Pacífico - Clara

This 355ml bottle was brought to me as a gift by Lucy Garcia Benitez, it contains 4,5% alcohol, as most good pilsen beer do.

It carries this name because it's produced in the port city of Mazatlán, Mexico, right at the Pacific Ocean. As most small breweries nowadays, Pacifico brewery is owned partially by the Anheuser-Bush InBev company, that detains 50% of the stake of Grupo Modelo, owner of Pacifico brewery since 1954.

The brewery was founded by three german guys, back in 1900, and Pacifico Clara is the trademark beer of the company (Clara means simply 'clear', as opposed to dark).

So, over 100 years after that, a small beer botlle, product of a Mexican brewery founded by Germans, crosses the Atlantic Ocean back into Germany in the hands of a Mexican girl flying in a French plane operated by a Dutch company, and is handed in to her Brazilian friend, who got to know her through his Italian friend he met in a English speaking masters program.... Thank you Globalization!!

And, of course, thank you Lucy!

link to the producer: http://www.gmodelo.com.mx/index-2.asp?go=pacifico
Pacifico brewery's history: http://www.vivemazatlan.com/index.php/Historias/Historia-de-la-Cerveceria-del-Pacifico.html

Li Zhi pi jiu - Lychee beer

This is a curiosity in my collection. This beer, as the name suggests, has chinese origins, but, according to the label, it was somehow produced in Germany.

I came across this 330ml bottle while checking a Getränkemarkt (drinks market) in Karlsruhe, Germany. My personal story behind this beer is pretty much the same as the chili beer posted a few weeks ago, but what is really curious about this one is the fact that it contains a quite unusual ingredient for beers... Lychees.

In this 5,5% beer, the slight taste of Lychees is present as a sweet background, not enough to cover the taste of the beer (what would spoil it) but also not enough to bring a big remark about it.

I tried to find some source of information about this beer, but the simple name and lack of indications in the label make this work quite difficult. Yes, I said simple name, the name 'Li Zhi pi jiu' might look fancy and exotic to westerns like me, but it means nothing more than 'Lychee beer' in chinese.

So even if I have to finish this post without a link, I can still bring some piece of information... if you're ever in China, search the menu for these symbols: 啤酒, they mean 'beer' in chinese. Or just learn to say 'Píjiǔ' without an accent, it's easier and should suffice...

Birra Moretti - La Rossa and Baffo D'Oro

Those who read this blog often (or at least as often as I post :P) will realize that I have posted Birra Moretti before, but not these two.

For those who don't check it that often, it's always good to remember... Birra Moretti is an Italian brewery founded in Udine in 1859, by Luigi Moretti, bought by Heineken in 1996.

While the pilsner version is commonly sold worldwide, these two 330ml bottles here presented are a little bit harder to find out of Italy. "Baffo D'Oro" (italian for "Golden Mustache") is the premium version of the regular lager, containing 4,8% alcohol and selected ingredients. "La Rossa" (or "The Red") is their red beer, with 7,2% alcohol and a very strong and characteristic taste.

These bottles were gifted to me by Lorenzo Toffoletti, brought directly from Italy by his parents, Antonella e Romano Toffoletti in june 2010, when we used to share an apartment in Augsburg.

Anyone who thinks Italy doesn't have a beer culture should try La Rossa and think a second time ;)

Link to the producer:

http://www.birramoretti.it/prodotti_la-rossa.htm

http://www.birramoretti.it/prodotti_baffo-oro.htm

Cave Creek - Chili Beer

This Mexican, 330ml, 4,2% alcohol, lager beer brings a small surprise for unadvised drinkers...

As the name suggests, a small Serrano chili pepper is added to each bottle produced, giving the liquid a really HOT taste! If you like chilis, this might be the one for you, if not, it's still worth the try, but you better have a bottle of water around...

It is a product of 'Cerveceria Mexicana', but I couldn't really find the link for the brewery. The video below is an interview with 'Crazy Ed', the guy who came up with this idea:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zc7Wod56rhg

The story behind this specific bottle involves also a big surprise... It was acquired during a short backpack travel in southwest Germany, more specifically in Karlsruhe, when I was visiting a friend from university, Conrad Rössger. It was also during this trip that I drank it, not in Karlsruhe, but in Strasbourg, and not with Conrad, but with the most unexpected company...

I had just arrived in my hostel in Strasbourg, it was around 9pm and the city was already dead, I left the bags in my room and, in the hope to at least socialize a bit with other backpackers, I went downstairs to the lounge... empty...

I was already getting used to the idea of a tedious evening when a familiar face pops in the lounge. Took me a fraction of a second and I could only really believe it when she also looked me and said: "what the hell are you doing here??!!".

Ana Carolina (the familiar face) is a girl I met by chance in 2008, while backpacking through northern Germany, she is also brazilian, although we never met in Brazil. In that occasion, we were in the same hostel in Köln, and came across each other once again while spending a few days in Berlin, what ended up in a nice friendship.

So once again, now in 2010, our taste for cheap hostels ended up in one huge coincidence. For celebrating and kicking away the boredown of a dead evening, I picked a few bottles of beer (including this chili one), she and her friend got a bottle of wine, and we drank to the randomic features of life.

