Style: Dark Lager
ABV: 4.8%, IBU: 19
Taste: Smooth, watery, malty
My rating: 3.0/5
"Hommel" is Old Flemish for hops, but also means bumblebee. Well, and "sap" simply means juice. Hommelsap.
If you visit Berlin, consider going there, it's a Brauhaus with many different beer styles in the famous Kiez of Friedrichshain. They also sell beer to go 🍻
https://strassenbraeu.de/collections/bier/products/hommelsap
WHAT IS A MÄRZEN?
Märzen is a German amber lager – dark copper to reddish brown in color, crisp but also smooth, with sweet toasted bread aroma and faint hints of spice. It is sweetish but with a noticeable Noble hops bite and a dry finish. The typical ABV is 5-6%.
The style as we know it today was introduced by the Spaten brewery in 1841 and was then further tweaked and developed. Its origins go farther than that however, possibly back to 1553 when summer brewing was prohibited in Germany.
The name Märzen means “March beer”. It applies to beers brewed in March and left to lager (condition) in cold cellars over the course of the summer, to be tapped in early fall. Summer brewing was for a long time prohibited in Germany in order to ensure good beer quality and prevent spoilage in high temperatures.
These March beers were brewed with higher gravity (alcohol content) than regular lagers in order to have the longer shelf life needed to make it to the harvest festivals. They were much darker than today and only became amber in color after the Spaten brewery experimented with lighter malts and developed the style we are familiar with today, often referred to as modern Märzen.
About the beer:
In 1842, at a brewery in Plzeň, brewer Josef Groll introduced the world to the first golden ‘pilsner’ lager, and changed beer forever. His invention soon became the most popular style of beer on the planet.
Pilsner Urquell is brewed in the same brewery using the same recipe for over 180 years. Today, they still insist on using traditional methods, like triple decoction and parallel brewing in wooden lagering barrels. It takes longer but means they never compromise on the taste.
Pilsner Urquell’s signature flavour balances sweetness from the triple-decocted malt, and bitterness from our Saaz hops. The thick head of dense wet foam adds smoothness and seals in flavour and aroma.
In every sip of Pilsner Urquell you’ll notice a refreshing crispness from natural carbonation, then subtle caramel tones and a clean finish with a pleasing hoppy bitterness.
