Beer review: Menabrea Original (4.5% Italy: Birra Menabrea)

The Menabrea Original is a lager, more specifically a pale lager. It's brewed by Birra Menabrea, an Italian brewery located in Biella and founded in 1846. They produce about 10 million litres of beer annually so the brewery is medium-sized. Let's see what the flagship of the company tastes like.

Taste: The Menabrea Original is a light/medium-bodied beer with a soft, round and slightly sweet malty body. The beer offers a pleasant sweetness with a faintly bitter hoppy finish.

Overall, the Menabrea Original is a really nice find from several Italian supermarkets. The beer doesn't offer anything extaordinary but it delivers the basic features of a pale lager in a very sophisticated, pleasant manner. If you want a nice lager, which tends to sweet maltiness, this is definitely your choice!

3.5/5

Beer review: Peroni (4.7% Italy: Birra Peroni Industriale)

The Peroni is a lager, more specifically a pale lager. It's brewed by Birra Peroni Industriale, a brewery founded in Vigevano in Lombardy, Italy in 1846. The brewery has been based in Rome since 1864 and is now owned by SABMiller brewing group, the world's second largest brewing company.

Taste: The Peroni is a light/medium-bodied beer with a soft slightly roasted, dark bready and faintly sweet malt. The beer finishes with a slight bitter hoppiness.

Overall, the Peroni is an above average bulk lager. Personally I enjoy the slightly roasted malty aroma of it and overall the beer was a pleasant surprise. If you end up in Italy and enjoy roasted beers with easy drinkability, the Peroni is your choice!

3/5

Beer review: Birra Moretti (4.6% Italy: Heineken)

The Birra Moretti is a lager, more specifically a pale lager. It was formerly produced by the Italian brewery Birra Moretti founded in Udine in 1859. The brewery was acquired by Heineken International in 1996. The Heineken International is the third largest brewery group in the world. Well, it seems that almost all of the most popular beers around Europe are part of one of the big brewery groups so let's not let that fact affect our judgment about this potentially good beer. At least the label seems cool, let's see if the taste follows that line!

Taste: The Birra Moretti is a light-bodied beer with quite a watery, slightly sweet malty body. The beer finishes with a slight grassy hoppiness.

Overall, the Birra Moretti is your average bulk lager. What sets it apart from the other Italian bulk beers is the slightly sweet taste and especially the grassy hoppiness which is surprisingly potent, considering the macro quality of the beer.

3/5

Beer review: 3 Luppoli (4.8% Italy: Birrificio Angelo Poretti)

The 3 Luppoli is a lager beer, more specifically a pale lager. It's brewed by Birrificio Angelo Poretti, an Italian brewery founded in 1877. The brewery is located in Varese and it was bought by the Carlsberg Group in 2002. The Carlsberg Group is the fifth largest brewery group in the world.

Taste: The 3 Luppoli is a light-bodied beer with a faintly sweet malty body. The beer is quite light, soft and finishes with a faint bitter hoppiness.

Overall, the 3 Luppoli is a decent lager with a taste that offers nothing to write home about, but neither does it make you grimace. It's not offensive in any way and if you ever come across this beer, you can definitely give it a try...as long as you don't expect anything exceptional.

3/5

Beer review: Moritz (5.4% Spain: Cervezas Moritz)

The Moritz is a lager, more specifically a pale lager. It's brewed by Cervezas Moritz, a Spanish brewery located in Barcelona, Spain and founded in 1856. The Epidor is based on an recipe from 1923 and was relaunched in 2009. Today the Moritz beers are produced under license in the brewery La Zaragozana, in Saragossa.

Taste: The Moritz is a light-bodied beer with a sweet malty body. It offers aromas of corn, syrup and even honey. The beer doesn't really offer any hoppiness to speak about.

Overall, Moritz is a decent beer with a sweet, light and refreshing taste. It doesn't offer any exciting aromatic experiences but I'm sure it's a good choice when served ice cold on a hot day.

3/5

Beer review: Moritz Epidor (7.2% Spain: Cervezas Moritz)

The Moritz Epidor is a lager, more specifically a strong pale lager. It's brewed by Cervezas Moritz, a Spanish brewery located in Barcelona, Spain and founded in 1856. The Epidor is based on an recipe from 1923 and was relaunched in 2009. Today the Moritz beers are produced under license in the brewery La Zaragozana, in Saragossa.

