WE’VE always thought it carbon footprint excessive all those consignments of Czech Pils crossing the Continent to refill the big copper tanks at some of the city’s coolest bars.
Now Albert’s Schloss, purveyor of Pilsener Urquell plus a raft of Bavarian beers, has looked nearer home, to Middleton Junction and Manchester’s oldest brewery (founded 1828) for an alternative. And, of course, they couldn’t resist calling their collab with JW Lees Manchester Rein, a punny take on the German word for pure.
It’s a fresh and unpasteurised Bavarian style pilsner made in accordance with the Reinheitsgebot – the German beer purity law. English hops are combined with traditional malt and yeast from Munich.
The Schloss’s Biermeisters describe it as a more sessionable beer, “sitting ust between a Pilsner Urquell and a Paulaner, but slightly less hoppy, boasting a peachy nose and a nutty body that’s topped off with a creamy finish.”
Compare it with Urquell and Paulaner as the first limited batch of Manchester Rein hits the taps this week.