Oi oi oi

The recent surprise realisation that I'd never posted a review of Augustiner Dunkel on here had me checking the status of the rest of the range. Sure enough, Augustiner Pils was absent too. It would not do to have such gaps in my personal assessment of one of the planet's great breweries, so I picked up a bottle.

It wasn't the freshest, mind, caught just inside its best-before. The big 5.6% ABV suggests a baroque Bavarian luxuriousness, as against the skinny and severe north-German pilsners. That said, there's plenty of hop, and it's the dominant feature of the flavour, just as it should be. I get a grassy Czech effect with a sharper citrus-rind edge. A decently full and fluffy malt body balances this, contributing richness without sweetness, then it's back to pilsner-as-usual with a dry finish scraping the back of the throat pleasantly.

As expected, it's very good, let down only by the most unBavarian 33cl bottle: I could happily drink this in quantity. I also don't see how much better it would be if fresh; mine showed no staleness nor signs of faded hopping.

Augustiner Pils is a pure class act and fully worthy of carrying the brewery's name. If you haven't had it in a while, treat yourself.

Romanian plain

Timişoreana is far from my favourite brand of Romanian macro lager. I'm an Ursus man. Always have been, and likely always be. You can disagree, but you can't change the facts. An unpasteurised Timişoreana, though? I'll give that a go.

The Timişoreana Nepasteurizată came from Polonez -- a wonderful source of weird stuff from the eastern reaches of this continent. It's 5% ABV and a rich orange shade, looking bright and wholesome in the glass. The aroma is a little sharp and vomity but there's none of that in flavour. On the minus side there's not much of anything in the flavour. I'm used to beers with no foretaste and a kick on the finish, and those that put everything up front then tail off quickly. This creates both of those effects without the corresponding taste part. I ended up letting it warm, just so I could get a bead on it.

There I found a middling lager syrup and vague noble hop pepperiness. Nothing like you'd find in good European lager though, more like a scaled back ghost version of Budvar or Augustiner Pils: what might happen if they too were passed around between SABMiller and Asahi, God forbid.

"Inoffensive" is a word made for this beer. There's none of the crap lager badness -- boiled veg, sharp tin, sickly sugar -- but all character has been thoroughly removed from the ingredients, by a process other than pasteurisation. Pass me an Ursus.