Bavik Premium Pils

Brewed by Bavik-De Brabandere
Style: Pilsener
Harelbeke, Belgium

The example I had (10/7/07 courtesy of kenb) was light but just fine and refreshing and a quality tasty pilsener. Compare: Pils Urquell.

Draft. A clear pils with a rocketing white head, as seen in the photo. That’s pretty much what you get. Aromas are earthy and grainy, without a wholde lot of hop or malt either way. Light and airy, not slick or watery. The beer is very well integrated and plenty full of malt flavors. For a pils, a nice summery beer with solid structure.

Better than Jupiler or Stella-Artois, but Bavik Pils is more or less a pretty boring Pilsner beer, for a Belgian. Has a quite pleasant mouthfeel, with a nice yeasty smooth aftetaste. Easy to drink. Nice and crisp with a real malt aftertaste. Session beer all the way.

Aroma is a bit sour. A bit grapey. A bit malty. A bit grassy. Brassy gold color with a white head that seems to endure. Thin to medium bodied, with moderate carbonation that is nearly creamy. The flavor? Some decent bitter, but it suggests metallica in this mix. The previous notes about cardboard - yes, but whatever that is, I could call it grapey. Malt? Yes, but the sweetness is not strong, and the finish is bitter. Nicely bitter. With an accompanying aspect that suggests the aftertaste of the old Grapette soft drink. Just a slight aspect. Rephrasing: It’s a lager with nice aroma, decent carbonation, some sweet malt, a fruity note, and enough bitter to satisfy. Way better than the mass American products.

Pours a very frothy white head, which doesn’t last nearly as long as I wish it would. Light-colored similar to Budweiser. Occaisonal large bubble scene inside, but not too much else. Carbonation is there. As for taste? Honestly, it tastes like a wet carboard box!! Similar to a high quality american premium, when you lace it with some hop oil. Not very pleasant at all. Thank God I didn’t buy a whole six-pack at Trader Joe’s the other day.

33 cl. can. I’ve always assumed that if Stella Artois was the Belgian "Bud," then this is the Belgian "Busch." Poured into a basic lager glass, this was an off-putting yellow to light gold color with big bubbles and a thin spittle head. Aroma and flavor was basically straw and hay with some grassy hops, but with a weird paper or cardboard flavor swirling around as well. It’s as if this was brewed with shredded cereal boxes as an adjunct. A weak body to boot. Surprisingly, the flavor was worse when drunk straight from the can, with dish soap notes coming through at the end. Blech. The kicker is that this is supposed to be a pilsner!

(Bottle) Pours a golden color with a fizzy, short-lived head. Body is relatively light, but not bad for the style. Aroma included a moderate amount of skunk and some crisp hops. Taste is of corn and light hops. Sweet taste overall, with the aftertaste not unlike a BMC. Rather disappointing.

This was a rather scary looking pour... pale golden body with extreme flocculation, spinning round and round as the result of highly-motivated carbonation. It reminded me of vacuuming the poop from the gravel of my fish tank. Light pissiness to the aroma settling to sharp herbals above grain and grain alcohol. Sharp Saaz flavor with low grapey sweetness and an alcoholic finish. Mid-bodied, almost crisp, but I can feel those little yeasty chunks rolling over my tongue. (If there are problems with this batch/bottle, they would be pretty hard to pin-point... no bottle code.)

<font size=-4>Single 11.2 oz. bottle from <a href=http://www.ratebeer.com/Place/illinois/plainf Plainfield, IL 60544</font>