STIEGL GOLDBRAU

BEER REVIEW: 469

BREWER: Stieglbrauerei, Salzburg, Austria

STYLE: European Lager

ABV: 5%

VESSEL: 0.5l tin

DATE OF POST: 2nd October 2026

 

SAMMY SAY’S…

A lager with packaging that looks like it has kicked open the door of a 1970s comic book convention and demanded your attention. The bold red and slightly off white colour scheme practically shouts from the shelf, all square jawed confidence and vintage superhero energy. There is something wonderfully retro about it, like Batman has traded Gotham for a brewery and decided subtlety is for villains.

The nose is exactly what you would expect from a traditional lager. A mix of malt and a faint salty edge drifts from the glass, but never really develops beyond that opening statement. It is clean enough, but also entirely content with convention. There are no surprises, no plot twists, and certainly no masked crusaders emerging from the shadows.

On the palate, this lands firmly in mass produced lager territory, particularly for a beer sitting around the 5% mark. It is straightforward, uncomplicated and largely free from anything that might either excite or offend. While it never threatens to become memorable, it is undeniably drinkable. Like a faithful background character in a cartoon, it does its job, delivers its lines, and exits the scene without causing a fuss. A perfectly serviceable brew, but one that leaves you wishing the beer had brought as much character as the can.

Sammy’s Rating: 58%

 

JYMI SAY’S…

It’s still cool to be cool, isn’t it? After Stranger Things, I’m almost thinking it’s cool to not be cool? So therefore, what is cool? Over to you, Platonists.

When I was forging my way through my teenage years in the 90s, I smoked Lucky Strike cigarettes and drank Red Stripe lager. I also wore a figure hugging leather jacket handed down to me by Sammy’s legend of a Dad. I had naturally blonde and brown long streaked hair, and was the first in our crew to get my ear pierced. Basically, I was fucking cool (get back to me, Platonists, please).

Now, why did I love the look of this tin today so much? It’s the white, red and black. Same as Luckies, same as Stripe and that white, red and black just looks COOL!

Man, I popped this with youthful abandon and a massive spring in my step. It was 1995 again, baby. Leeeeeeetsssss gooooooo!

 

I was brought straight back to 2026.

Though very drinkable and pleasant, this brew is nothing to get particularly excited about.

There is a little bit of sweetness balanced by a little bit of bitterness, which is good. It’s crisp, it’s refreshing, but there aint much more going on.

Good? Definitely.

Great? Not close.

I could probably go down the aligned philosophy tunnel here. But I’m not going to, as neither you nor I have the time. Platonists, however, see above.

Jymi’s Rating: 63%

 

MUSE ON BOOZE RATING: 60.5%

MOB review next weekend: WYOMING SHEEP RANCH by BUXTON BREWERY

Sammy & Jymi – Musing on Booze weekly since 2017

Bluesky: @museonbooze.bsky.social

Instagram: muse.on.booze

museonbooze.com

M O B 2026

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