What type of beer is heineken, so I can stay away

[Malticulous]

I've had some 32 oz brown bottles of Corona extra (I've seen them here and in Nv.) Nice bottles that I fill for friends. No skunk. I still don't like the beer that comes in them. Unskunked it is not as good as a skunked Heineken. An unskunked Heineken it pretty good. A home brewed Premium American Lager is almost as good as a CAP. CAP is by far the best adjunct lager. You have to make it yourself though.

 

[jamoke]

I spent a few years in Holland back in the 80's and went thru the Heineken Brewery tour in Amsterdam many times. (great tour, nice perks on your birthday)

There are really two different kinds of Heineken, the stuff they make domestically for Holland, and the green bottle stuff for export. They are (were) purposely made in different breweries, used different methods of brewing, and produced two distinctly different beers. The export is a strict 5% ABV and the domestic ABV varies and is typically quite a bit higher.

The domestic beer was (is) put in brown bottles and the export beer packaged in green bottles and cans. I remember being told that export packaging was green so that the two could never be confused (due to the different ABV and export laws)

I loved the brown bottle and domestic draft Heineken, and do not enjoy the green export anymore after knowing what the domestic stuff tastes like.

The often found skunk flavor of the green bottles is most definitely unintended and caused by light.

 

[AllHopAbandon]

Dutch person here. I just wanted to add some things to this thread that I know about Heineken. Some things have been mentioned before, but here's a list:

Heineken is obviously not skunked on purpose. Skunking is caused by bad handling after it has been shipped.

The green bottles are for export only, here in Holland Heineken is sold in brown bottles. Marketing is a powerful tool, that why you see green bottles in the US. In fact, the first time I saw Heineken in a green bottle was when I was in NY. For reasons unknown (well, marketing) Heineken is available in green bottles here too now.

Heineken and Amstel are not much different from eachother. Heineken aquired Amstel in 1968 (!) and the brewing methods are similar, except for the yeast and lagering time. Not sure if this applies to Amstel brewed outside of the Netherlands too, but locally brewed Amstel is very similar to Heineken. Amstel is brewed on several loctions in the world, every single drop of Heineken is brewed in The Netherlands.

Heineken is considered to be a pilsner by the brewery itself. BJCP guidelines don't mean much in Europe and some (home)brewers even think the BJCP guidelines are misguided and inaccurate on certain aspects. Of course 'beer styles' is really a continuous spectrum so trying to categorize them is always an approximation, or a compromise between (historic) accuracy and indentifiability of certain styles. Go to Belgium and ask a local where you can get a nice Golden Strong Ale and he'll have no clue what you mean.

About exposing bottles to light on purpose: I once did a tour of the Kirin Brewery in Japan and that's exactly what they did. Not for skunking, but for checking the bottles for imperfections BEFORE filling.

 

[spearko520]

call me crazy, but i don't think heinekins are skunky...i think that's just the taste that comes with their grain bill and other ingredients.

i'm pretty sure all the big breweries like BMC, corona, new castle, heineken, etc. that all use clear or green bottles also use isomerized hops. isomerized hops aren't effected by light and take some extremely harsh conditions to become skunked.

although i'm not a fan of heineken, i don't credit its taste to skunkiness.

my two cents.

this - there are millions of green bottles in circulation every day from many different breweries- everyone has been bitching about heineken being skunky for as long as i can remember. Maybe you just don't like heineken. i drink yuengling lager regularly, it comes in green bottles- sometimes it doesn't taste as good. Beer is like that.

 

[cheezydemon3]

It would be insanity for a brewer to make a beer, and brew something crappier to send to the rest of the world......right?

 

[Denny]

if it was on purpose it would taste that way in a can or on tap.

It doesn't.

It is not on purpose.

this!!!!^^^^^^

 

[BrutalBrew]

I finally found Heineken in a can...

http://www.guy-sports.com/fun_pictures/beer_can.jpg

 

[cheezydemon3]

That looks PS'd.

They wouldn't ship it like that, would they?

Maybe the do and it is alternately used to ship skunk urine and not cleaned out too well.

