What Does the 2009 St. Pauli Girl Really Know About Beer?

Photo: St. Pauli Girl.

Earlier this year, model and actress Katarina Van Derham was named the 2009 St. Pauli Girl spokesmodel via an online vote. Van Derham has roles on shows including "Entourage," "Monk" and "CSI," and has graced the covers of dozens of magazines. But for brew fans, Van Derham's gig filling in as the famous St. Pauli Girl icon may be their first encounter with the actress.

Beyond getting to know Katarina's very pretty face, we were interested in finding out about her beer knowledge. Van Derham is a native of Slovakia and speaks five languages, including English, Slovak, Czech, Russian and Polish. Eastern Europeans are world-renowned for their love of beer and beer-centric culture. Does she have the knowledge to back up her esteemed position?

We gave her a five-question beer quiz to see just how up-to-speed she was. ...

Q: St. Pauli Girl is brewed according to the Reinheitsgebot German beer purity law. What are the ingredients used to brew this beer?

A: Well, the Purity Law of 1516 -- still enforced throughout Germany today -- actually states that nothing else is used for beer other than barley, hops and water.

A correct answer, down to the year the law was enacted. Technically, the law has since been repealed, so to say it is enforced is a slight inaccuracy, though many brewers still follow the rules to this day.

Katarina admitted she got some training from St. Pauli Girl. "Some DVDs and papers which I studied," she said. "I am a 'spokesmodel,'" she reminds us, emphasizing the "spokes."

Q: St. Pauli Girl is the No. 2 German beer in America. What is the No. 1 beer in America overall?

A: Well, the No. 1 beer in my eyes is St. Pauli Girl. So that's the only No. 1 beer I know.

Katarina dodged this question, as one might expect, so we'll let her slide despite not fessing up to the fact that Bud Light is actually the No. 1 beer in our country by sales. But as she pointed out, Eastern Europeans are very picky about their beer.

Q: In which country is the most beer consumed, per person?

A: Wow, what country ... I would say Slovakia [her home country].

She's close with this one: It's actually the Czech Republic, to which she quickly responded, "Well, it used to be Czechoslovakia." After some debate, we decided that she probably deserved this one on a technicality.

Q: You're from Slovakia. What is the most popular beer there?

A: I would say, Pilsner [Urquell] -- the Czech beer.

Even I didn't know the answer to this question. I was hoping she could tell me. So though she admits "there are many other brands that never made it to the United States," we'll let her slide, since I don't know any better.

Katarina lived in Slovakia for 23 years. "I came to the United States 11 years ago," she said, to pursue a modeling and acting career. She recently appeared in an episode of 'Entourage' and has been involved in a number of advertising campaigns. But as an Eastern European, the St. Pauli Girl gig really fits her background. Asked about beer culture in Slovakia, she replied. "You wake up in the morning and you meet the drunk people. People drink 24/7 and it's very accepted." As a career-minded woman, however, she never partook in much drinking during her Slovakian days. If that's how they party in her hometown, it was probably for the best.

Q: What is the difference between an ale and a lager?

A: Well, ales are more flavorful and they are more complicated, where a lager has a more standard beer flavor and it's very traditional beer, made clean.

Without getting into all the details of different types of yeast and top versus bottom fermentation, this answer holds up pretty well, too. Though we can't say she scored 5 out of 5, her knowledge certainly surpassed our expectations and was far better than the average model you'd meet on the street.

"I've learned so much about beer," Van Derham said. "This is the fun part of the job. I've been traveling around the United States learning the culture."

In fact, learning was the primary reason she wanted to take this job. We certainly learned something too: This year's St. Pauli Girl probably knows a bit more about beer than you would think.