Pope Benedict XVI has been quite busy in the past year. First the he reverses his previous statements and makes a highly controversial (and unclear) statement that using condoms to prevent spreading HIV is the lesser of evils, at least for prostitutes. Now he continues his year-long push for the Church to embrace and make use of social media, though warning against the risks of substituting a cyber-life for a real one.
Ignoring any of the other controversies, it's pretty great that the Pope has a Facebook application and a You Tube account. What most suprised me, however, was discovering that he also has a beer.
This Pope is Bavarian, so of COURSE he drinks beer, and it's thanks to the church that we have beer in the first place. But it still seems strange to see Pope Beer.
When we saw it in Herr J's grocery store, our initial shock quickly gave way to "we HAVE to try this!"
I'm not sure if the Pope has truly endorsed this or what legalities are involved. The Weideneder Brewery in Marktl began producing the beer shortly after Cardinal Ratzinger's election as Pope, as he was born there in 1927. The house on the label is a drawing of his birthplace, and the label at the top of the bottle proudly proclaims him "The Bavarian Pope Benedict XVI."
According to Weideneder's English site, due to the long-standing "connection between the Church and the art of brewing we consider it to be our obligation to appreciate the election of a Bavarian Pope in a Bavarian way." How very Bavarian of them!
;)
;)
More importantly, it's a pretty decent beer. It's a festival beer, similar to the Oktoberfest Märzen style of beers. It's darker and stronger (5.4%) than a Helles or Pils. It's not as strongly hoppy as a Pils, but does have a stronger hops note than a Helles and a different hop flavor than a Pils. It has a deeper flavor, but not to the Dunkelbier point of flavor. It's a good tasting, drinkable beer that will stand up well even to spicy foods. We made pomelo salad and panang chicken for dinner, and it was a great beer to drink with spicy food...a great contrast and cooling to the spice, yet it didn't lose its flavor against the spiciness as many weaker beers do. We expected this to be a novelty beer and not very good, but we would definitely drink it again! ;)