As I said earlier in the week "I also bought 6 cans of Grafenwalder Pils (6 for €7, 4.8%) and six bottles of Perlenbacher Pils (6 for €7, 4.9%), I couldn't bear to buy the stubbies (250ml X 24) or the other lager 4.1%. In my experience if you buy cheap no-name beer the stronger stuff is usually better."
On Saturday night, with the aid of Herself, I conducted a blind tasting of the two different beers.
Both beers were poured into identical glasses, out of my sight. To look at, both beers appeared identical, a pale yellow colour with similar amounts of head, although the Grafenwalder came from a can and the Perlenbacher came from a bottle.
The first beer tasted fine, a reasonable clean, crisp flavour. Nothing earth-shattering, but nothing unpleasant. The second beer, however had the same crispness but also had some lovely earthy, hoppy flavours and in general a nice full, balanced taste. Herself, also professed to prefer the second beer.
Beer1 - Perlenbacher Pils. Perfectly pleasant and good value at the price but lacking something, 5/10
Beer2 - Grafenwalder Pils. Fairly tasty and good value, although I'd like to blind test it against some of the better known German Pils for comparison, 6/10
Note: According to their respective labels both beers are brewed under the German Rheinheitsgetbot . While this may not guarantee quality it does guarantee that they aren't full of additives.
