Korean Job Discussion Forums

[nukeday]

[isisaredead]

[alistaircandlin]

Obviously I'm no connoisseur of beer. The best beer I've ever had for my money was the Weissbeer in Munich, but there are a lot of decent beers in England too: Theakston's on draught is really good in Cumbria, Bass and Tetley draught bitters over in Yorkshire, are great too.

I did think though, that Korean beer was basically okay - Hite and Cass always tasted pretty much like a standard cheap lager to me - I never really drank much lager in the UK - mostly I'd drink bitter or Guinness.

Some of the responses here though did make me think: maybe I'm just not paying any attention to the taste. Honestly, this is probably true - I just swallow the stuff, without tasting it.

So, anyway I just picked up a couple of those German beers from e-mart that somebody mentioned, Oettinger Pils and Oettinger Weissbeer. I haven't tried them yet, but thought I'd check out the reviews online.

Mostly people - of all nationalities - are a saying that Oettinger's main strength is that it's cheap.

Apparently in Germany it's known as 'punk beer,' because it's what a lot of punks drink, but it's popular only because of the price:

http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/1539/4295

So I'm wondering if it's going to be any different from Cass or Hite - I'm hoping the Weissbeer is okay, at least. Maybe next time I'll go with the Hogarten - but that's a bit more pricey.

[alistaircandlin]

I thought this was quite interesting though:

"[Oettinger is ..] similar to other German beers it is brewed in accordance with the German purity law of 1516 and as you would know this means no nasty hangovers the next morning."
http://www.beeradvice.com.au/87/oettinger-pils/

This made me think of something a friend of mine from back at college told me. He'd spent some time in Eastern Europe, and he'd always look for German or Czech beer. In Cardiff, where we were at Uni., you could get Becks, Budvar and the Czechoslovakian Budweiser quite easily. John said that when he lived in Prague, he could drink quite a bit, and wake up without a hangover. He thought this was because it was pure - just hops, malt and water with no additives. He found that your average British Lager gave him a rotten headache the next day.

I was thinking of this because last week I drank two 640ml bottles of OB and one 330ml can. It's a little bit over the recommended daily amount, right? But it's not exactly excessive by any stretch. I woke up feeling pretty rough. I thought: this is messed up - if I'd have drank that much when I was a student, I'd have woken up feeling like I'd been living at a health farm for a month - because we really all drank way too much at that time.

But I wondered if there was some truth in this - is it really the additives in cheap lagers give you a hangover? Obviously if you drink massive amounts you are going to feel rough anyway - but I mean, if you drank say, four or five pints - would it make a bit difference?

[funkywinkerbeans]

Definite difference between hite and Hite D. Hite D is the first Korean beer I can actually drink and don't mind. It's a change in the right direction for Korean beer. I'm hoping for better beer Korean beer in the future.

As for OB Gold, I'm wondering whether they just changed some of the ingredients, ie: substituted some german hops. It's a bit of a disapointment. I've noticed I haven't seen any old regular OB in my local store, so maybe they just threw on a new label and added a very small amount of german ingredients. Voila a new beer!

[alistaircandlin]

here's my verdict on the German stuff - Oettinger - bought from e-mart:

The Pilsner was rank. Wouldn't recommend it to anyone. Thought the aftertaste was nasty, bitter, and metallic. I would much prefer OB Golden or Hite D over this.

The Weissbeer was pretty good though. I'd definitely buy it again. It wasn't as good as other wheat beers I've had - but it was a nice drink.

E-mart did have other brands of imported beer for around he same price - 1500 - 1700 Won, various pilsners, but I'd imagine they'd be much the same. They also have stuff for 3000Won+, which I'd hope were better.

[nukeday]

I disagree. I like Oettinger Pils. It's not great (obviously considering the price), but it does beat any Korean beer.

[marsavalanche]

[alistaircandlin]

Oh the hell with all of it! I'm going on the wagon. Maybe Korea is just not the place to drink beer - you know the old adage: when in Rome, don't do as the the Romans do.

Thanks for your comments. I think it might be time for me to stop avoiding work, and actually do something other than drink various lagers with various degrees of crapness.

Then again, it's nearly Friday ....

[Zyzyfer]