Give Your Sweetheart a Kisz
Valentine’s Day is just around the corner and most of you are thinking about chocolates and roses and other sweet and fragrant things to give to your sweetheart. If you are a beer lover you might be tempted to accompany the chocolates and flowers with a large bottle of chocolate or cherry flavored beer. (I’ll have more to say about those beers in my next Brewsday column which coincidentally will appear on V-day.) However, there are other beer options for your evening of romance; you might want to give your sweetheart a Kisz, a Kisz Bier that is.
Kisz is pronounced just like “kiss.” Kisz Bier is a Pilsner brewed in the Czech Republic by Prazske Pivovary (brewers of Staroparmen). There are two kinds of Kisz Bier: the Classic Czech Lager and the Classic Czech Dark Lager. The Classic Czech Lager is light in color, but its has plenty of flavor. This beer isn’t as bitter as a typical Bohemian or Bavarian lager, but it has a lot more hop bitterness than most all American style lagers.
According to the Microbrewed Beer of the Month Club Newsletter (vol. 11 no. 5), the Classic Czech Dark Lager is
…dark brown in color which turns deep ruby-red in the light–with a nice creamy head. The aroma is bread-like, with strong notes of sweet malts. Look for a flavor that is less sweet than the aroma would have you expect, with a medium body and a clean, lager crispness and a note of pumpernickel. Great with salami and cheddar on pumpernickel bread.
Unfortunately, Kisz Bier is only available in the New York Metropolitan region (which includes Long Island). Meyer Olshin of Kisz Bier USA (the importer) says he’s working on establishing a national distribution network. Keep your eyes peeled. If you are interested, there’s a good article in New York Press about Meyer Olshin and how he created Kisz Bier.
