Sagres, Portuguese Lager, 5.0% abv

I am sitting reading the Sunday paper before making my evening roast and have decided to crack open a bottle of beer and get a weekend review up. This particular bottle of beer has been in my fridge for some time. On a recent trip to London I noticed that Sagres had developed quite a presence in bars seemingly as aa alternative to the Peroni/Amstel type lager.

Sagres and the Sunday Papers - Life is Good

Although I have not seen it available on tap in any bars outside of London, it is now available in some Leeds ale shops and I would imagine that it is only a matter of time before we begin to see it nationally. As such I made sure I had got a bottle to review in order to ensure that Real Ale Reviews were abreast of the game.  Hopefully, when this springs up in your local wine bar, you will feel well enough informed to know whether or not to take a punt on it.

The beer appears  relatively pale in the glass for a premium type lager, a fact that is justified by the crisp,  clean initial taste. This initial cleanness, which almost has no flavour, gives way  to a hoppy flavour that lingers throughout the mouthhful and into the aftertaste. This hoppyness is tempered by a mild citrus flavour.

The flavour, while obviously not approaching the levels of genuine premium lagers and real ales, is hoppier than you might expect from a lager of this type. I am a big fan of having different drinks for different occassions and, in a similar way to how I would suggest a lager such as Boags for a BBQ, I would suggest that this would be a really good long night out lager. It has the body and texture lacking from the cheaper Carlsberg/Fosters lagers, while not having the kick of the genuine premium lagers that are perhaps more appropriate to shorter, quieter occasions

My first sips of Zeitgeist didn’t blow me away. I had sort of been expecting a revolution. I think a little bit of hype, excellent design and lots that I’d read had built up my expectations, and that I was expecting a Road to Damascus style realisation that pale lager could not quench my thirst and that black lager would suddenly take me a higher level.

Well, the first sips didn’t go down well. I found it flat and uninteresting, completely underwhelming and disappointing.

Zeitgeist Black Lager by BrewDog

But within a couple more sips I realised that I’d drunk half a bottle within about 53 seconds.

Wow, this stuff is drinkable.

And then I noticed its subtle complexities. And they are subtle, but highly enjoyable.

The darkness of the taste is refreshing. I love dark milds and in the right mood I can devour stouts, but they are styles I turn to only when in the right frame of mind. Zeitgeist offers much of the dark coffee that I love in beer (but hate in coffee!), and hints of biscuity, chocolately, nutty joy that dark beers often revel in, whilst being one of the most drinkable beers I’ve ever tasted.

I use drinkable quite a lot when I’m reviewing. It’s very indicative, simple yet effective at conveying the fact that a beer slips down the throat whether light or not.

Zeitgeist is the former, in abundance. They could advertise this stuff next to Malteser’s and even with the weight of the bottle the dark liquid would easy outfloat it’s hollow chocolate counterparts.

At 4.9% Zeitgeist is deceptively, deceptively strong, and from an uninspiring first sip, it is really a very interesting beer.

My first bottle of Zeitgeist developed from an unassuming start to the point where I couldn’t believe it was finished and I ended up craving more. This is a beer that might not tickle your tastebuds like a hop monster, but will go some way to satisfy my darker, thirstier urges that is very, very, easy to drink!

James Boag’s Premium Lager – 5.0%

Brewed in Tasmania, Australia, this little green bottle has travelled some distance to find its way in my hand. I’m glad it did.

This full bodied crisp lager is becoming a mainstay in my fridge this summer. I really like the freshness of this lager, when served ice cold it seems to reach down and refresh me from the pit of my stomach rather than many non premium lagers that refresh the mouth but leave the stomach with  something of a gassy non-entity. For certain this is in no small part to the carbonisation, not only is it not overly carbonised but it is also stylised in such a way that the bubbles feel small and unimposing meaning that bloatation is bottles away.

In terms of flavour it is crisp and full, the perfect compliment to the lightness created by the texture.

If you manage to find enough sunshine this summer to get some coals on the BBQ, I think you could do far  far worse than having a dozen or so of these in  the ice box ready to go.

Moving on to day three of the cricket theme on Real Ale Reviews, India takes on the West Indies

India – Cobra, 5.0% abv

Following the poor performance of it’s big brother earlier in the tournament, this ‘king of the Curry houses’ tried to pick up the bat and put in a better showing out in the middle. Coolness is the key here and, without trying to be anywhere near as fancy as the King Cobra, this beer turns in a good solid performance.

Thrown down ice cold this one takes the middle stump clean out however, if it’s left to get warm, there’s a danger it goes wide down the leg side. Certainly it’s a better offering than it’s common rival Kingfisher.

