by Putnam Weekley

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Thanksgiving

Q: What’s a good wine for Thanksgiving?
A: Biere de Garde.

And if it must be an American one, in honor of the all American holiday, I suggest Oro de Calabaza, from Dexter Michigan … where the leaves are still orange.

By now you must be thinking one of two things:
1) I’ve never heard of it, or 2) That’s not wine, it’s beer!

It is beer. Yet I ask you: what is beer?

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Birra del Vecchio, from Calabria:

I only re-review beer when I think the first try was really wrong in some way. For maybe the 10th or 20th time I must redo one now.

There is simply no better light, 100% malt pilsner-style beer for sale in this jurisdiction. I doubt if there is one that exceeds this in quality anywhere in the country. I assumed even the rare and personally sentimental choice of Rothaus Pils would outclass this. In fact it was the reverse.

My standard for the style is many pints of Budvar consumed in Germany and the Czech Republic in the early 90s. That beer still lives in my memory as the nuttiest, crispest, purest expression of the style. This is #2.

More recently I've been obsessed with the various lager's of the Bamberg brewery known as Mahr's. However, nothing they make has the balance of richness and clean lightness this beer has (though I must wait for confirmation as I will likely drink Mahr's Leicht for the second time ever later this week). A comparison with Victory's Prima Pils exposed that undisputably excellent beer as a confection of quick, turbo yeast-fermented malt and hops overreach.

What's more, the sample I am drinking now was brewed and bottled well over a year ago and stored in less than ideal conditions. What other light lager could withstand such a torture test and still be drinkable, let alone be the BEST of its class?

I have consumed cases of this beer. Strangers who encounter it for the first time spontaneously pull me aside and ask where its from, why it's so good. I tell them I don't know. I never assumed the water in Calabria was anything special, though maybe it is. Maybe that's why this pils is so complete. Or maybe its due to homespun Italian taste values: a tacky, ugly label and ambrosia inside the brown glass.

Here was my initial review. It accompanied a "score" of 4.7 as I couldn't quite believe what I was tasting:

Purchased from the floor of a beer store, I wondered the following: 1) would this obscure Italian lager be fresh? 2) is this some kind of tourist-brand - overpriced like wines from Provence or coffee from Hawaii? In fact, there was nothing to fear. On the back label it reads: "Browed [sic] with natural. Ingredient (malt, hop)" The uncapped bottle burst to life with dense, pungent aromas of cut grass and golden cereals. The color was manila folder-yellow/tan and the head was soapy. A fruity, rich entry of subtle, bready flavors resolved into a tangy, bitter and long finish. The flavors included notes of overripe lemon. What astonished me was the voluptuous, creamy texture, supported by unobtrusive mousse, and how it was structured with noble mineral elements. Then it eased into cakey, bitter hop extracts to power the very long finish. This is a world-class, natural-tasting Pils. Fans of this category must seek it out (my sample was obtained at Poughkeepsie's Half Time.) By way of comparison, A Gaffel Koelsch served after this beer just could not measure up for style, character or richness.

NOTE: I can find no evidence that this beer contains "adjunct". On the other hand, there is ample evidence that it is in fact an all malt recipe: 1) the back label -- see above. 2) the brewery's claim that it is from an 'old Pilsner recipe from the north.' 3) the fact that it tastes like an all malt beer. This would more properly have been added as a "Czech Pilsner" or, if you prefer, "Euro Lager."

Previously in Putnam's Monthly:

A Listed Look At Liquids

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