Heineken

[G.M. Gillman]

In France recently I drank this once on draft and found it very flavourful, similar to numerous German and Czech helles or pils I had drunk on draft just a few days earlier. I don't remember Heineken being like that, but maybe I just didn't get the taste, or didn't have it in its ideal form.

So today I bought a can at LCBO and am tasting it now. I can't decipher the date codes but it's obviously very fresh, you can tell by the fresh smell and the way the bubbles rise in the rinsed (not dried) glass.

The canned one we get is quite similar to the draft I had two nights ago in France. It is less impactful, but has a similar earthy/gamey hop nose and taste (Hallertau MF I'd say) and malt quality. It is very good actually and an excellent representation of European helles or pils-style beer.

Gary

[IPA_Lover]

Stay tuned everyone for my review of Stella Artois.

[JesseM]

Yeah I've found Heineken on tap to be decent enough, and much preferable to other macro's if you happen to be at a place that is beer-deprived. Canned it's okay, bottled it's kind of awful (all in my experience). It's nothing outstanding to me personally, and I have a huge appreciation for well done lagers, but it's decent by macro standards and serves as a good stand-by.

[G.M. Gillman]

I didn't try Stella in Europe so I can't say, but the draft Heineken in France was surprisingly good, very close to many German and Austrian lagers I had had just a few days before that are internationally respected and the canned one from LCBO was pretty close, better than many craft beers I taste day in day out.

I have never liked, or thought I never liked, beer from green bottles. I'll try Heineken soon in that form to see if that is a misapprehension or there is something to it.

Gary

[Tony L]

[quote="G.M. GillmanI have never liked, or thought I never liked, beer from green bottles. I'll try Heineken soon in that form to see if that is a misapprehension or there is something to it.

Gary[/quote]

Can't say as I blame you, and yes, Heini in bottle do have the green/clear traditional skunky taste and nose we all have come to hate in a beer. Canned Heinekin, I must say is quite OK.

[Steve Beaumont]

This past summer,I had a business meeting in a place where the best beer available was a cold bottle of (non-skunky) Heineken. I asked for a glass, poured it and continued the meeting. About half-way through the glass I had to remark out loud, "I had forgotten what an astonishingly mediocre beer this is."

And that's all I'll say.

[G.M. Gillman]

I'm starting to think now that what I took for years as a light-struck quality in various green bottle European lagers is not that, but rather the particular hop accent. I say that because the very fresh draft I had in France a few days ago had the taste I always associated to Heineken and so did the canned one I got from LCBO when I got back. One thing I learned in my perambulations around Central Europe, which took in parts of Austria, Germany, Hungary and Czech Republic, is that about 75% of the helles and pils beers I tried, including some famous examples, had that quality. I'd call it a fresh loam/funky note, and I think now it is a certain kind of German hop taste, perhaps Hallertau Hallertauer but I don't know (and there are different kinds of Hallertau today not all grown in the historical district).

I noticed it in numerous French beers too (lagers) but not all, e.g. Pelforth Blonde doesn't have it, it must use a different hop whether German or other, or some other process to change that. It is a very particular European lager taste. Some beers I encountered did not have this taste, e.g. Bernard did not, neither did Gambrinus, or Dreher, at least in my opinion. But most did to a greater or lesser extent. This may be an example of a particular flavour becoming rooted in an area, and there is a logic to it just as for the sulphury taste say in Burton ales (this more in the past than now I think), or sourish tastes in some Belgian beers, or grapefruity-like tastes in some IPAs, which is it makes the next glass taste better. Whereas if the beer is nondescript, the next glass - and brewers always want to sell a next glass - doesn't make that much impact due to the dulling of the palate from the first drink. Just a little theory I've been developing but I am not sure yet I'm on the right track.

Gary

P.S. Of course I am not saying beer cannot skunk in bottles and I know green bottles are more liable than brown. But considering the technical prowess of brewers today (not just large ones), I would have thought they can lick this problem. So light-struck beer will never go away entirely and I am familiar with the taste, but I am wondering now if it's been a relatively minor issue for most beer placed today in such containers.

[SteelbackGuy]

I don't remember the last timje I even saw this available on draught, but as always, I will take Gary's review to heart as I respect his opinion, and I will try this beer on tap when I see it.

[Steve Beaumont]

That was something I heard as a bartender all too many times, Gary, "it's not skunkiness, it's the European hop taste." Which was bullshit. There is a reason Heineken failed utterly in its first two introductions as a draught beer 'round these parts: people used to the skunky flavour weren't finding it in the draught beer. Ditto the initial canned Heineken introduction. I observed all this first hand as a bartender, then later, as a beer writer.

That said, I think Heineken has come up with some method of controlling the skunk in their beer, as it has been a considerable time since I have had one that was skunky. (Not that I make a habit of it, but situations like the one noted above do happen from time to time.) Now I just find it, well, boring.

[G.M. Gillman]

I didn't try it on draft in Toronto since I'm back, and will do this too before long. Obviously people will disagree about taste and I respect all different opinions and have always said so, but I truly was struck by the quality of the draft tasted in France and then when I tried the canned one here it seemed pretty similar (but not quite as good of course).

Gary

[SteelbackGuy]

... I heard as a bartender all too many times, Gary, "it's not skunkiness, it's the European hop taste." .

Ohh man, Stephen, that is classic!

[G.M. Gillman]

Could be Steve, I don't say skunkiness did not exist (a certain weedy quality) but this hop taste I was encountering there seemed so familiar, something I've been tasting here for years in Heineken and other imports.

Gary

[markaberrant]

"it's not skunkiness, it's the European hop taste."

When I first started taking blind stabs at drinking better beer, I latched onto Grolsch at first, which of course comes in the green flip top bottles. I didn't really know what I was tasting, but thought "this is what a real euro lager tastes like." I brought some to a family dinner, and my sister (who is not much of a taster) immediately stated, "it smells and tastes like skunk." I of course assumed she just couldn't handle "good beer."

[Philip1]

I've had draught Heineken at Baton Rouge on Yonge St. and in the Netherlands, including the old brewery which is now a tourist site, and I've never noticed any difference. Unlike a lot of Eurolagers it does have a very unique taste. These days though I just find it uniquely awful.

It's interesting the different image Heineken has around the world. In the UK and in North America it has a mainstream image as a top quality imported European lager. I've heard Germans ridicule it as being poor by German standards. According to Dutch people I've met Heineken has more of a Molson/Budweiser image in the Netherlands, an average Joe's beer. Grolsch is seen as above Heineken. Something called Gulpener Pils is also considered high quality in the Netherlands (their white beer Korenwolf is delicious). I use to drink both Grolsch and Heineken, along with Orangeboom, before I got into good beer. I've tried both within the last year and found them to be difficult to drink with both leaving a nasty aftertaste.

[Ralphus]

The one thing I like about Heineken is its consistency and wide distribution. You could be in London or the back waters of Honduras and a Heineken is a Heineken. Its never great but you know its at least going to be drinkable.