Remember that old Wendy’s commercial with Clara Peller? “Where’s the beef?!!!” she would shout rather boisterously as she tried to find a fast food burger with a little meat to it. Of course, she found what she was looking for when she got to Wendy’s. I’m reminded of these old commercials when I pop open a bottle of Beck’s Sapphire.

We’ll get to the reason why in just a few minutes, but before we do, I’ll go off on my rant number two about Beck’s Sapphire: it’s Made in USA. Now, I’m as patriotic as the next guy, and I seek out American made products all the time. That said, Beck’s is a German beer, and it ought to be brewed in Germany, not the United States.

Instead, Beck’s Sapphire is brewed in St. Louis by Anheuser-Busch. Now that Brauerei Beck and Anheuser-Busch are now part of the same Inbev happy family, I guess it made sense to some bean counter to consolidate operations here in the US for the American market.

To me, that makes no sense at all. I want a German beer to be brewed in Germany, damnit. You remove the character of the beer, the heart, yay the very soul of the brew by making it in America. I think that is exactly the case with Beck’s Sapphire.

I spotted Beck’s Sapphire at my local Kroger a few months ago and, not having had a Beck’s beer in a while, popped a sixer in my cart. The beer does come in an attractive opaque black bottle (though the beer itself is a golden pilsner); I got six of these for $8.49. Alcohol content by volume is 6%.

Beck’s Sapphire is named for the German Sapphir hops with which it is brewed. I should have been a little wary when I saw the word “Smooth” on the label under the touted Sapphire hops; further research revealed this blurb from Anheuser-Busch on their website:

Beck’s Sapphire is brewed with German Saphir aroma hops, which are traditionally used as a finishing or conditioning hop. German Saphir hops give Beck’s Sapphire its distinctly smooth finish.

I don’t usually associate hops and smoothness, myself. Balance, maybe. Bitterness, flavor, aroma, sure. But not smoothness. Anyway, let’s give it a whirl, shall we?

Beck’s Sapphire pours to a pale golden color with a thick, fizzy, and short-lived head formation and a light and crisp malty nose. That crisp maltiness is less apparent in the palate; the beer seems to have a creamier character to it, with light malt and a slightly balanced finish.

Clara Peller, please feel free to chime in now. “Where’s the hops?!” For a beer named after Sapphire hops, Beck’s Sapphire does not seem to have a lot of them, and I have no problem believing this beer was brewed in St. Louis and not Bremen. Stand it next to a Budweiser and it might seem hoppy; next to a Konig Pilsner or Bitburger? Not so much.

That’s truly sad. Because while this beer is drinkable and malty enough judged absolutely, it doesn’t even have the hop character of a traditional Beck’s or St. Pauli Girl (same brewery, by the way). It’s passable, if not remarkable. It has no soul, no character, no heart. It certainly doesn’t seem like a German beer to me, and I come away feeling bamboozled, swindled, and deceived.

I won’t buy Beck’s Sapphire again.  



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