Lager taste test proves a challenge

May 19, 2005: The fact that there's more to this beer tasting lark than meets the eye was clearly proved when a gathering in London were asked guess the identity of nine pale-coloured beers and state which of them were lagers.

The fact that Good Bottled Beer Guide editor Jeff Evans came top with a score of three out of nine is testament to how tricky tasting can be.

The challenge was the highlight of Britain's first ever generic lager tasting, staged at the Peridot restaurant of London's Bentley Hotel.

Sponsored by Coors' Beer Naturally campaign, the event explored the diversity of lager, looking at 50 examples - their colour, texture, carbonation, wide range of alcoholic strengths and ingredients.

"There was an amazing turnout for this event, demonstrating the considerable thirst for information on lager that exists," said Coors' Dr Paul Hegarty.

"CAMRA does a powerful job telling people about ales, but no-one is currently out there championing lager, a beer style which new represents over two-thirds of all beer drunk in Britain and about 95 per cent of beer worldwide."

The ingredients table saw guests comparing the flavours of beers brewed with high proportions of sorghum (Harp, Nigeria; Eagle, Uganda), maize (Tusker, Kenya), rice (Kirin, Japan), raw barley (Senator, Uganda), and malted barley (Grolsch, Holland), as well as noting beers including fruit juices (Red Eric, Denmark) or assertive use of hops (Budvar, Czech Republic; Schiehallion, Clackmannanshire, Scotland).

The colour table looked to blow the myth that all lagers are born blonde with tastings of the new Champagne yeasted Kasteel Cru, from Alsace (diaphanous gold), Coors Fine Light (pale straw), Grolsch (honey), Meantime Viennese (orange) and Kostritzer, of Germany (dusk to black). This table highlighted that fact that all beers were born dark until the arrival of smokeless coal to kiln the barley into malt in the early 1800s.

The ABV table showed the wide range of strengths, from Clausthaler, of Germany, at just 0.5%, to Carling's new C2 at 2%, Carling Special Brew (9%) and the mighty Samichlaus, of Austria - a whopping 14%!