Efes Beer – The Turk’s Favourite

I’m sitting in a the Cafe Del Mar, a bohemian hangout with every available space choc-full with ornate Turkish tea and coffee paraphernalia in Kalkan, Turkey. The sun is blazing, with 40 degree heat (and rising), perfect conditions for ice-cold beer. Over here, I’ve found that my options are the gaseous flavour void that is Budweiser (Ok, I confess I’m not a fan… but I’m open to be persuaded otherwise) or Efes beer, the Turkish favourite and what I seem to find in every restaurant and supermarket fridge.

The distinctive short, rubenesque Efes beer bottle is usually accompanied with a cold tulip glass, and being an easy-to-drink, bright, foamy lager even Jess can knock one back (a secret beer fan and an alcoholic).  In fact Efes has many similarities to other Mediterranean beers.

Efes Pilsners is brewed by a bottom-fermentation or bottom-cropping technique – in the old days, this meant yeast was collected from the bottom of the fermenting wort to be reused for the next brew. Later it was found that yeast collected via bottom cropping was actually a different species to that collected via top cropping, the pinnacle difference being that bottom-cropped yeast actually favoured a cooler temperature. Efes is actually brewed with a pils-type of golden barley, a high quality malt and the Hallartau hop, grown in the Hallartau region in Germany – the largest continuous hop growing region in the world.

beer knack logo, efes beerIn summary, I pretty much lived off Efes whilst in Turkey, mostly because Efes Pilsner has an 80 per cent share of the domestic market!

Get the Knack

Fancy trying Efes in the UK, you can get it in selective Tescos or online.

Or worldwide you can buy through The Drink Shop.

 

 

 

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