Colonsay 80/-

It has been some time since the prelude to this particular dream was published but I am now finally (and I apologise for the delay) in a position to let you all in on my part of the fantastic experience that has been Beerswap 2009. For those who don’t remember I was sent a selection of refreshing beers from North of the border by Robbie @ I Might Have a Glass of Beer and this is what I thought… Read the rest of this entry »

Cotswold Premium Lager - 330ml bottle

Following the brief response I made to comments asking about this lager left on an earlier unrelated post, I have now taken delivery of a batch to get a full review done. Firstly I would note that I was wrong before when I said that this came in a 500ml bottle. It does in fact come in a 330ml and so is right there in my opinion to take on the mass produced bottled lager area of the  market. I could not stand in a bar drinking Old Hooky from it’s bottle but I would have no problems doing so with a 330ml bottle like this. Having said that, the brading itself does perhaps leave a little to be desired and the label does not really have the colour or liveliness it would need to cut it on the shelves of a busy bar. The outward appearance of the bottle unfortunately does not do justice to the contents.

Golden Premium Lager

The beer is pale golden with a lingering malty aftertaste, probably down to the Maris Otter malted barley. The beer has as strong a flavour as those that it would, in my perfect world, displace from the shelves in all bars, but it is less aggressive with it. I am having a bottle with Winnie and Jim, I have been the most disciplined and dragged mine out for 15 mins but Jim polished his in less than 5 and Winnie was under 10. All three of us agree that this is drinkable, with the 5.0% abv maybe too much so!!!

I would love to see a day when locally produced lagers, available in 330ml bottles, take over from the mass produced bottles that are available in Vodka Revolutions up and down the country. If this work from the Cotswold Brewing Company is anything to go by there are certainly British lagers more than capable of taking up the fight.

After discovering this week that some friends of ours have brilliantly spoofed our efforts to appreciate good beer with their own lager reviews site, it seemed fitting that I should come across a bottle of lager I picked up in Beers of Europe a few weeks ago brewed by a company that have had rave reviews for their ale products on our own site.

Grozet: A quality lager the real-lager-reviews boys should sample.

Williams Brothers Brewing Company have couple of lagers in their range, including Ceilidh (reviewed here). Rather unusually, this beer is described on the bottle as a ‘lagered fruit beer’, which suggests that it is something of a hybrid product aimed across a couple of beer styles. Based on an old Scottish harvest beer recipe from the 16th century, we should anticipate a fruity beer infused from the gooseberries prevalent in the ingrediants.

The nose is extremely sweet, with the citrusy, fruity aroma backed up with a chocolatey note that cuts through at the end. In the glass, the liquid is a very pale blonde that lets the liveliness of the lager shine through. Despite the fruit beer connections, the appearance is definitely one of a lager, so it seems natural to describe it as such.

Despite the effervescence of the beer in the glass, the fizz on the tongue quickly fades away to something of a creamy mouthfeel that is surprising as it is pleasant. The taste continues the sweet theme set up in the aroma, but does have a citrusy sharpness about it as well. Read the rest of this entry »

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.