Bud (#24)

Today I am looking at another side of the Budweiser trademark dispute. Few episodes back I tried Budejovicky budvar. Luckily I was able to find the other Budweiser in my local supermarket. It is sold here as Bud since the Anheuser Busch can use Budweiser brand only in the US.

So let's see what is this beer really about...


Bud review from Girl Likes Beer on Vimeo.

1. [PRE-REVIEW]

• brewery: Stag Brewing Company, UK
  
• type of beer: lager
  
• bought in: @ supermarket in Warsaw
  
• container grade (bottle): a king of beer bottle;) 
  

2. [REVIEW]

• the looks: head (classic white and disappearing), body (light yellow)
  
• the taste: hoppy with refreshing aftertaste
  
• the smell: hoppy
  

3. [RECOMMENDATION]

I'll have another one but maybe not right away...

Beer temple in Thailand

Hello everyone. I was out skiing which is my kind of lame excuse for my recent absence. I got a small face injury so I am/was unable to tape new reviews. In the meantime I want to share something cool I found today.

Apparently Buddhist monks found an excellent way to recycle beer bottles. They took some (actually a lot, around 2,5 million) bottles and used them to build the Wat Pa Maha Chedi Kaew temple (Million Bottles Temple). The temple has around 20 rooms, including a toilet also made out of bottles.

The monks started collecting the bottles in 1984. However not every beer bottle is good enough for this temple. They used only green Heineken bottles and local brown Chang bottles.

The caps were used for the mosaic in front of the temple.

via TreeHugger

Palm (#23) "Here I come"

The rethinking time is over. I am back with video reviews. New and improved. Or at least I think so. The first 2009 video review brings us closer to the Belgium as I try to see if the Belgium ales are fruity or not. The beer in question is called Palm. I wanted to tell its story in the video but I was so nervous - hope you won't notice that;) - that I forgot. So here it is. I found it on the Palm breweries site.

1364 Charles IV, Emperor of Germany, obliged brewers to use hops when brewing beer according to the "Novus Modus Fermentandi Cervisiam".
With this decree Brabant, as opposed to the county of Flanders, which was governed by the French king, was made to use hops. The French king proclaimed the "gruit" duty which prescribed spices but no hops. Hops keep beer from turning sour. That is why the beer quality improved significantly in Brabant. The bacteriostatic effect of hops makes the yeast flora take the upper hand: this is how "top-fermented beers" come about. Top yeasts, called Saccharomyces Cerevisiae, are active at ambient temperature and rise to the top by the end of the fermentation, they give the beer more taste and aroma.

In 1904 the Belgian brewery schools organised a competition to improve Belgian beer. The task was to brew a heavier beer with 5 percent alcohol. The brewers of Brabant named this beer Speciale Belge and gave their brands the prefix ‘Special(e)’ or the suffix ‘Ale’. Many brands fell by the wayside, but Palm became the market leader. The Special Belge is amber coloured and has a common alcohol volume of 5,2 %. They are brewed according to the infusion method. The main ingredients are the brewing water rich in minerals and the light coloured malts of maritime barley. The beer is slightly hopped with soft aroma hops. Adding "top yeasts" results in a fruity, full beer with a fine bitter sweet balance. After the first fermentation the "young" tastes will refine and the typical tenderness will develop during the maturation process. Cooling the beer off to 0°C after maturation causes the turbidity that is later filtered out of the beer.

So let's look at Palm more closely.


Palm review from Girl Likes Beer on Vimeo.

1. [PRE-REVIEW]

• brewery: Palm breweries, since 1747
  
• type of beer: ale
  
• bought in: @ supermarket in Warsaw
  
• container grade (bottle): a nice small dark bottle 
  

2. [REVIEW]

• the looks: head (dark and quite thick), body (light amber)
  
• the taste: hoppy
  
• the smell: malty
  

3. [RECOMMENDATION]

I'll have another one but maybe not right away.

Girl Likes Beer is on Facebook

So I finally decided to do it. I made a Girl Likes Beer Facebook page. Go check it out! You can find it here. Since there was a video app in the page template I made a short video entitled "Welcome to Girl Likes Beer. Enjoy!

Welcome to Girl Likes Beer from Girl Likes Beer on Vimeo.

You can also follow me on Twitter, @girllikesbeer.

Beer mugs or so it seems

My search for inspiration continues. Today I'd like to show you some everyday objects pimped with a beer mug. Are you ready:) Enjoy! To stay up to date, follow me on Twitter, it's @girllikesbeer.

Zlatopramen amber (#22)

Since I am still rethinking the video reviews I though to myself. Is there a better way to do it than over a mug (turned out to be a glass, after all) of beer. So in the meantime please enjoy a small guerrilla tasting. I am returning in a way to the early reviews (namely the second, about Staropramen beer). Yesterday I tried Zlatopramen (meaning "gold spring"). To stay up to date with new reviews follow me on Twitter. It's twitter.com/girllikesbeer.

1. [PRE-REVIEW]

• brewery: Drinks Union, since 1867
  
• type of beer: dark lager
  
• bought in: @ bistro "Przegryź" in Warsaw
  
• container grade (bottle): a nice dark bottle 
  

2. [REVIEW]

• the looks: head (forgot to note and it disappeared), body (dark amber)
  
• the taste: malty caramel like
  
• the smell: malty
  

3. [RECOMMENDATION]

I'll have another one and another one...

Just a few cool beer coasters

Today I thought to share some cool beer coasters I find on the web. Actually, these one's I just found today. If you come across some just send me a lind or picture to girllikesbeer [at] gmail.com. ENJOY!