Becks Pilsener

The Becks website claims that the beer is sold in 120 countries and every minute, 50 bottles of Becks are consumed in Australia. This is a successful  beer by any standard. First brewed in 1873 in Northwest Germany, the beer won two very prestigious medals in its first year of circulation. These medals appear on the bottle today.

Origin: Bremen, Germany

Alcohol/vol: 5.0%

Style: Pilsener Draught

Average Rating: 4.0 

Would not drink if offered free

Craig’s tasting

When you pour a Becks into a glass the first thing you will notice is its very pale appearance. I liken this to the complexion of a Melbournian in the depths of winter.

All jokes aside, a man once asked me a question. “If a brewer urinates in a keg, can it be called Pilsener?” An interesting question, and like the tree falling in the woods with no one to hear it. We will never know.

As fate would have it there are two very popular versions of Becks. There is the beer and there is the English footballer who is marred to one of the spice girls. I respect both versions for the success they have created but the footballer is my favourite.

If 50 of these puppies are downed every minute in Australia, who am I to rate it below a 5? It’s German so the quality is there, the packaging looks good, the reputation is there, but I just don’t like the taste.

I usually rate a little lower than my counterpart but this time I am rating a little higher. One point for every percentage point of alcohol. That is fair isn’t it?

Danny’s tasting

For those not fluent in German, Becks is an abbreviation of the German word "Beckswasser", which means "Backwater" or a more literal translation of "Stagnant Pond". Remember this when you have more money than sense, and try Becks.

The 2 things that immediately scream vorsicht (caution) are, firstly this is a Pilsner and, secondly that it comes in a bottle with aluminum foil around the neck. I can't ever recall liking a beer with foil around the neck. A useful tip you might want to take note of.

As an Amber Analyst I don't mind going through a bad tasting experience like Becks if it means that I can save just one fellow drinker from this sort of mistake.

Everything goes against Becks. It has a pale sickly colour, has that typical hoppy smell and is as mentioned earlier, a Pilsener. You wouldn't think you could go wrong with simple ingredients of water, hops, malted grains and yeast but Becks manages to. Why Becks, why ?????????

The crowning moment for me was when I looked at the label on the bottle and it had "Best Before........................" and no date.

My point exactly! It's not best ever.

You have been warned, It should be verboten.

(german translations may not be factually correct)