Skunk-off: Beck's versus Stella Artois

Today, I hosted yet another beer-off: Beck's beer of Bremen in Germany against Stella Artois of Leuven in Belgium. Both beers are the same Northeren Pilsner lager style and both come in the unholy green bottle that can give beer a skunky aroma as a result of chemical compounds in the hops interacting with sunlight. Hence, we call this a skunk-off, and it will be a decathlon. The following disciplines are part of the competition: (1) Serving format; (2) Bottle cap; (3) Label; (4) Skuniness; (5) Malt bubble; (6) Appearance; (7) Head; (8) Malt taste; (9) Hops taste; (10) Lacing. Let the skunkiest beer be the winner! An added twist to this competition is that both brands are owned by AB-Inbev. Stella Artois actually was among the first brands of this now multi-tentacled ungulate conglomerate leviathan back in the 1990s when they were only a Belgian company (not an American-Belgian-Brazilian company) and called Interbrew. Beck's got swallowed up around 2002, after having been owned by Bremen family interests for centuries. How will the two sisters compare? How much do they cannibalize each other's market share?

It is a good thing that both contestants come in mighty 660 ml bottles, as I happened to experience a particularly ferocious thirst today, having played a soccer match in the afternoon and refusing to replenish with water in anticipation of this event. Don't ask why the content of these bottles is 660 ml - it may as well be 666 ml - but oddly enough, the odd quantity of the one is mimicked by the other. Maybe this is so because one source says that Stella Artois is actually bottled at the Beck's brewery in Bremen. Go figure, and this means Tie match!

On to the bottle caps. Stella's cap is covered by the paper neck label, and features its ornate brand design on a white background. Beck's comes out on top here, with a sleek red, black, and silver colour combo and using its well known Key logo to good effect.

The labels feature the same colour combination, and so it all comes down to the design of the main logo. Stella's label reflects the heritage of beer from a Belgian brewery called Den Horen (The horn), which is the original name of its producer, Beck's logo is derived from the city symbol of its hometown Bremen. This is a tough call, and while I think the design of Beck's key logo has more aesthetic style, Stella's inclusion of a barley, hops leaf, and a hops cone give it the edge.

Time to open the bottles and stick my gherkin inside, as the skunk notes must be caught immediately after snapping the cap. Beck's wins this competition by a nose hair's breadth. Both beers are quite skunky, but the aroma that belched out of the Beck's bottle was so pungent that the neighbours thought someone had run over a skunk! The next task is to pour and build a nice head for these two contestants. I also compared the malt bubbles that come out of the bottle following the first swig, and Beck's once again has its nose in front here. Stella's bubble did not quite make it out, and giving the bottle a second jig produced a bubble that was not only smaller than the one coming out of the Beck's bottle on first swig, but it also burst much more quickly. What you cannot see is that because of a stiff breeze, the Beck's bubble was actually dancing in the wind when I took its picture.

Stella Artois:

Beck's:

The appearance of both beers is very pale and clear as water - of course we would expect no less of two such reputed brands with great pedigree. Neither has the edge here, but Stella Artois built a far nicer foam with smaller, more uniform bubbles and slightly less fizzing that produced a taller head. Not well documented in the picture above is also the fact that Stella built a much more elegant volcano top.

The taste of the two beers evidences their shared roots in a multinational ogre firm. The malt character of both is disappointing, given their European provenance. Beck's gives us the more adventurous tune here, combining some acidic and floral hops notes with the white bread of malt, whereas Stella Artois offers a stale bread malt character that seems excessively sweet and reminds me of ashtray. Stella's sweetness also lingers in a way that seems a bit awry for a Pilsner style, and while a notable hop bitterness joins the malts and balances well, it does not manage to clean the palate. Beck's has a similar bitterness, but it does clean the palate nicely to a crisp finish. Well done, you town musicians of Bremen!

The last competition is the lacing, and as you might guess by Stella's superior performance on the head, it also wins the lacing comparison, as can be seen below!

Bottom line: Beck's won five competitions, including the two critical taste tests, there were two draws, and Stella won three. Are any of you surprised the German beer won? Prost!