Amsterdam Explorator

Brewed by Grolsche Bierbrouwerij Ned. (SABMiller)
Style: Strong Pale Lager/Imperial Pils
Boekelo, Netherlands

Serve in Lager glass

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Finally, after nearly a year, I find this can on the bottom shelf.... its higher alcohol brothers are everywhere, but this mysterious low-alcohol version of a bad Dutch beer had been eluding me for a very long time. Pours bright, bright yellow into a glass, with a fair amount of head, but it dies down very quickly. The aroma is..... nonexistent. Maybe some barley in there, and some syrup, if you stick your whole head in the pitcher and inhale. The taste is heavy-syrup lager... no alcohol, but sort of an artifical version of what a lager tastes like. Artificial flavouring? Hell yeah. This stuff tastes just like its more potent brothers, which means you’ll likely buy it to get drunk.... so why not just buy the stronger stuff instead?

barnyard, grass, alcohol, dough, pale, hazy, minimal head, heavy cloying sweetness, lightly bitter, lightly sour, light body, thin feel, average carbonation, bitter,

6.8% gold colour with a good head, soapy aroma, sweet nondescript lager taste.

A golden yellow beer with a small white head. Aroma is sweet and malty with notes of alcohol. Taste is sweet and grainy. Not my style at all. Strong alcohol notes.

Dieses Amsterdam riecht süß alkoholisch. Geschmacklich ist der Explorator nicht zu süß aber zu zuckrig, etwas hopfig, bitter, an Qualität mangeld es hier. Fazit: ich bekomme den halben Liter nur mit meinen Mittestern gerade so aus. Mittester Lothar sagt: Schöne Dose, aber schlechter Inhalt! Mittester Hendrick sagt: Traum von Amsterdam! Test vom 26.9.2009, Gebinde: Dose Noten: 6,5,4,4,9,5 - 5,00

550 ml can in Niger. The last of the Amsterdam beers. Pours a nice yellow gold with some white head. Aroma has light cherry with malt and alcohol. The taste is better than any of the other Amsterdams but not by alot. Has some light resin and malts. Palate is pleasant and smooth. It is still below average but drinkable.

500ml can from a Paris corner store. Amsterdam is a series of budget price pale lagers starting at 5% and going up to 11.6%. At this strength (6.8%), buyers, marketers and brewers start to call them strong lagers. In America they’d be called Malt Liqour, and in Germany they’d be called Bock. It’s all the same. This is pale, sweet, minimal balancing hop bitterness, some rough alcohol notes, and a bit of soap in the finish. Easy drinking and mostly inoffensive, this is not stuff you get excited about or recommend, but can drink with few complaints.

Can 50cl in Paris. A correct amber lager with good malty notes but too sweet, there is some caramel sugar in it. Drinkable anyway.

Canned (thanks Christoph N!). Yellowish golden colour with small white head. Aroma is sweet malts, some alcohol, mild glueish notes as well as some rubber. Flavour is sweet malts, some alcohol, mild hops. Rather sweet, but far from the worst Malt Liquor I’ve had.

50 cl can. Pours yellow gold with a white head. Sweet grainy adjuncty aroma. The flavor is lightly sweet, grainy, and mostly inoffensive. Not awful

Bottle I had looked nothing like the one pictured. Logo was completely different but all other info. works. Anyway, maybe I had an old bottle b/c this was terrible. No spicy hoppy flavor and very sweet w/ no head at all. The shit we’ll try for 1 more rating...................baffling.