I really wanted this to work.
I’d taken home a quarter pounder with cheese for dinner and Bruce Springsteen was whipping the crowd into a patriotic frenzy as he blasted out Born in the USA on Spotify.
Conditions were as ideal as they could be considering I’m sitting 400 km south of the Arctic circle in Sweden to try my first ever glass of Spendrups’ new US-inspired Pistonhead Hot Roddin’ Lager
The bottle’s flaming skull motif was fairly eye-catching, as was the incorrect (brewed on…) and clumsy English (no bling??) on the back label. But these, I hoped, were merely scratches in this beer’s hot rod bodywork and that there was still a high performance brew revving up underneath the hood.
However instead of this……
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I got this.
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There’s no easy way to say this. Pistonhead is about as genuinely American as Arnold Schwarzeneggar. Spendrups promised a beer with attitude but delivers a lager that barely gets into first gear.
Appearance-wise Pistonhead is unspectacular – perhaps a shade more amber than most pale lagers with a bleached white head. The first clear sign that it has very little in the tank is the smell of it. American hops are known for their distinctive and explosive aromas of grapefruit, citrus and pine needles. Despite the fact that Pistonhead uses more than one US hop variety I just couldn’t locate them underneath thin smells of vegetables and butterscotch.
Taste-wise things went from bad to worse. Hash, metallic, raw malt flavours that thankfully vanished in one of the shortest aftertastes I’ve experienced in recent years of drinking beers. As for the hops…..they simply failed to turn up.
There seems little point in carrying on. In a previous post I gave kudos to Spendrups for seemingly breaking the brewery mould and daring to launch this beer. I still think they should be applauded for doing so, although I am hugely disappointed they didn’t give it the horsepower needed to make it worthy of the hype.
The back label proclaims Pistonhead comprises “only high quality parts and a lot of torque”.
Unfortunately it should read “a lot of talk” instead.
Pistonhead Hot Roddin’ Lager
A lager from Spendrups Brewery
5% ABV
Systembolaget Article Number: 1432-03
Ah, too bad, it was that bad? I buy one and try one but I was so much hoping for more. Sad.
Oh, what a shame.
Hey! Stop bullying Spendrups!
Well hopefully they drink it themselfs, realise that it takes some love and proper ingredients and try again. Can’t expect to brew beer on copper spikes, dish water and then filter it through the hair on my old grandmothers back. Primarily since she will eventually get pissed but also because it will taste like shit.
hmm think I will try this beer soon…
Tried it, liked it. For me, the moderate pricing gives it an upper hand. You get what you pay for and in this case you get a hell of a lot more than other produce in the same price range. And obviously this product is aimed at larger audience than super micro stuff with a high price.
Or even worse. They drink it and realizes that it ”just tastes to much” for their average customers. They need to filter it a few extra times, use more dishwater and fewer (if any) hops next time. Then it is bound to be a success with beer-lovers all over the country!
Then again… they might be a bit braver next time…
@John: You make a valid point. You do get what you pay for and at 11.50 SEK a bottle Pistonhead is certainly a reasonably cheap 5% ABV beer.
I’m sure price point was a major consideration of Spendrups when launching this beer in an obvious attempt to appeal, as you say, to the larger market.
In doing so I assume they had to keep raw material costs down, resulting in this rather characterless attempt at a US-style lager.
I think the reason I’m particularly frustrated with Pistonhead is because I feel Spendrups had a real opportunity to do something different here, to use its name, brewing resources and national reach to introduce a beer with mass appeal that also had real flavour. Surely it’s possible to create a widely available affordable Swedish beer with complexity and taste…..or am I just being naive?
Spendrups still has there Gotlands bryggeri. I think they will keep all the good stuff coming from Visby.