A couple of months ago (has it really been that long ago?) a very loyal reader of this blog brought back a beer from Switzerland for me to try. At the time I was in the middle of my Oktoberfest (with a K) beer marathon so I hid the beer safely in the back of my beer closet. Recently I finally got a chance to try it.
The beer is Feldschlösschen Premium. From Feldschlösschen Brewery in Switzerland. My Swiss contact has said that Feldschlösschen means little field castle. I’m not sure if that means a little castle in a field, or a normal castle in a little field. Either way I guess it doesn’t matter.
This beer is in the Pilsner style and I have to say it was excellent. I can describe the mouth feel as smooooth. Nice flavor as well. Highly recommended.
The Feldschlösschen website isn’t in English (available languages are French, Italian, and German) so I couldn’t get a lot of information about the beer other than it has a 5.0 % abv.
Feldschlösschen Brewery was acquired by the Carlsberg Beer Group in 2000 and is the best known beer brand in Switzerland. It has been brewed at the Feldschlösschen brewery in Rheinfelden near Basel since 1876 and has been the leading Swiss beer brand for more than 100 years. I’m not sure what the leading Swiss beer brand was for the other 35 years.
In researching this Swiss company, I learned something new. Velcro. No, I knew what Velcro was before drinking this beer. I just always assumed it was invented by NASA or something. But no. It was actually invented in Switzerland in 1948. A few other things invented by the Swiss : Milk Chocolate (adding condensed milk to sweeten the bitterness of chocolate), the Swiss Army Knife (Great naming job on that one!), Bank Secrecy, and of course, holes in cheese.
Again a special thanks goes out to my Swiss undercover agent for bringing me this beer. Maybe on your next trip you can bring a larger suitcase 🙂