Euro Lagers - Part 4: Belgium, the Netherlands and Austria

While hardly representative of Belgian beers, Stella Artois is a large part of Belgium's export market. It is included here with a trio of Euro lagers from Holland and one from Austria.

Stella Artois (Belgium)5.0%

A pronounced mix of sweet maltiness and dry hops. The result is a sweet moderately bitter lager that is refreshing and characteristically well balanced. There is also a detectable skunky off-flavour, that comes about due to the use of a green bottle which doesn't block UV-B the way a brown bottle does. Though technically an off-flavour I feel the skunkiness adds to the balance of the beer by forming a bridge between the malt and the dry hops.

Hollandia (The Netherlands) 5.0%

A somewhat yeasty, grain aroma. Full gold in a glass. Malty and quite bitter. A slight metallic alcohol flavour which is surprising for a beer that is only 5.0%. A generally unremarkable beer but not bad.

Grolsch (The Netherlands) 5.0%

Its characteristic flip-top bottle is a favourite of home-brewers (read: favourite of mine) and has also seen service as a bottle for homemade hot-sauce. The beer itself is gold in a glass. It tastes quite bitter for a lager with a dry hops flavour. A pleasant and typical European lager.

Heineken (The Netherlands) 5.0%

A creamy malt aroma with a bitter touch of dry hops and a splash of something skunky despite the fact that this beer came in a half-litre can and not a green glass bottle. There is also banana in the aroma. Gold in a glass with perfect frothy head.

The taste is sweetly malty, chaulky with a distinct but not overpowering banana flavour. Not very bitter at all and not much of the dry hops flavour I get in the aroma, as a result Heineken seems to be more like a North American, rather than a Euro, lager.

Stiegl (Austria - Salzburg) 4.9%

Such a warm sweet malty scent. The aroma doesn't carry over that strongly into the flavour. Quite bitter, hoppy. Has barest hints of apple and nut. Yellow, fizzy, highly drinkable and more bitter than most lager/pilsner types; although it is bitter without a sprucy hops punch like an IPA, there is still a bit of hops character to go along with the bitterness and fizz. Also, the old-style design of the beer can is quite likeable.


 In case you missed it, here are the earlier Parts to this Euro Lager Saga:

Euro Lagers - Part 1: The Czech Republic
Euro Lagers - Part 2: Scandinavia
Euro Lagers - Part 3: Germany

Euro Lagers - Part 3: Germany

Germany is known for the Bavarian Purity Law (one of the older trade barriers) and its lagers (the word lager means 'storehouse' in German) and most of them taste very similar to each other. For that reason I am starting this post with one that tastes better than all the rest.

Hacker-Pschorr Munich Gold (Germany - Munich) 5.5%

Full gold in a glass with a malty and sweet aroma tinged with a dry hops halo. The taste is bitter more than sweet and has a very dry hops taste than nearly masks the malt. A perfect pilsner style lager which should come as no surprise as all the Hacker-Pschorr's products that I have tried are of top quality (their Hefeweisen is truly wonderful). Because it's so much a true pilsner, people who prefer their lagers yellow and fizzy but bland probably won't like: it really is quite bitter. Oh and it comes in a cool (and very useful) swing-top bottle.

Beck's (Germany - Bremen) 5.0%

A lightly malted, slightly skunky lager (green bottle!) with a dry hoppy tone and a hint of spice. A nicely drinkable European style lager.

DAB (Germany) 5.0%

A malty aroma with more than a touch of dry hops. A sweet malty body with a watery mouthfeel with a dash of dry hops and a slightly bitter finish. The taste is sweeter at first than the average Euro lager but the dryness of hops prevents DAB from tasting too sweet, the end result of which is a slightly sweeter but mostly average Euro lager.

Wernesgruner (Germany) 4.9%

A very pale beer with a full frothy head. This beer, brewed in accordance with the German purity law of 1436, has the dry hops flavour I associate with a pilsner. It is quite bitter though otherwise a fairly mild malt flavour and sweetness. Not any surprises in this half-litre can, this beer is very typical of german pilsners: bitter and generally ordinary.

Warsteiner (Germany) 4.8%

Light gold colour in a glass with a malty smell. Musty very bitter taste, hoppy but not sprucy at all. A good lager taste and good with food because the bitterness clears the palate nicely.

Lowenbrau Original (Germany - Munich) 5.2%

Yellow and fizzy, obviously European with its dry hops flavour (not to be confused with beer that has been dry-hopped). A little sweeter than a Grolsch. Somewhat malty, a little bitter. A rather plain pilsner all-told. Drinkable but not remarkable.

Krombacher (Germany) 4.8%

Very pale gold in a glass. A bitter classic European pilsner with its trademark dry hops flavour. Some grain malt flavours also, and some sweetness but more or less a typical pilsner. Very pleasant and easy to drink but not exotic by any measure.

Bitburger (Germany) 4.8%

Malty sweet aroma with more than a hint of dry hops. Also a light fruity touch of something like white grape juice. Pale gold in a glass with a good frothy head.

A nice dry hops taste with plenty of bitterness and some light malt flavour. Bitburger is really quite bitter and as such would pair nicely with food and is nicely refreshing.


 In case you missed it, here are the earlier Parts to this Euro Lager Saga:

Euro Lagers - Part 1: The Czech Republic
Euro Lagers - Part 2: Scandinavia