Score (out of 20) – Ice cold, this one produces a respectable knock – 13

West Indies – Red Stripe Lager, 4.7% abv

I have to admit that I had already been ‘out in the middle’ for some time before I got round to sampling this one. My tasting notes are therefore being read from the back of a pub food menu.

The first taste was rather tart and a little tangy but it settled to be a fairly average beer. It did not taste very strong and I was surprised to see that it was 4.7%, I had thought in drinking that it was far lighter than this. I have to admit that, probably before the end of the Twenty20, I will most likely give this another crack of the whip when I’m a little more sober.

Score (out of 20) – probably should have been offered the light but still above average – 11

Right it was day two of the Super 8′s yesterday in the Twenty20 World cup and England took a good old tonking off the Saffers. Let’s see if we could get our own back by pitting one of own nation’s fine ales against the Cape shandy that Smithy and his boys will have been sitting down to last night.

South African – Castle Lager, 5.0% abv

In to bat first is the South African opener. I had mine ice cold, just how I like my lagers on a warm day, but have to admit that it hasn’t really kept it’s cool under the pressure out in the middle. I like the fact that it was flavoursome and malty for a lager, justifying it’s premium tag. It was, however, a little disappointing in terms of texture. Oddly, because I usually find lager too fizzy, this feels strangely flat in the mouth.

Score (out of 20) – Good opening partnership but a disappointing middle order – 8

Blighty – Extra Special ASDA Golden Ale, 4.5% abv

I purchased this beer in advance, hoping the weather would respect the cricket and allow me a clear crisp evening outside on the patio. It did not. Having said that, the beer is actually maltier that it’s golden appearance suggests and, while it is by no means heavy or dark, it has a sturdier backbone than I was expecting. I would therefore say that it is probably more suited to a crisp springtime evening than the strong midday sun.

There’s certainly nothing wrong with this ale and I expect that it is widely, and relatively cheaply, available through ASDA supermarkets. Certainly it is worth a taste to see if you agree with my opinion that, while it does not have the sweetness and finesse required to find itself on any shortlists for great golden ales, it grinds out a solid win for the English code of the game.

Score (out of 20) – consistently above average throughout without shining, ground out the win – 14

To celebrate the  Twenty20 World Cup being held in the UK, Real Ale Reviews will be bringing you few ‘battles’ over the coming days, putting beers, from some of the competing nations against each other in head to head battles where international reputations are on the line.

The format in the super 8′s will be a chosen head to head from one of the games on a given day

So, match one sees the Republic of Ireland go up against India. Let Twenty20 battle, commence…

Guinness Brewery – Foreign Extra Stout, 7,5%

Woah! First ball down knocked straight out of the ground. Not many beers get this as my first reaction but Guinness Foreign Extra was not what I was expecting at all!

This isn’t Guinness as you know it from your local O’Neills or Wetherspoon’s – this is raw and rugged in comparison, wholehearted Twenty20 game cricket rather than the well oiled, patient, test game we all grew up with. K.P. not Boycott.

I’m probably getting carried away. But certainly, Foreign Extra is nearer the type of drink that Guinness started out as, so compared to modern stuff, this is a full on, intense, stout experience.

As well as that, it’s a thoroughly enjoyable stout experience. I’m usually an IPA/pale ale man, and stronger types like stout and porter don’t go down too well. But Guinness Foreign Extra is deeply dark and malty and it’s this that attracts me. That, and the complexity that draft Guinness, in a English pub anyway, just can’t match. This ale is a must when it comes to trying the best in the real ale world.

Foreign Extra has hints of an IPA history, brewed stronger to survive the long journeys abroad. Until recently it was only readily available in far flung corners of the world, but a resurgence in real ale has led to its appearance in UK and Europe.

I grabbed a bottle from ASDA Morley and suggest that you keep an eye out for it in your local beer shop / supermarket too.

Score (out of 20) – big hitting game player, might get caught out one day but will take you on a hell of ride on the way – 15

India – King Cobra, 8% abv

King Cobra seems to be guilty of trying to play a hard hitting 20 over man match with too much complexity. Perhaps the power difference between this beer and the Guinness, that batted first, meant that it was never going to find the run rate needed.

Against different opposition the fruity flavour of the Cobra, which actually meant that it was not at all aggressive on the palette for such a strong lager, may have won the day, but it simply could not compete with the Guinness.

Ironically, I bet that most people pick up the Cobra to accompany strong or spicy tea. I would actually recommend that the subtleness would better compliment a dinner time snack such as a salad or some grilled fish or chicken.

Score (out of 20) – Subtle technicality not suited to Twenty20 game, soundly outbatted – 4