 

[cval]

I don't care for Corona, but I do like some other Mexican lagers like Negra Modelo.

otherwise it's just wrong

 

[HawksBrewer]

I used to work at a Irish pub called fado and they got their Guinness from Ireland.( a lot more money)

The one on Clark in Chicago??? Don't live too far from there...

 

[BrutalBrew]

That looks PS'd.

They wouldn't ship it like that, would they?

Maybe the do and it is alternately used to ship skunk urine and not cleaned out too well.

If it is real then its just a sticker on a tank. Its a joke from past post. Its no more meant to be real. Its advertising. I don't think NASCAR has Viagra under the hood.

 

[cheezydemon3]

If it is real then its just a sticker on a tank. Its a joke from past post. Its no more meant to be real. Its advertising. I don't think NASCAR has Viagra under the hood.

Of course it is real my good man! Heinekin in a giant tanker. As real as the fact that people ship skunk urine from place to place when there is a shortgaage.

 

[HawksBrewer]

As real as the fact that people ship skunk urine from place to place when there is a shortgaage.

+1 to this. Period. Let me know when the urine truck passes through Chicago so I can get a refill on my bottled pee water.

 

[BrutalBrew]

Lol

 

[spearko520]

does urine skunk? because i keep all mine in those clear jars...

 

[brewski08]

i'm really surprised some anti-snob snob/hipster hasn't come to heinekin's rescue yet?

 

[spearko520]

that seems like a really complex super hero.

 

[rockfish42]

that seems like a really complex super hero.

Oh it is, you've probably never heard of it, I liked it before it became popular...

 

[cheezydemon3]

OK the tanker is unrealistic for the home uriner, but a local Skunkery here has used balsam barrels fairly cheap. I use them for my "hineykin" and my "Urona" clone recipes. Unfortunately they are BIG.

Smallest one is 50 gallons.

for some reason I had the urge to see if I could do 50 1 gallon brews and dump them on each other. It took 7 1/2 years.

By the time I pitched the last gallon, the brew was so skunkified it was almost undrinkable........almost!!

 

[Calichusetts]

These threads are annoying, I used to drink Becks, Heine, etc all the time without it being skunked. I'd take any Euro lager/pilsner over the american counterpart if I am out in the yard doing some work. In fact, I still do.

Urquell is an amazing beer in this "skunk" catagory, and played a major part in the history of beer. If you don't like this catagory of beer, don't drink it. But saying its all skunked and tastes like piss only does two things: Get you a thumbs up from the hipster hophead crowd and show that you are really good at being ignorant and stereotyping a beer catagory

 

[cheezydemon3]

i'm really surprised some anti-snob snob/hipster hasn't come to heinekin's rescue yet?

Ask.....and you shall recieve!

These threads are annoying, I used to drink Becks, Heine, etc all the time without it being skunked. I'd take any Euro lager/pilsner over the american counterpart if I am out in the yard doing some work. In fact, I still do.

Urquell is an amazing beer in this "skunk" catagory, and played a major part in the history of beer. If you don't like this catagory of beer, don't drink it. But saying its all skunked and tastes like piss only does two things: Get you a thumbs up from the hipster hophead crowd and show that you have a weak palete when it comes to beer.

 

[motlekj06]

These threads are annoying, I used to drink Becks, Heine, etc all the time without it being skunked. I'd take any Euro lager/pilsner over the american counterpart if I am out in the yard doing some work. In fact, I still do.

Urquell is an amazing beer in this "skunk" catagory, and played a major part in the history of beer. If you don't like this catagory of beer, don't drink it. But saying its all skunked and tastes like piss only does two things: Get you a thumbs up from the hipster hophead crowd and show that you are realy good at being ignorant and stereotyping a beer catagory

Amen brother

 

[Calichusetts]

Ask.....and you shall recieve!

I aim to please...

 

[BrutalBrew]

I watched a episode about Heineken brewery on a show called biggest factory's on History channel. The history behind the very old brew was interesting. But I was very surprised to see them storing a very large amount of pallets of beer OUTSIDE in the sun for days before a semi truck loaded them for transport. I would think they would be concerned about rain and the sun. Does it not rain much there? They had no covering over them. I thought of this thread when watching..