Lager

I had a case of 'craft snobberism' against anything lagered. I don't think I was alone in this. Whilst some who started their beer lives with real ale and Belgian beer had a genuine dislike for commercial lager from the off, the wealth of good lagers and pilsners available makes my stance (as it was) now look decidely contrite and embarrassing.

The turnaround came last summer. World Cup + Mark Dredge + Pilsner Urquell = my lager revival. (Plus, a couple of mates put me in my place, which I needed.) That about sums it up. Mark, if you're by any chance reading this - thank you. Pilsner Urquell is wonderful - beautiful when cold, refreshing, sessionable and most importantly, flavoursome: bags of grassy character from the Czech saaz. From there, my journey went to some of the 'craft' hoppy pilsners like the Weird Beard Citra thing, German beers (a return to the wheat beers also) and then a more balanced approach to re-tasting some old (and new) staright up lagered beers.

Sainsbury's Craft Brewed Lager

Possibly a silly name, but a great beer. Bit of grass, bit of citrus, not too much malt, only 4.1%. Slightly hazy too, hooray! Ah - would happily pound one of these away right now. Brewed by Harviestoun.

Pistonhead Kustom

Bleurh. Horrid sweetcorn nose, taste follows, then cream soda, then the tiniest amount of grass. Shortest burst of barely felt bitterness. No thanks.

Asahi Super Dry

Decent, if very little actual taste.

Asahi Black

My first schwarzbier. Pretty big roastiness at the start, but this intensity faded quickly. Pretty decent roasted finish with accompanying bitterness to keep it relatively interesting, but otherwise, standard light bodied lager.

Fuller's Frontier

I forget where I had this on draft, but I remember it being very nice: light but vibrant citrus-hopped lager. Bottle was nothing like - could've been a below average, non-fresh pale.

Sixpoint The Crisp

Brilliant - bags of citrus hop on the nose and in the taste. Retains the lager refreshment aspect. Very easy to drink. Not so great when not fresh, but still a cut above most lagers. Irresponsibly good value at £2 for 355ml from JDW.

Camden Hells

Recipe info here. Well made, but uninspiring.

By The Horns Crafty London Lager

Another incredible citrus-hopped lager, but The Crisp is cheaper. I understand they replaced this with the 2Tone London Lager, which I sampled down at Hop Burns and Black and was too polite to say I thought it was rubbish.

Jever

This is what I want from a lager (when it's not dry hopped with Citra or whatever) - taste derived from bittering hops! In actual fact, the bitterness in this one is weird (unlike anything I've experienced hitherto), but it is absolutlely massive so I'll let them off.

1936 Bière

Not much here unfortunately. Fancy swing top makes up for it though right?

Caesar Augustus - Willimas Bros Brewing

A sessionable Camden IHL. I'll have a case please.

Three Boys Pils

Better than Urquell I think. I picked this up on a recommendation from the congenial gentleman at Hop, Burns and Black. I must admit, when I asked for something quintessentially Kiwi that really showcased what the NZ brewing scene had to offer, I did expect some sort of DIPA, reeking of Nelson Sauvin, so I was somewhat forward slash face when he suggested this pils. I took it anyway though, deferring to his better judgement. And he was absolutely right, of course. All preconceptions became embarrassment once I tasted - this pils is incredible, the Kiwi-grown saaz popping like I've never tasted. Kind of hard to explain - imagine that first hoppy pale you had from Kernel, but with Saaz: that's how this was. Lovely branding too (although not sure if green bottles are the way to go). If I know it's fresh, I will certainly go back to this.

That's kind of it for the pictures. Early amateur write up of Brooklyn is here. Had one last night actually, it was great.

Also: a Becks relatively recently and was surprised by how much I enjoyed it, decent enough level of grassy hops in there. Peroni Doppio Malto: obviously malty, if you like that sort of thing. Staropramen (or the Sainsburys £1.25 version) - probably a poor cousin to Urquell, but would definitely drink it cold on a hot day. Kaiserdom Kellerbier - looks incredible, tastes of nothing (hope to one day have the unfiltered Urquell). Kronenbourg - very little there it seemed. Wouldn't bother again - would almost certainly choose a Stella, or a Stella Black instead, both of which were decent. San Miguel - sure I could taste something there, but was probably fooling myself. Sagres and Super Bock: drank a bucketload of these in Lisbon, preferred the Sagres Preta - a brilliant Schwarzbier (knocked spots off the Asahi version).

Living in London, I discovered recently that it's actually quite difficult to go to any pub that doesn't have at least some sort of half decent alternative to industrial lager ('craft' keg or otherwise). Even a Harvester I went into the other day had some bottles of Adnams, Sierra Nevada and some posh looking Sapnish lagers that I didn't recognise. On a hot day in the sun, given the choice, I'd probably take a mild saison or if I were flush, some sort of sour, but I'm glad I took another look at lagers again.