble” and “romp,” “scamper” is not an everyday word. It’s not used in idle chit-chat, like “We were out of PBR, so I scampered over to Dirty John’s.” It’s a football word, used to describe long touchdown runs by little scat backs. Tonight it was used by Rece Davis during ESPN’s telecast of the Dike-New Hartford vs. Aplington-Parkersburg game. It gave me a hard on. Well, not really, but you know.
FOOTBALL!
The beer this weekend is Bitburger Premium Pils brewed by the Bitburger Braugruppe Gmbh of Bitburg, Germany.
Bitburger is the beer BevMo! describes as “just BEGGING for a heat wave!” Well, here’s your heat wave.
As much as I love hefeweizen, I’m getting a little burnt out on it. Last week, while reviewing Hacker-Pschorr Weisse, I couldn’t help but think, “Yep. It’s a hefe.” I reviewed it unenthusiastically, which is uncommon. So this week I decided to take a break. The heat wave gave me a chance to put Bitburger to the test.
I originally planned to buy Paulaner Premium Pils. From my experience, a Paulaner version of any beer is usually a good introduction to the style (the dopplebock — Paulaner Salvator — was lacking, though). It’s been a while since I had a true pilsner (unless you count LaBatt Blue, the “Pilsner-style Canadian lager”), so I wanted to ease back into the style with a brewer I trusted. However, as I realized last week, I shouldn’t always trust BevMo! I took a sixer of PPP from the shelf and peeked at the freshness date on one of the bottles. The label read “Produced on 6/08.” WHOA! And I thought a beer from February was old. I replaced the sixer on the shelf and checked a bottle from the only other six-pack of PPP: “Produced on 3/08.” I put it back on the shelf and grabbed the Bitburger.
On my way to the register I saw one of the friendly BevMo! experts in a wine aisle (he was sitting on the floor examining bottles on the bottom shelf) and I thought about being a good beer drinker and telling him about the potential skunk bombs in the German section. But I didn’t. I’ve been meaning to write a BeerAdvocate review of the store, so I’ll mention it there.
Serving type: Six 12-ounce bottles.
Appearance: Poured in a 16-ounce pilsner glass. Clean, clear golden color. A finger of head developed but dissipated almost instantly to a leave a ring around the edge.
Smell: Nice barnyard malts, though there’s much more snappy bitterness than there would be in a German lager.
Taste: Oh, malty goodness. That’s about it, but it’s still crisp and tasty. There is a slight hop bite at the end, but nothing major.
Drinkability: As BevMo! says, it’s “BEGGING for a heat wave.” Well, it got one, and it hits the spot. There’s zero complexity, but it quenches.
Fun facts about Bitburger Premium Pils:
-Cost: $9.99/sixer at the BevMo! on Beach.
-Serving temperature: 48ºF.
-Alcohol content: 4.8 percent ABV.
-Food pairings: Beers of the World recommends this vague shit: “A fine aperitif to stimulate the appetite.” Like what?
-The brewery’s slogan “Bitte ein Bit,” which appears on the carrier, can be translated to “A Bit, please.” According to Wikipedia, the slogan in the ‘80s “was ‘Abends Bit, morgens fit’ (‘Bit in the evening, fit in the morning’) implying that the consumption wouldn't lead to a hangover.”
-Founded in 1817, Bitburger claims to be the first brewery to use the term “pilsner” (in 1883).
-Here’s an interesting fact found in Michael Jackson’s Great Beer Guide: “At a time when most breweries were local, Bitburger could distribute by rail: a line had been built to carry cannon from steelworks at Saarbrücken to the Prussian army.”
-Bitburger Pils is also sold in 5 Liter mini kegs. I’ve always wanted to get a mini keg, but I’m too chicken. Though, if PBR came in a mini keg, I would have no problem with relocating the very few foodstuffs my roommate actually has in the fridge. Pathetic piece of shit.
-Bitburg is located in west Germany, very near the border with Luxembourg.
The Quiet Man’s grade: B-.
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