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The Exotic Beer Weekly - This week Bintang

This week: Bintang Belly

There’s an image I just can’t get out of my head as I choose my beer this week. Whenever I go to the gym, or the beach, or out in town (basically wherever youth congregate), I see this. Rat-tailed, singlet-wearing young hooligans masquerading as men.

You know the type. They have bulging biceps from countless hours ‘pumping iron’. Driving around in their ’87 VN Commodore with a 6-speed, 4.8L V8 turbo diesel engine, complete with beer in hand. I cringe every time I hear them screech “oi mate” in that peculiar idiosyncratic accent unique to Aussies.

But what does this have to do with Exotic Beer of the Week? I hear you ask. Well, it’s an all too common sight for the singlet I made mention of to be sporting a large, bright, Bintang logo. At the risk of alienating some of you, my dear reading several, I have come to associate Bintang with Bogan culture. So I have to drop my prejudices, widen my view of the world, and review this week’s beer as objectively as I can.

Bintang, an Indonesian pilsner, is actually produced by a subsidiary of Heiniken, which explains the similarity, in bottle and in taste. The thing that strikes me about Bintang, is that it’s just like every other beer. If I didn’t have the bottle, I don’t think I could readily differentiate it from say, Toohey's New.

Not that there’s anything bad about it, it still has that light, deliciously bitter flavour, with no bad after taste, but there’s just nothing special or unique about it. Like a trip to Bali, it begins with all the promise of good times, but you leave feeling slightly disappointed because you got Bali Belly from drinking the water [and only half your pirate DVDs work – Ed.]. It’s a shame, what should have been a good beer, really was bland and boring. Maybe that’s what the kind of people who wear Bintang singlets want, but not this reviewer.

I award Bintang Pilsner 2 singlets out of 5

Spirit Sunday - This week Pisa Liqueur

This week – Pisa Liqueur ($32)

Recently I've been on a personal mission to try more of the various manifestations of almond based products, and it was with this in mind I reached out and picked up Pisa Liqueur. But before I launch into the smells/tastes and so forth, I must spend a moment admiring the bottle.

Like the famous landmark of Pisa Liqueur's home city, the bottle is on a, well, lean. It slants about 5 degrees off the vertical in a way that makes you think perhaps you've drunk more than you though you had. Honestly, get yourself to a bottle shop just for a look at the bottle.

Admittedly the smell isn't great. I've found a real dislocation between what I understand the flavour of almonds to be and what almond-flavoured things actually are. The drink's website suggest it be drunk over ice or slightly warmed; I recommend over ice.

Thankfully it drinks a lot smoother than you would think it might, and I could enjoy two small glasses before I got that 'full-of-sweet-things' feeling that I get with most dessert/sweet drinks. At 24% it is a little heavier than a conventional liqueur, but it's also a little syrupy, so you don't really notice.

The artificial almond seems to dominate the three flavours the drink is supposed to have. The bottle claims Pisa's distilled with hazelnut and pistachio flavours as well, but I found them both drowned out by the almost liquorice strength of the almond. The bottle (genius) and the colour (beautiful) of the spirit rate 3.5 stars, but...

Pisa Liqueur rates 2.25 stars.

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