Leaves a Bad Taste in My Mouth: Josef Bierbitzch Golden Pilsner
Apr 11 '04
The Bottom Line I don't like the marketing.
You know, it seems everyone has to have a gimmick these days. And Josef Bierbitzch just may have the biggest gimmick of them all, if in fact such a person does exist. Who is Josef Bierbitzch, you ask? I would like to know the same thing myself. I assume he exists, because his signature appears on the bottle of Josef Bierbitzch Golden Pilsner.
But wait. The beer is brewed by the Academy of Fine Beers, a mysterious California entity that will soon be introducing several other gimmicky beers to beer store shelves. But Bierbitzch Golden Pilsner claims to have a history. Supposedly, Josef Bierbitzch left what is now the Czech Republic looking for some really nice water to use for his beer a few hundred years ago.
Somehow, he ended up in Iceland, started a brewery, and passed the art of brewing down to his sons over the years. One of them seems to have immigrated to California, where he decided to use his family recipe to brew up some Czech-style Pilsner for America.
All well and good, except for the fact that the company seems more intent on using the inevitable word play on the name as a marketing ploy. Like we couldn’t see that one coming a mile away.
If you visit the company’s website (www.bierbitzch.com), you’ll find some very scantily clad women called the “bierbitzches”. There’s also a commercial you can download that, predictably, features customers at a bar asking the female bartender “Can I have another Bierbitzch”, or “Gimme a Bierbitzch”.
All this tends to make me wonder if the whole story of Mr. Bierbitzch was concocted to sell beer. But maybe I’m just being cynical. In any event, I was as usual unable to resist trying a new beer, so I bought a six-pack.
Josef Bierbitzch Golden Pilsner pours to a pale golden color with a light and fizzy head formation and a soft malty nose. The palate is soft and agreeable enough with lots of fresh tasting biscuit malt. There are no adjunct flavors, which is always good as far as I’m concerned, and did enjoy the robust malty flavors here. A light touch of butter is here as is appropriate to a classic Pilsner.
The problem is that there aren’t enough hops in the finish. It’s balanced by a very light hop bitterness, but there just aren’t enough to make this one stand out. It’s average, and there are much better pilsners out there for less than the $7.99 a six-pack Josef Bierbitzch commands. Locally, I much prefer the excellent Dogwood Pilsner ; nationally, you would do well with domestic Tupper’s Hop Pocket Pils or imported Staropramen .
Still, Josef Bierbitzch served well enough to wash down some delicious smoked Bohemian style sausages made by Atlanta’s own Patak Bohemia meat company. These were accompanied by Kosciusko Beer Mustard, which is made with 45% amber lager and is the first beer mustard I’ve come across that actually tastes like beer.
Will I buy Bierbitzch again, though? I doubt it. I’m put off by the marketing campaign, which could justifiably be seen as degrading to women, and the excessive price for an average beer.
EPINIONS CRITERIA:
Overall Rating: Three Stars
Beer Rating: A Solid performer
Weight: medium Body
Flavor: Balanced
Complexity: Average
Price: $7.99 per six-pack.
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