Worldwide Beers! Pilsner Urquell and Mythos

This past Friday night I was at church, drinking. No, seriously. WAIT COME BACK.
 

Actually, it was a Greek Orthodox church for a cultural festival. A buddy at Lost Leaf had told me about it, as I had been looking for something...anything...that would get me a long way away from home that particular night (long story). Lots of yummy Greek food, they had the best gyro, and these little donut things, loukoumades, that are covered in honey and filled with cheese and joy, omigod you guys. There were also cash bars serving beer and wine, and there were a lot of wine bottles floating around. They had this lager on ice called Mythos (love the name), a Greek import.

I can best describe it as like Budweiser if they actually cared about making a good product. It's your basic lager, nothing unique about it, but very well made. Its taste is crisp yet inoffensive, and it's light bodied. A good beer to relax with company.

In my pursuit of "slaying the dragon" at the George & Dragon, that's how they call filling out their beer flight for a t-shirt, the bartender Jana suggested I try Pilsner Urquell, a Czech beer they had on tap which was also on the Big Beer Flight list. I'm always down for what's on tap. I had tried this before in the bottle but it was a couple years prior so I'd forgotten everything about it.

Mmm. It tasted like sourdough bread, which I quite like. Otherwise light on the palette, and there was a hint of cloves in the aftertaste which I really liked. Now the BBF book describes it as "blend of Moravian malt and aromatic Saaz hops," which is probably where the sourdough taste comes from. It also says "the aroma is dominated by a floral, spicy hop character," but I didn't pick up on that. It's a quality pilsner that stands out because of that unique flavor.

And there you have it. Mythos wasn't in the BBF, but it was still a good night, good times, and good drinks. Pilsner can be found anywhere, and both are worth trying. I'm your Beer Blogger, and it's beer o'clock somewhere.

Photo credits- Mythos Beer, source: Wikipedia Commons, original author Shadster.
Pilsner Urquell, source: Wikipedia Commons, original author Gent Thaçi.

The Big Beer Flight: Beers Of The World

Hi there, I'm your Beer Blogger, and have you ever wanted to try all the beers? ALL the beers? I know I have!

So last year, my friend Katie bought for my birthday a book, Beers of the World: Over 350 Classic Beers, Lagers, Ales, and Porters, by David Kenning. As books go on one of my favorite subjects, it's a pretty good read. It gives brewery history, regional information, taste review, even pairing suggestions. It's not comprehensive, and one of the biggest sections is devoted to American beers, but it's a good introduction to beers worldwide and brewing traditions.  And it's got purty pictures.  But it's not a review I'm writing here.

Lots of bars and ale houses have a beer flight, a checklist of their beers where completing the flight will earn you a prize, like a t-shirt. Restaurant chains like "Old Chicago" have them, and smaller establishments like my local pub "George and Dragon" have them. That's a lot of beers, and they can only be redeemed at the restaurant or pub that originates the list, and more and more they come with mobile phone apps that let you track your beers. That's not gonna work for me. Y'see, my phone isn't compatible with those apps, and besides, it's too easy!

So here's the plan. I'm using this book as my own personal beer flight. I'm going to taste every beer listed in this book, domestic and foreign! The easy part is comparing beer menus and store inventories to the index in the back of the book for sampling. The hard part will be those beers that require a passport. AWESOME!!!

To start, I've gone through the beer menu at Lost Leaf, this local pub in downtown Phoenix with a diverse menu that's always changing. There's several Belgian, Czech, and German beers in the fridge, not to mention a huge list of national beers. Oh, there's also British, Canadian and even a Lithuanian brew but they weren't in the book. More to come on the Lost Leaf menu, later.

But next, will be sampling the German brews at Oktoberfest this month! Let's see how many of them are in the book, and how they taste.

That's it for now, I'm your Beer Blogger, and it's beer o'clock somewhere.