by Brian Vandenbroek

Created on: October 09, 2009   Last Updated: October 10, 2009

Traditionally, my beer drinking skews towards ales rather than lagers. It's not that I'm against lager or anything. It's just that with the exception of Pilsner Urquell, I haven't found any European lagers to write home about. Normally, I'd be fine with that. As a beer snob, however, you can't just let your tastes remain static. As a beer snob, you need to expose yourself to new beers in an attempt to find that next great beer. That's why I decided to go to the beer store and give Becks Pilsner a try.

Chances are, even if you don't drink European lager, you've heard of Becks. Becks went into production in 1873 and was family owned and operated until 2002 when it was bought out by brewing giant, Interbrew. Since then Becks has become Germany's number one export beer, being sold in over 100 counties worldwide. In addition to Becks Pilsner, Becks produces Becks Dark, Becks Oktoberfest and a variety of light, flavored, and alcohol free lagers. Today, we're going to stick with Becks Pilsner.

Pouring myself a glass, Becks is the color of straw, nicely carbonated and forms a dense, white head. Becks seems to be nicely carbonated with tiny bubbles of CO2 rising through the glass. When I hold it up to my nose, my first impression is of a crisp, clean aroma. One might be tempted to say there's not a lot going on in the nose but that's not the case. Rather, it's uncluttered. Becks seems to be going for simplicity and doing it nicely. I do notice the faintly floral aroma of hops along with the sweet smell of malt. Behind all that are notes of hay and honey bringing the aroma together nicely.

Now it's time to take a taste. Becks has a luscious, rounded mouthfeel, making the lager seem full without spoiling its light, refreshing qualities. Becks flavor is simple and crisp with a faintly dry finish appropriate for this style of lager. The dry finish seems to come from a well attenuated (fully fermented) beer rather than bitterness and in this case that's not a bad thing. Flavor-wise, you'll notice an almost honey-like sweetness followed by a background flavor of hay-like hops.

Overall, I like Becks. It's delicious, refreshing and the elements come together with a nice balance. Basically, Becks Pilsner gives you simplicity in a can. Gentle malt sweetness followed by subtle hoppiness and a dry finish that doesn't overpower everything else. I would recommend Becks for anyone who wants a refreshing lager on a hot summer day. I would also recommend it for anyone who would rather have something deliciously simple in character instead of going for an ale or lager that just has too much going on. Overall, I'll give Becks an 8.5 out of 10.

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