Heineken

Brewed by Heineken Nederland
Style: Pale Lager
Zoeterwoude, Netherlands

Serve in Dimpled mug, Lager glass, Shaker

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I poured a 24oz can into a tall mug. Its code indicates it was canned on March 16, 2013. It cost $2.69 ($0.11 per ounce).

Appearance: Slight darker gold than most macro lagers with a bit more consistent carbonation. Forms a large, white, foamy head which retains and laces surprisingly well for the style.

Smell: I deliberately bought a can hoping to avoid the infamous skunky odor associated with green bottles. The can definitely was not skunked, though the beer doesn’t smell all that good. A bit more pungent and cheap than most pale macro lagers.

Taste: It’s been over four years since I last had a Heineken. I never liked it before I started drinking good beer and even though I can tolerate macro lagers rather well, Heineken still puts me off. Thankfully, the can does a good job of preventing it from skunking up, but doesn’t change the base recipe which is boring at best and foul at worst. From what I can tell this beer isn’t brewed with adjuncts, though that makes no difference since the palette isn’t improved by their absence.

The first swig envelopes my tongue with a sharp, slightly sour or oily sensation. There’s little bitterness and certainly no actual hop character to taste here. The malts are absent as well, since Heineken just tastes like the epitome of cliché fizzy yellow beer. The second half becomes rather astringent with increased sourness and other off-flavors. It’s not terrible or awful (I’ve had much worse), but there’s nothing to enjoy about it. This is a tolerable beer, but there’s no reason to seek it out.

Drinkability: I’m not sure why, but for some reason Heineken seems a little heavier than most of the genre. The mouthfeel is a tad thicker and more tepid, though it does have a slightly oily sensation across the tongue. It goes down easily and leaves a slightly starchy aftertaste. At 5% ABV it’s rather pointless since it’s too heavy to session and with this dull palette there’s no reason to anyway.

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I’ve had worse. This beer feels significant, probably ticks about 832 pubs in the country for me, was the first beer I ever saw Dom tweet about as he had a family of different sizes of them lined up for an evening of exciting drinking and is one of the highest rated I’ve not rated in terms of numbers of rates. Rate.

Bottle 33 cl. Pours an average white head that disappears very fast. Very clear and pale, straw-colored beer. Tastes more like beery water than watery beer. Terrible.

En iskall Heineken en varm sommardag är inte helt fel! Ska helst vara i flaska, då den upplevs kallare..

330 ml bottle, rated from backlog. Yellow with small white head. Faint aroma of light malts, traces of bitterness. Taste is light, grainy, pale malt and some bitter hops. Watery

Un grand classique avec un gou particulier, désaltère bien et possède un marketing excellent. En tant que boisson elle n’est pas d’une qualité extraordinaire et peut servir en regardant un match de foot. Elle n’offre que peu de joie de dégusation mais est agréable pour accompagner une discussion

Can,Bottle and Draught. This is a solid pale lager when you are overseas and have doubts about everything else. Granted its probably over priced and has been sitting there for months. But if it beats millet beer.

Draft at Gleasons. Corny, pale malt, metallic. Slight creaminess on the finish. One of the worst macro pale lagers.

Draught @shlomit’s wedding. Pale golden and clear w/white head, grainish aroma and grainy bitter taste. Light body and grainy finish. Everything tastes good at weddings!