Kapuziner Weissbier

This beer was a collaboration from Marianne Schröfl, a friend and a master student (intern?) with who I have the pleasure to share a desk in the lab.

It was opened and consumed in an after-work barbeque that was thrown in a double celebration of Iryna's and my birthday (apart by circa one week). I haven't actually drank this beer, but Marianne was kind enough to remember me and keep the bottle after the bbq, so I could add it to my collection.

The brand Kapuziner belongs to Kulmbacher Brauerei (localized in the German city of Kulmbach), that is also responsible for brewing a few other german labels. This specific one contains half a liter of 5,4% alcohol wheat beer.

Links to the producer:

http://www.kapuziner.biz/de/kap/002/002_bier_weisse.php

http://www.kulmbacher.de/de/klbag/start.php

Tернове поле and Mедове

This two Ukranian beers were gifted to me by a friend and laboratory colleague for my 26th birthday. Though I am unable to read (or type) cyrilics, I am still able to pronounce her name, Iryna Kurylyshyn, which most germans around here ended up abreviating as 'Ira'... Thanks for the gifts Ira!

These two beers are produced by the same brewery, Mikulinetska brewery "Brovar". The first one is called 'Ternove fields' and is named after the history-rich city of Ternopil (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ternopil), it is quite bitter and contains 7,1% alcohol. The one in the right is called 'Honey' and contains, besides the ingredient that names the beer and gives it a somehow sweet taste, 5,8% alcohol.

The brewery webiste unfortunatly has no english translation, but brings all the beers produced by this brewery and a short explanation on each of them.

Link to producer: http://brovar.org/sorty.php

Bernard - Easter Special

This 500ml bottle contains the 2011 Easter special beer (5,0% alcoholic) of a Czech brewery called 'Bernard'.

Known in Czech Republic for the creative advertisement, this brewery brings in its label the picture of this man (Bernard?), always striking the same pose (same picture?) but with different hats/costumes/colors. The link for the brewery shows a bit of those advertisements and lables.

http://www.bernard.cz/en/index.shtml

I visited Prague during Easter this year, and bought this one in a supermarket nearby the city center. At first, the impression I had was that Bernard, in this very peculiar Easter Bunny costume, was biting a carrot, which kinda makes sense... but if you take a closer look, you'll realise that what he actually bites, is a whip! The very same pussy willow twigs decorated and arranged in the shape of a whip that Czech people carry in the streets on Easter Sunday!

A whip??? Why the hell a whip? A brief search at the tourist guide explains that traditionally, Czech boys whip the girls with those twigs on the back of her legs (AKA butt) to bring them youth and health.... but not only that! As a way to thank the guy, the girl is supposed to gift him easter eggs o.O

Google doesn't allow me to lie:
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVV5phMEW1E&feature=related
- http://www.myczechrepublic.com/czech_culture/czech_holidays/easter/

If you ask me, I just say that Czech traditions are simply as awesome as their beer

Beer Labelizer

This post is not really about a real beer, it's just a nice website I found.

This is a beta version of a beer labelizer, where you can create and print your own customized label. Among all the sites I found with this function, this is the one I liked most.

http://www.beerlabelizer.com/

And here is an example of label I created for an internet game.

Kume-Zakura

This 330ml bottle contains a very regional japanese beer. Though I was unable to identify what kind of beer it contains and the proper name of the beer (sorry, still can't read the japanese label...) I was told that this beer label is based on a famous japanese manga created in the sixties, called GeGeGe no Kitaro, which tells the adventures of a boy born in a graveyard and several folkloric japanese monster-spirits. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GeGeGe_no_Kitaro)

I was brought to me directly from Japan by Marie, a japanese friend and follower of this blog. The 5,0% alcohol beer traveled for over 12 hours to reach Germany, and I am therefore very thankful for her effort of carrying the extra weight in the luggage.

It is produced by the Gambarius brewery, I found the website, but it is in japanese and I can not, for all that is sacred, find myself in the website or get a proper english translation of it.

The recent facts and the tragedy going on in Japan due to the huge earthquake that hit the Island make me also include in this post my condolences for all the victims and my best wishes to all of those struggling to survive and build their lives back.

Link to the producer: http://g-beer.jp/index.html

Paracelsus Zwickl

This bottles were bought in Salzburg, Austria, directly from the Stiegl brewery, where it is produced.

The trip until the brewery was a surprise schemed by Andreas and Alex, two bavarian friends. I must say that on our way to Salzburg, I could already guess where we were going, but what I didn't know is that Stiegl brewery has the biggest beer museum in Europe. It was an awesome trip.

Both bottles contain the same 5,0% Zwickl beer, in my opinion, one of the best produced by Stiegl. The difference between them is not only the volume (2 liters x 500ml) but also the ocasion in what they were consumed.

The 500ml bottle was drank with a couple of friends after we tasted some cachaça with honey at my place, without much attention gave to the beer. The 2 liters bottle was very celebrated when opened though, we were celebrating a friend's new apartment and I used the ocasion to open my beer bottle number 500th.

It has a special place in my collection, once I aim to achieve 1000 different beer bottles in my life, and this represents half the way to my goal (hopefully I will have enough time to collect a lot more)

Link to the producer:
http://www.stiegl.at/de/stieglat/stiegl-geniessen/stiegl-sortiment/stiegl-paracelsus-zwickl-38/