Sandpiper Premium Lager
Inertia Industries Ltd.

 

Appearance: Clear glass bottle with silver label, line drawing of the eponymous birdon it. Silver foil around neck. When poured properly, minimal head and lacing appear, and remain. Not so bad.

Smell: With very little head, it's hard to pick out any scents whatsoever. No offensive adjuncts, just a little sweet. Designed for slamming down without any thought.

Taste: Faint hops, no adjuncts, quite watery. Although this would normally make for an abysmal beer, this time it's not so bad, because I'm in India, it's about 25 degrees on a humid Jodhpur night, and I had to walk a few kilometres to get one. So I'm going to be a little generous.

Mouthfeel: Thin, goes down easily. Appropriate for the conditions.

Drinkability: If I could find anywhere other than the five-star Taj Palace to drink this, and if it were more reasonably priced (by India's standards) then I'd drink this all night. I can't imagine drinking anything heavier here, except maybe a Hefeweizen, but that's a pipe dream. So for the style and conditions, this has fine drinkability. I'm glad it was served cold.

Tried this recently while travelling to India. Big bottle wrapped in foil, served to me and I couldn't get the guy to hand me the bottle. Crystaline yellow with a few bubbles intermixed, no discernable head at all. Slightly floral on the nose. Very crisp, slight hops, somewhat sweet. Spice on the finish but nothing spectacular. It was server very cold so it did have a very crisp feeling to it, refreshing after being outdoors and hot all day. I couldn't say it was anything special though, it was more-or-less like drinking a very cold Sam Adam's light or anything else rather typical. I found that all the hype I got on Indian beers from the Indian colleages was never quite justified IMO. I'll give it flat average marks because there was nothing solid to disuade me from it but I'm not certain it deserves even 3.0.

Attractive packaging with a gold-foil neck and a very winery-like label on a specially molded green glass bottle. Surprisingly, it's not at all skunky. The label also notes that this beer is for export only.

A clear golden body is capped by a short head of frothy white foam that holds fairly well but leaves no lacing. Hundreds of very fine bubbles can be seen racing towards the surface indicating a lightly effervescent carbonation. Sweetish malt and an edge of spicy hops reside in the nose. It's light bodied and crisp in the mouth with a lively, very fine, median carbonation. The flavor delivers the sweetish, semi-grainy malt promised by the nose; but it's also well-backed by a firm bitterness and light touch of floral and spicy hops that carries it through to an enjoyable, drying finish. Refreshing!

Probably the sweetest of the Indian beers I've had. Best served ice cold.