Craig’s tasting

Indonesians have a great appreciation for Australians and our culture. Their appreciation of Australian tourists is very similar to the Australian appreciation of Japanese tourists.

Another way to describe this relationship is that it is exactly the same as that relationship you hated being in but kept going back to because the sex was so good. Now to the beer.

It tastes like a pilsener and I am not surprised that it is in bed with Heineken.

Australians have really taken to the Balinese culture. So much so that the Jamie Durie led fad of creating a Balinese themed backyard has resulted in these eyesores popping up in places as far and wide as Tasmania and Snowy mountains. Where of course they are perfectly suited, but back to the beer

It has the most hopped aroma I have ever experienced, which is enough to turn even the most hardened beer drinker away.

I often wonder if there is an Indonesian version of Jamie Durie running around Bali creating Australian themed backyards. I can picture it now. A shit load of grass, a clothes line in the middle with a cement path leading to it. Topped off with a cheap tin shed full of crap. I keep forgetting about the beer.

I keep forgetting because, as my counterpart noted Bintang is out of its element here. My advice to you is to save Bintang for next time you are sitting on Kuta beach wondering why Bali hasn’t become an Australian state.

Danny’s tasting

From the home of the $1- T shirt, the odd bloody big wave and an unfortunate gastronomical affliction comes Bintang Pilsener (another Pilsener Yippeeeeee)

It is with a somewhat perverse pleasure that I now look forward to trying Pilseners as I consider it a challenge to come up with a completely new sledge for this style of beer I’ve not used before.

As soon as you crack a stubbie you get that god awful hopped pilsener aroma (sledge not previously used) but then a funny thing happens. The aroma dissipates to a point where you brave inhaling in its general vicinity and the taste is not bad, not bad at all.

Drinking it in Australia I’d say it rates a 7 but it's out of its element here. I could see that laying on a beach in 30 degree temps, in the wilds of Indonesia as it were, this could easily rate a 7.5

As the old expression goes, “one swallow does not make a summer” and I'd have to say that one swallow of a nice tasting Pilsener does not make that style of beer great. Bintang does go a fair way, however to bridge the gap between Pilsener lovers (there are a few out there not that you should acknowledge them in the street, just quietly pity them and keep moving) and the rest of the beer drinking world.

Perhaps my horizons are broadening now that I’ve come out and admitted to liking this and Oettinger Pilsener.

God I’m going to start liking shandy’s and low alcohol beers now aren’t I.

Great!

Bintang Pilsener

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The brewery was established in 1929 while Indonesia was still under the Dutch colonial rule. The indonesian government appropriated the brewery which lasted about ten years before it was return to control of Heineken in 1967. The brewery currently produces a handful of beers including the number one selling Indonesian beer Bintang Pilsener.

Origin: Surabaya, Indonesia

Alcohol/vol: 4.8%

Style: Pilsener

Average Rating: 6.75 

May appeal on random occasions. Not all the time.