Beer

Steve and I drove through a corner of Austria, Saturday on our way to Prague. We stopped for dinner in the town of Bregenz.

We each had schnitzle: Steve the pork, me the veal but the highlight of the meal for me was discovering this beer- http://www.augustiner-braeu.de/augustiners/html/en/Sortiment.html

I'm not much of a beer drinker. I may drink beer 4 or 5 times a year and when I do it is usually a Pilsner Urquell that I prefer. This German Pils-style beer is my new favorite! It is lighter than Pilsner Urquell, crisp and very dry with a flinty flavor.

I.love.this.beer.

This Pils would be perfect on a hot summer day when a light and crisp beer is in order. I would love to try this beer with fried perch and coleslaw.

We broke the drive to Prague into two parts. After dinner in Bregenz we drove for another hour and a half or so then pulled over for the night. Sunday morning we woke and drove to Plzen (Pilsen) for a tour of the Pilsner Urquell brewery.

Though Pilsner Urquell has been fermented in large stainless steel tanks since the early 1990's they still ferment some batches in oak barrels like they used to so that they can compare the taste and other elements of the beers for consistency's sake.

We got to finish the tour with a taste of beer from the oak barrels. Steve and I both thought it had a slightly different flavor. It was a touch richer, rounder in the mouth and more caramely tasting.

This website has a fact filled page on Pilsner Urquell's history and the brewery-

http://www.brewingtechniques.com/library/backissues/issue5.3/urquell.html

It was a good tour and funny to have taken it the day after Pilsner Urquell was replacedd as my favorite beer!