Taste: The Moritz Epidor is a medium-bodied beer with a sweet bready malt body. The beer features a wide set of aromas: a fruity, caramel and a surprising, nice aftertaste of liquorice. The bitter aftertaste of alcohol increases as the beer gets warmer. The beer ends with a faint herbal hoppiness.

Overall, the Moritz Epidor is a really nice, sophisticated beer with quite a wide selection of aromas. It doesn't achieve a position among the legends of beer but it's definitely a nice choice if you find it in a bar.

4/5

Beer review: Rosita Original (5.5% Spain: Cerveses La Gardènia)

The Rosita Original is an ale, more specifically a golden/blond ale. It's brewed by Cerveses La Gardènia, a small Spanish brewery located in Tarragona, Spain. Despite it being a relatively small brewery, the beer is quite widely available around Spain. There isn't much information available about the Cerveses La Gardènia but it seems to be a small artisan brewery. Sounds good, let's have a taste!

Taste: The Rosita Original is a light-bodied beer with a sweet, lightly malted body. The beer is quite soft and offers aromas of honey and toffee malts, some citric aromas and ends up with a faint citric hoppiness.

Overall, the Rosita Original is quite sweet, yet light and refreshing. Although it doesn't offer a rich set of aromas, the ones that it provides are nice, and the overall character of the beer is well-balanced. It could do with some stronger hoppiness but it's definitely worth a try, especially if you're into mildly sweet honeyed beers.

3.5/5

Beer review: Estrella Damm (5.4% Spain: Sociedad Anónima Damm)

Estrella Damm is a lager, more specifically a pale lager. It's brewed by Sociedad Anónima Damm, one of the largest breweries in Barcelona, Spain. The brewery was founded in 1876 and Estrella Damm has been brewed ever since. It's produced in bulk qualities but let's see if it offers a special Spanish set of aromas.

Taste: The Estrella Damm is a light-bodied lager with a slightly sweet malty body. The beer offers aromas of corn, and unfortunately some quite stingy metallic aromas. The beer finishes with a slightly bitter, hoppy taste.

Overall the Estrella Damm is a really decent bulk lager. There are definitely better options available and I was put off by the metallic bitterness. However, it's still drinkable and if you just want to get drunk I guess the Estrella Damm will do the job, although after each gulp your face will be left with a grimace.

2/5

Beer review: San Miguel Especial (5.4% Spain: Grupo Mahou-San Miguel)

San Miguel Especial is a lager beer, more specifically a pale lager. It's brewed by Grupo Mahou-San Miguel, the leading brand in the Spanish beer market. The brewery was founded in 1890 and San Miguel Especial has been brewed since 1957. Today the brewery produces 75 % of all Spanish beer consumed worldwide.

Taste: The San Miguel Especial is a light-bodied lager with a slightly sweet malty aroma, with hints of corn. The beer features a sharp metallic taste and finishes with a slightly bitter, faint herbal hoppiness.

Overall the San Miguel Especial is a decent lager. It's everything that one could expect from a bulk lager and what sets it apart from all the others is its slightly sweet aroma with a faint taste of corn. However, the bulk quality of production clearly shows and unfortunately it's nothing "especial".

2.5/5

Beer review: Desperados (5.9% France: Heineken)

Desperados is a lager beer, more specifically a pale lager flavoured with tequila. Originally it was produced by the Fischer Brewery, located in Schiltigheim, France. The brewery was bought by Heineken in 1996 and in 2010 the production of Desperados was transferred to the l'Espérance brewery, also located in Schiltigheim. One of the many products of the Heineken beer corporation, the third largest brewery corporation in the world, Desperados is widely available. Its speciality is the addition of the tequila flavor, and any time there's something extra added to a beer, my suspicions arise. In any case, let's try it out!

Taste: The Desperados is a light-bodied beer with aromas of faint sweet malt, citrus and corn. As the label suggests the taste of tequila is present as well, unfortunately in a very artificial and unnatural way.

Overall, the Desperados is a decent refreshment, but there's only little resemblance to real beer. It's quite similar in taste to Corona, Sol and other "refreshing, citric pale lagers" but with the special touch of tequila. Too bad that the tequila aroma is stingy and artificial so the overall impression of the beer lacks true refreshment, and basically everything else as well. Desperados is more like a tequila and citrus soda than beer.

2/5