Polish beer?

Polar101

My local shops seem to have a pretty large selection of Polish beers. I'm not Polish myself, so I don't really know which ones are good - rather than try everything randomly I thought I'd try asking here instead. Most of the beers seem to be lagers, I'm mainly looking for non-lager beer - what would be the options there?

So far I've tried Warka, which probably goes into the 'just another lager' category, even if it was good value for money.

Any information/opinions appreciated!

Owen

Tyskie is an award winning beer, quite nice. Lech is alright-ish. My personal favourite is Okocim Mocne, it's a very smooth beer, 7%, and is delicious. Hard to find it these days though.

BeerNut

It's a long time since I've seen a Polish beer on sale in Ireland which wasn't a pale lager. Okocim Palone and Okocim Porter used to be available, but they're gone now, I think. Żywiec Porter is lovely too, but I've only ever seen it in Poland.

bassey

+1 on Tyskie, really like the stuff. Very tastey.

Berty

Another vote for Tyskie. There are two different types floating about because of parallel importers so you may get two types with different ABVs.

Win win if you get the higher one for the same price. Cheapest price I normally find is Dunnes for Tyskie.

Last week it was €1.62. I only check prices(work reasons) every Friday so likely to gone back up to €1.69. :eek:

BeerNut

Beer Baron wrote: »

you may get two types with different ABVs.

Win win if you get the higher one for the same price.

So the main thing it has going for it is that it contains alcohol?

Berty

BeerNut wrote: »

So the main thing it has going for it is that it contains alcohol?

It does help.

Sky King

I know you're trying to avoid the Polish lagers so it shouldn't be too hard to avoid Karpackie, but I'll warn you off it anyway.

Awful awful stuff. Seriously. And the hangover after four cans will make you want to cry your eyes out.

Polar101

OK thanks, will give Tyskie a go. Will avoid Karpackie. The porters would be nice but I'm pretty sure I didn't see them in the shops.

MyKeyG

Sky King wrote: »

I know you're trying to avoid the Polish lagers so it shouldn't be too hard to avoid Karpackie, but I'll warn you off it anyway.

Awful awful stuff. Seriously. And the hangover after four cans will make you want to cry your eyes out.

I often drink eight cans at a time and I have no issues the next day. Maybe some people just can't hold their drink;)

eurokev

Zywiec out of a can is my personal favourite lager. Notable mentions too for

Svyturys wheat beer ( lithuanian )
the baltika range ( Russian ) No 6 is a lovely example of an eastern porter but hard to get
ocokim mocne from a can

LaBaguette

Slight disappointment for me, I just discovered that Tyskie was owned by SABMiller, and that they were going to take over Foster's.

BeerNut

LaBaguette wrote: »

Slight disappointment for me, I just discovered that Tyskie was owned by SABMiller

Does that suddenly make their beer taste worse, or something?

LaBaguette

Not at all. I don't have an opinion on the Tyskie, having never tried it; but I was keen on a trying a Polish beer and I can't help thinking 15 years of being owned by SABMiller must have been some influence on the beer.

BeerNut

LaBaguette wrote: »

but I was keen on a trying a Polish beer and I can't help thinking 15 years of being owned by SABMiller must have been some influence on the beer.

Well Żywiec and Warka are both Heineken and Okocim is Carlsberg. I doubt there's any beer from a Polish-owned brewery sold here.

jjanderton

Polar101 wrote: »

I'm mainly looking for non-lager beer - what would be the options there?

Hi Plolar....

I would like to suggest you these three types of polish beer

• Zywiec
• Ksiazece Tyskie
• Tatra

All these three beer containing 5 to 6% Abv....I think this will be helpful for you...

yoyo

I quite like Karpackie, its 5% and cheap and tastes good. Tyskie is also very nice, been meaning to try Lech at some stage. Don't knock Karpackie just coz its cheap, tis a grand beer

Nick

n97 mini

BeerNut wrote: »

Well Żywiec and Warka are both Heineken and Okocim is Carlsberg. I doubt there's any beer from a Polish-owned brewery sold here.

Does that mean in effect that Polish lagers here are the equivalent of Harp, Tuborg, Carlsberg, Heineken, Amstel, etc.? i.e. mass market blandness?

(I don't drink lager so have no inclination to buy the Polish stuff)

BeerNut

n97 mini wrote: »

Does that mean in effect that Polish lagers here are the equivalent of Harp, Tuborg, Carlsberg, Heineken, Amstel, etc.? i.e. mass market blandness?

Yeah pretty much. Though I can't say any Polish microbrewed lagers I tried have been a whole lot better.

n97 mini

Right. Well that's a good enough answer.

Someone told me that the name of one of them translates to 'cheap', 'value' or 'easy' or something similar. Can't remember which one.

mikemac

Big fan of Tyskie, have not found another brand I liked at all

adamski8

BeerNut wrote: »

Yeah pretty much. Though I can't say any Polish microbrewed lagers I tried have been a whole lot better.

is that generally all the brew over there then (lagers?). thats what I would have expected anyway

BeerNut

adamski8 wrote: »

is that generally all the brew over there then (lagers?).

Pretty much, but there are some great dark lagers, like the ones I mentioned earlier in this thread.