What beer are you drinking now? #4150

My bro Shanex, no matter the beer, your pours usually seem to have a copious amount of head. Any thoughts Mr Ambassador to France of Club Raul?

 

Morning BA. Away for a few days. Currently in Lewes, home to the famous Harvey's Brewery.

Starting off with a dark mild in the brewery tap on a rainy morning.

 

Old Ale by Harvey's.

 

On to the Porter now.

 

Good morning Advocates,
waiting for the weekend, a light and carefree beer, but pleasant and successful, which I had already drunk and added to the database:

Radical Brewery (Lucca, ITA) - ANGELA KELLER - Helles Keller GLUTEN FREE (4,7%)

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/66634/675531/


This is the second can and I find that pleasant herbaceous taste that plays and integrates very well with the malts.
You can clearly perceive that you have a Keller/Helles in front of you compared to a more "crunchy" and also more bitter Pilsner.





Sláinte !
Cheers !

 

Amarda Ale by Harvey's. A lovely golden ale.

 

On to the next pub. The Gardener's Arms.

Cracking Hazy IPA on cask from Black Iris called Ouroboros. 7.2% and it goes down like water.

 

Good day BAs! Thanks @MadMadMike for starting us off! It's another cool, sunny morning here, 28F/-2C, after most of yesterday's morning snow melted off by noon - truly an enjoyable winter thus far - hopefully the "In like a lamb, out like a lion" crap doesn't hold true! Today's New Breakfast Beer, one whose distribution map shows it all over OH but not penetrating PA beer space:



Disappointed. I was expecting some wonderful Russian Imperial Stout but then it wasn't. Back in the day, I used to buy the base beer (Not barrel aged) by the case every season until they stopped distributing it to my section of PA (Guess the pack bears had too many lite beers and IPAs to haul a case of two of something heavy). Anyway, disappointing. Rating 3.74, rDev -14.4%.

 

This looks delicious!

 

It was actually a lot darker than the photo made it look. Yea it was very good. Winner of several awards last year apparently.

 

...el hombre sin nombre. salud!

 

When shopping in supermarkets, a BA can off course never skip visiting the beer isle,
Mostly the things of interest are in the upper left or upper right corner.
When moving to the low-alcohol beers, on the corner opposite to best beers, you find on the lowest shelves some white or gray-labeled low priced lagers.

Who is buying those lagers? And how do they compare to b-class lagers of big brewing concerns.

These low-shelf lagers come for prices as low as 87 cents a liter. For that prices I cannot imagine they are brewed with quality ingredients. Maybe they reuse left overs of bigger and more popular brewers for a "second brew"? Not sure, but my 5 cents: it cannot be any good.

Oh, yes, thet are all below th 5%abv, which might give a tax advantage here.

So the answer: who is buying those lagers. Maybe people with "small wallets" that do not have (Corona) or care so much about taste? Yes, i think so. But they might sell to people who have fun testing beers and getting their empirical foundation for a proper judgement. Like me.

Meet the 4 "PREMIUM BEER" candidates:


I am not sure if there are 4 candidates here or actually 3, as one seems the bottle-variantion of the other. Yet they have different abv. We will find out!

I will be testing them side by side and compare them to an Amstel Pilsner - which basically is a Heinekens lager, different taste and a not so posh branding. Let us say, more for normal people who think taste is more important than reputation.

Not sure of the fun this eve will come from beer or ridicule. However, if it gets too much, I will continue my quest further on in the weekend, and I will switch to an excellten 1 euro Weissen (half a litter). So actually, price does not says all... Does it?

Cheers.
Be right back..

 

TGIF everyone! Thanks @MadMadMike for opening the bar.

Starting with a morning cup of Boulevard Dark Truth Imperial Stout.



Cheers!

 

If I were where you are and saw these brews, I might try them just because I have never seen them before. When in Euro-land, I like to try new beers - who knows! There may be a gem buried in the detritus.

 

Well,
Nr1. the "Premium Lager" without further a name comes at 1,36 euros a liter. It has 4% ABV. I have to investigate a bit more later on who is making.

Nr.2 The Lander Bräu is a product of the Dutch Bavaria Brewery. It comes at 4.5% ABV. And you pay a bit more 1,44 euro's a liter.

Nr. 0 is our benchmark lager, Amstel pilsner. You pay 2,38 a little so about one euro more for 5% ABV.



How do they compare:

Looks:
2 pale coloured beer, medium carbonation, nr one for best 2,5 finger foam head and retention. I think technically the best brewed beer.
1: the colour is the nicest, a golden colour, but the label is clear about cheating with caramel as colorant. 2 finger white head, medium low on carbonation
0: I hope i had a bottle that was off, hardly any carbonation, poor retention, sad lacing

Smell:
1 (bit malty some sweetness)
0 a bit skunky malts, not impressive
2 (hardly any smell at all, faint smell of wet worn socks)

Mouthfeel:
0: by far the most balanced beer, maybe also because of the higher ABV, more body, rightly dosed bit of sweetness and a pleasant lingering bitterness, Skunkiness is not tasteable.
1: It is very watery, but quite refreshing.
2: It does a strange driness in the mouth that makes you want to drink more to remediate, but better not this beer.

So all the beers have been best in one categorie until so far.
But well, wat matters most of course is taste.

0. Amstel is a well bodied beer with right notes of malts, sweetness and a pleasant hoppy bitterness. Not something special, but out with friends, it is not a punishment to drink a few pints.
2. Watery, and not a very pleasent bitter dry aftertaste. Did they add salt? Ingredients seem in line with Reinheitsgebot. The only beverage in this test that might apply. Labels says: selected grains with crystal clear water and the finest hops. Let us hypotheticcally say that i believe them, then the brewmaster should be fired immediately of course. But then again, can i expect a beer than Amstel for this price? Fire the branding team for treating consumers as being stupid.
1. Close call. Although quite refreshing and probably good as what we call here in Holland "a festival beer" - beer with extra water added to prevent dancers from drunkness and dehydration.... It is very watery en quite tasteless. The addition of extra sugar syrup spoils it for me.

Conclusion:
All are kind of drinkable. None needs to be poured through the drain. But life is too short to get drunk on bad beers.
Amstel is the winner until now, best taste, hopp extract unfusion and I guess the ABV does matter.
However, we have 2 more tests to go.

Number 1 and 2, well, just as some refreshment on a hot summer day. Or with highly flavoured food. If you cannot overflavour, does not add other tastes.
You can consider it more like a mineral water with some maltiness in it.
Amstel is the best tasting, and acceptable as a cheaper basic lager in pubs etc. But is it also the most value for money? Yes, depends on the situation and the food that you eat with it.

I tend to say we have no winners today and the one testing was the one losing.
To me the pleasure of beer tasting is mainly about the hopps and the yeasts. Malts either barley or wheat are only like the dough of a pizza on which the flavour has to be built.

Anyway, this is a sad bunch of excuses for lagers:


Not sure if I can complete the test today.
I got very firsty. I need some real beer.

Will continue tomorrow.