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