Hello thirsty friends!
I'm currently on vacation, my posting came to an halt, but I figured "if there's one thing I do in vacation, it's drinking beer! I can at least put an entry at BeerSaturday". BeerSaturday? Let's be ambitious here! BeerEveryday sounds good!
There's no time to lose: I have just a couple of weeks to study the matter: what do people drink in Hungary?
First day: let's begin with a lunch at the Market Hall. The food couldn't be more local (who said "for turists"?) with gulash, pork stew and sausage sauerkraut.
The beer served was a Borsodi. A classic Pils (what else to expect in Hungary?) which did honorably the job. I'm not a fan at all of Pils, but I'm indulgent in vacation. Even more with 32°C.
Another brand of Pils: Dreher. I find it a bit below the Borsodi. A bit less malty, a bit less tasty.
A label beer "specially brewed for the house", yeah, sure, I do believe it. Not unpleasant in all cases, so it wasn't so bad to take another one because of the slow service.
Yeah, it's not because one is having sandwich for lunch thzt he should do so without a beer!
I had a try at the Soproni IPA. It was very pleasant. I don't think it truly qualify as an IPA (but IPA is very fashionable, let's forgive the marketing move), at 4.5% ABV, made in Eastern Europe, it screams lager to me. But the result was nice: refreshing as a Pils, but tasty. A pretty good surprise!
A Dreher again, and a Pilsner Urquell for good measure and comparison, it is the stallion in my opinion when talking about Pils.
The Dreher is clearly under by its relative lack of malty taste and less expressive bitterness.
Another one, bartender! Let's have a try at the Dreher Gold then! Better than the standard Dreher, it is not far from the Pilsner Urquell in enjoyability.
What else do you have, bartender? A wheat beer? Sure, I will have that!
(You may have spotted a huge pork knuckle on the table, it required corresponding beverage to go along with)
I expected some Hungarian creativity with this beer, but it was just an imported HB Munchen Weisse. I do like the style, but it's out of this competition.
Another day, another beer! I went with the Dreher IPA while my wife had the dry hopped version. IPA, IPL, doesn't matter. Both were excellent, my preference went for the IPA which had a bit more body and consistency. But the dry hopped was nice for a lighter choice.
So far, my winners are:
Dreher Gold for pils (but I should try the Borsodi again)
Dreher IPA for IPA (but I should find a Soprani on draught to be fair)
Enjoy your summer, guys, as you see I'm enjoying mine!
Cheers!
