Aug 23, 2001 09:10 AM
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Germany has a very lengthy tradition of brewing fine beers. Beer has been brewed in that country according to time-honoured methods for centuries and there is even a German Purity Law, the Reinheitsgebot, dating back to 1516 which specifies what ingredients are used,viz, beer must contain only barley,malt,hops,yeast and good old water.
Beck's brewed since around the 1870's is a very popular North German pilsner-style light lager from the port city of Bremen. It is arguably one of the best known internationally of the German beers and is exported to many countries around the world,including India.
I first came across this beverage many years ago when I was in Sierra Leone in West Africa and liked it from the first time I tried it. It is quite a strong.light,golden,colour lager and its alcohol content by volume is 5.13%. It has a refreshing taste and a pleasant enough flavour without being remarkable.
I think I would describe it as a solid performer,a reliable enough beer, and another plus point, it is widely available. You will find it in many off-licences,on the shelves of supermarkets and in pubs,restaurants and bistros. It is not unlike Heineken the Dutch pilsner type lager and others of that genre. However, there are finer German beers, as well great pilsner lagers from the Czech Republic and superb beers from Belgium which provide competition to Becks.
The German beer is a nice drink to have with pizza,lasagne,salad,cold meat cuts,sausages and the likes of steak and seafood. It will cool you down if you are tucking into a fiery Indian curry meal and it goes OK with a traditional British Sunday roast lunch.
In conclusion, it reflects some of the best qualities associated with German products :it is reliable,consistent,a solid performer, maybe a tad boring and because of that 16 th century purity law you do know what you are drinking !
