While I'm sitting at home with a bad cold and measuring a temperature 38°C, I can only dream of refreshing myself with a cold beer.
A cold beer would not help my recovery any faster.
And so, with all the chilled beers I bought on the last trip home for tasting (because I couldn't and wasn't allowed to drink on the way, either I was driving or I was working), now I can only remember one beer that I really liked and that I drank on the way.
I was in Albania, in Tirana, staying at the Delta Premium Hotel.
The hotel has a beautiful garden, but it is not a pub, there is no tap, so I would recommend it for a visit in this #Beer community.
But the hotel has a bar and has large refrigerators that keep several kinds of beer cold (quite a decent choice for #beersaturday).
I accepted the suggestion of my colleagues from Albania, with whom I was on that business trip, and their choice of light pilsner Korcha beer was acceptable to me for refreshment, which I had previously drunk.
The 4.1% alcohol was pleasant at high temperatures, you could drink more of this beer, which is made by the oldest brewery in Albania, since 1928.
However, I needed something different, which I have not tried before and which will further intrigue my sense of taste.
I went to the fridge and glanced over Amstel, Heineken, Tuborg, Stella, Sol, Korc, Corona beers, until my gaze stopped at the label with a picture of an old man.
I said to the waiter: "This is the beer I want to try". "Oh Augustiner, good choice".
I didn't know anything about that beer before I poured it into a glass and tasted it.
In the glass, I saw clear beer, bright golden in color, with enough foam.
After the first two sips, I felt a mild, sparkling and refreshing taste on my tongue with a hint of malt sweetness but also a slight lemon taste.
I was delighted.
Although it is much stronger than Korca, this is a beer with 5.2% alcohol, it is equally refreshing, and because of the malt, it is somehow more pleasant to drink.
When I took a closer look at the label, I saw what beer it was.
Augustiner Lagerbier Hell, a classic Bavarian Helles lager from Munich, Germany.
This beer is brewed in the Augustiner brau, Munich's oldest independent brewery, which was founded in 1328 by the Augustinian monks.
I didn't know that Helles meant Pale, but I saw it from the color when I poured the beer into the glass.
Considering that German beers are brewed according to the German purity law from 1516, and that the ingredients contain only water, barley malt and hops, it is clear why its taste is so clean, refined and refreshing.
It was only after enjoying this beer that I found out that it is one of the best lager beers in the world and that it is a very common choice of Germans as well as visitors to the world-famous Oktoberfest.
I am glad that I had the opportunity to try this beer so far from Germany, and if I ever find myself in Bavaria, I will certainly look for a brewery that has Augustiner beers on tap.
