RE: <WOB> Pilsner Urquell update

[mark <shrike.cars@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

John,

Being a brewer, I can tell you that shipment of beer across the
Atlantic does take its toll on beer. Beer is ideally consumed as
soon as possible (depending on the style of beer) and stored at
serving temp (around 4 degrees C). If it get's too hot, then the
beer loses flavour / changes and starts to taste bad. Also, the
great flourescent lights that they have lighting up the beer cooler
in liquor stores don't help either. The light (almost any source
of light including sunlight) changes the chemical compunds of
the hops into something similiar to the chemical makeup of a
skunk's "spray". The resulting beer is called "light struck". That
is why light struck Heineken etc. in the States is sometimes
referred to as "skunked" (Anheuser Busch had a whole
marketing / advertising campaign aimed at targeting imports
because of that fact). What also doesn't help is that Pilsner
Urquell & Heineken are bottled in green bottles. Green bottles
block only about 65 - 75% of light, whereas brown bottles
block something close to 80 to 90% depending on how dark
they are.

BTW, whereabouts in Germany are you? I was living in
Bamberg for a while, then moved to Switzerland, (Jetzt wohne
ich in Frankreich...) and will be moving back to Munich in
two months. Can't wait to be back in Munchen... :-)

Prost!
Mark
'85 318i
'72 tii



>Date: Tue, 15 Jun 1999 23:21:13 +0200 (MEST)
>From: John Firestone <john.firestone@domain.elided>
>Subject: <WOB> Pilsner Urquell update

>I recently got to try some four week old, U.S. market Pilsner Urquell
>- - complete with health warnings and world's first and only original,
>world champion pilsner advertising - before it had a chance to leave
>Europe. I can report that it had a very nice aroma and, as far as I
>can tell, the same fine taste of the beer we get in Germany. If
>Pilsner Urquell tastes different in the U.S, I suspect it is because
>of shipment and storage, probably within the U.S.

>- -John
>'96 318is

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