Beer Review – Tyskie Gronie

• Name: Tyskie Gronie
• Brewery: Tyskie Browary Książęce (SABMiller)
• Style: Euro Style Lager
• Origin: Poland
• ABV: 5.6%

On one fateful August day, I was prowling the aisles of my local Total Wine and More, deciding what delicious alcoholic goodness I would bring home with me when I stumbled upon a brew named Tyskie in the “Europe” section. I quickly realized that this beer was Polish, and having never tried a Polish beer before, I added it to my cart. About a week later I tried it and posted a picture on my Instagram feed, which was immediately met with disdain coming from Polish beer drinkers. That little story alone should give you a pretty good idea of where this review is heading.

I quickly got the message that Tyskie was the Polish equivalent of a Budweiser. It was mass produced, easy to find and by no means the best beer available. In fact, many people made a point of telling me not to judge Polish beer against the standards of Tyskie. I can definitely see why.

Tyskie Gronie poured a pale yellow color, with its highly carbonated, transparent body building a large head. It has a fairly typical, malty aroma one would expect of a lager. So far, nothing really stood out.

It has a very light mouthfeel, with the high carbonation really playing a factor. Flavor wise, it’s not great. It has a few malty tones as one would expect and it has a bit more hoppy bitterness to it than many American lagers, but theres something about the flavor I just can’t quite place. It almost tastes “damp” for lack of a better term, not quite skunked but somewhere in that general direction. Whatever it is, it didn’t really do much for Tyskie Gronie’s drinkability.

The flavor profile could be somewhat accurately described as a watered down Peroni that had passed its prime. The flavor isn’t necessarily bad per se, it’s just completely unremarkable and really quite forgettable. It’s not in the same realm as the disasterously bad Kalik, but it’s definitely one of the worse beers I have tried in recent times.

All in all, this beer is slightly below mediocre in quality. Can I see people enjoying it? I suppose so, I mean, look at the volume of sales Budweiser and co. make in any given year. Did I enjoy it? Not really. Again, it wasn’t the worst beer I’d ever tried, but if it weren’t for my tasting notes, I would have forgotten it before I even got a chance to write this review. Would I buy it again? Absolutely not.

TL;DR

Tyskie is a completely unremarkable, mass-produced lager. I can only assume that it is to Poland what Budweiser is to America. In saying that, I will occasionally drink a Budweiser (I can see the beer enthusiasts recoiling in disgust). Tyskie has its place as something that is widely available and will likely sell in unreasonable quantities because people don’t like change. I guess multi-million dollar ad budgets get you somewhere. You could easily get by without ever having tried this beer.

Rating: 4/10

Question of the Day

What is your national/regional completely unremarkable lager? Let me know!

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Learn more about Tyskie Gronie on its website, Beer Advocate and Untappd.