Chicago Tribune Beer Rating

[budrichard]

The Tribs tasting http://www.chicagotribune.com/services/new...1,2528787.story confirms the blind tasting that I have done with Special Export and other beers. While not #1, Special Export still shows very well. Our blind tasting showed that there was not a lot of difference between Export, Beck's and Heinekin. -Dick

[Davydd]

Other than the top rated Pilsner Urquel I generally do not care for the others. To me they are kind of all non-beers. Too bad they did not include some other regional beers available to compare to Pilsner such as Summit Grand, Schell's Pilsner, Lienenkugels, or Bells brands.

[BrentKulman]

An article like this in the Chicago Tribune just shows how far we have to go in educating the general public about beer.

With all the good craft brewers in the Chicago area, one would think that the main newspaper would have a clue about what is and what is not a Pilsner.

[cdh]

This article never claimed to be comparing Pilsners... it claimed to be comparing lagers. No education needed, since they scored 100% on that test.

[eje]

I guess I don't necessarily disagree with their ratings that much. They are all on a scale of 1-10.

I would probably put Becks higher, near the Heineken with both at around 5 or 6 out of 10 and the Rolling Rock a little lower.

I haven't had Special Export for years. Is it still made by the same company it was in the 80s? Same flavors? During that decade I often conducted rather extended tasting sessions of the brand. Despite that, I generally preferred Augsburger, when I could get it.

It is too bad they stuck with the most popular macro lagers.

Surely, they get my favorite midwestern summer beer, New Glarus Brewing's Spotted Cow, in Chicago.

edit - yes, I know it's not a lager.

Edited June 23, 2006 by eje (log)

[slbunge]

Surely, they get my favorite midwestern summer beer, New Glarus Brewing's Spotted Cow, in Chicago.

edit - yes, I know it's not a lager.

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New Glarus Brewing's beers are indeed available in Chicago and they do have lagers that could have made the list.

I think that the list they chose is a bit odd. You would have thought that they would have selected a couple of regional beers or microbrews to round-out what seems to be their two-tiered approach: big-named imports; big-named domestics.

I see their point about wanting drinkability in the summer and choosing a smooth lager, but there are regional beers such ast Point Special that are very available in Chicago and very drinkable in the heat. Another beer that is worth trying for summer if you want to stray from the 'popular' imports is Zwiec from Poland - most definitely available in Chicago since the importer is there.

I know, I know, they are a populist newpaper.

[elfin]

My husband's beer of choice is Special Export. He was a big Ausberger fan until it declined and was bought out. Pilsner U. is his all time favorite but in Chicago it is difficult to get it when it is really fresh. This summer we are heading up to Stevens Point (Point run) for the Point tour- another favorite beer of his.

[eje]

My husband's beer of choice is Special Export.  He was a big Ausberger fan until it declined and was bought out. Pilsner U. is his all time favorite but in Chicago it is difficult to get it when it is really fresh.  This summer we are heading up to Stevens Point  (Point run) for the Point tour-  another favorite beer of his.

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Unless I'm mistaken, Point bought the rights to brew under the Augsburger name a couple years ago, and is now responsible for the beer in Augsburger bottles. If you haven't tried it for a few years, you might give it a try again.

I don't think, though, that the recipe they are using has anything to do with any previous formulation of Augsburger.

Ask about it when you do your tour and report back!

[BrentKulman]

This article never claimed to be comparing Pilsners... it claimed to be comparing lagers. No education needed, since they scored 100% on that test.

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Listen to the audio...the announcer says, "So we rounded up eight Pilsners..."

I rest my case.

[john@thebar]

I've been out of touch for a while and am just catching up on some eG topics, hence the timing of this post. Unless someone knows something I'm not aware of, New Glarus pulled all their brews from the Illinois market in 2003. I could be wrong and I hope so, but I haven't seen any in Chicagoland since then. And it's a shame!