Beer Post #10

Merhaba! Apologies for being negligent regarding my December posts. No, Jeff, I haven't quit drinking; rather, I've been spending time on the road and am grateful to have the time now to report my findings.

Our trip to Istanbul offered me some opportunities to sample some new, if not diverse, gifts from Allah.

In Turkey, it's all Efes. This national brewery produces 71% of the beer sold in the country. While they are contract brewers for Becks, Miller, Warstiener and Fosters, these sales only account for about 10% of the beer consumed nationally. The remaining 90% of the market share that Efes enjoys are beers produced under their own label. These include a Pilsner style lager, a dark lager, a strong ale (7% abv), and a German wiezbier called, Gusta.

The Efes Pilsner tends to the sweet side for me. It has more body than you might expect, especially for the warmer climate that is its primary market. The head is light and thin. Regarding packaging, the bottle is best in terms of quality. The quality of the cans is inconsistent whereas the draft varies from horrible to shitty (this is most likely a result of dirty lines at the pubs I visited). Concerning the Pilsen, Fonefan at Rate beer said, "Bottle. Clear light yellow color with a small to average, fizzy, fair lacing, mostly diminishing, white to off-white head. Aroma is light malty, toasted, bread, moderate cardboard. Flavor is light to moderate sweet with a short to average duration. Body is light to medium, texture is watery, carbonation is soft."

Gusta, on the other hand, is a top fermented brew in the German hefeweizen style. At Ratebeer, one writer, RickGordon, described Gusta as, "Hazy pale yellow colour with moderate head. Dryish aroma with slight fresh sourishness and only light phenolic. Light bodied with bit acidity. Low wheat profile and very flawless. Lacking in esters and body, apart from that this is very German." I concur.

Try it at 7am at the airport, like I did, with next to no sleep. Chase it with borëk or su böreği ("a warm many layered noodle like pastry sandwich of white cheese and parsley" according to Lonely Planet Turkey).

Cost: YLT 2.85 ($2.44) for 12 oz.

Hoşçakal, Turkey! We'll miss you! (BTW, alerjim var ishali).