Tom Creans Superior Lager

"A True Irish Hero"

Dingle Brewing Company, Dingle, Co.Kerry, Ireland.

Water, Malted Barley and Saaz Hops....nothing else.

4.2% Vol.

Reasonably nice, light lager. Won't have the people at Guinness panicking.
A top of the morning 7.8 MWB

SAIGON export

SAIGON export
ALC.: 4.9% VOL.

Pale, fizzy and very drinkable. Good taste and strength. 8.4 MWB

Brewed and bottled by SAIGON BEER - ALCOHOL (SABECO) - BEVERAGE CORPORATION, HO CHI MINH CITY, VIETNAM.

Imported by: LONGDAN Ltd, LONDON.

Banks Imported Caribbean Lager

Banks Imported Caribbean Lager

"This is the legendary Caribbean Beer that is celebrated across the region!"

Alc. 4.7% vol.

Country of origin: Barbados
Brewed and bottled by Banks (Barbados) Breweries LTD, Christ Church, Barbados.

Not strong tasting, over carbonated scores a laid back 7.4 MWB

CISK

This is Malta's offering to the world beer section and it's no surprise it hasn't made it to the shelves in England's supermarkets. It's so sweet it doesn't taste like lager, at only 4.2% it doesn't deliver and you wouldn't drink as a session beer. After 3 pints I was struggling!! Drinking Heineken in Malta shows how bad it was. 7.1 MWB.

That's how you make a Maltese cross....boom!

Estrella Damm Daura

This is Estrella's effort at a Gluten Free Lager and bloody good it is too. Full of flavour and kick and offering a reasonable 5.4% ABV.

You can be wheat intolerant but you don't have to be Lager intolerant anymore! 8.6 MBW

Pelforth Brun

A dark lager supped in France, very common in the region (Lyon, St Ettiene). Strong as an Ox and just as fragrant.

6.5% ABV which is always nice but a struggle to drink more than 2 or 3. 

Scores a fantastique 7.9 MBW. 

Windhoek Lager

Windhoek Lager

Brewed by Namibia Breweries Ltd 4%ABV
Pale looking and very flavoursome just not sure it's a nice flavour.
7.9MWB

Commercial blurb:-

THE WINDHOEK RANGE OF PREMIUM QUALITY BEERS.

The Windhoek range comprises of three lead variants. Windhoek Lager, Windhoek Light and Windhoek Draught. Windhoek Special is supplied to only a few select markets. Each beer has its own individual character and style and is brewed according to the German Reinheitsgebot (Purity Law) decreed by Duke Wilhelm IV of Bavaria in 1516. This means that Windhoek beers may only be brewed using malted barley, hops and water and may not contain any preservatives, additives, chemicals or colourants.

PERFECT SERVE:

Windhoek beers are best served icy cold, between 3 - 5 degrees Celsius with a strong head of foam. They can also be enjoyed icy cold straight from the bottle.

Carlsberg Export

"Brewed and canned in the EU under the supervision of the Carlsberg Breweries, Copenhagen, Denmark." 

So it's made and packaged in Northampton and like most things that come out of Northampton it does little to lift the soul, it's saving grace is it's 4.8% ABV which means after the 2nd your not really bothered by how dull it is. Tedious 7.6 MBW

Hürlimann Export Bier

A tad confusing this one, brewed in the UK by Shepherd Neame. 

Shepherd Neame is Britain's oldest brewer, based in Kent 

Hurlimann Brewery is a former brewery in Zurich, Switzerland. 

All that said and done it's a strange tasting lager, clear and particularly malty it tastes stronger than its 4.8%ABV suggests. Gets a mediocre 7.8MBW

Bavarian Hefe Weissbier

Produced and bottled in Germany for Waitrose. 5%ABV. Typical wheat beer strong, cloudy and sweet tasting. Gonna give it 8.2 MWB. 

Country of Origin: Germany
Alc: 5.0% VOL

Cusqueña

Brewed in the foothills of Macchu Picchu, Peru. Lively crisp golden lager, if its good enough for the Inca's it's good enough for me! Scores a malty 8.2 MWB. Makes me wonder why Paddington Bear left?!?

The Suppliers story is worth a read :-

About Cusquena

“Cusqueña is marvellous, fresh and crisp with a malty flavour that knocks the spots of the watery Mexican Lagers”

Restaurant, 10th May 2006

The story…a few years ago we left jobs in the UK and went travelling for 18 months.

In the last month we were travelling in Peru and after a trek to the lost city of Machu Picchu we were sat in a bar in Cusco celebrating our trip with friends and a a few Cusqueña lagers.

Everyone around our table commented that this was one of the best lagers they’d ever drunk! It’s clean & crisp taste impressed everyone and unlike the usual watery style Latin beers it had a richness to it that tasted European.

One of the guys on the table was a top bartender from Scotland and he said it would do amazing in the bars he’d worked in.

The next day after an amazing party everyone met up & everyone had a fresh head. We all started calling Cusqueña; “Magic Beer”.

We then did some research on the internet in a café in Cusco and found out it Cusqueña was German in origin, all natural and made from the purest glacial water from a source at 18,000 feet in the Andes. We thought maybe we should bring this fabulous lager home!!

Two months later and armed with cases we’d sent back we taste tested it to some of the best bars in Manchester & after a fantastic reaction we established a company & became the exclusive UK Drinks Marketers for Cusqueña.

With its fantastic taste and being genuinely imported it quickly had a glowing endorsement from the UK’s top bartenders and style press. This has helped Cusqueña secure a growing celebrity following and also seen it become the chosen brand for all GQ and Glamour Magazine’s respective celebrity events!

Two years later, Cusqueña is now stocked in some of the best bars, restaurants & boutique hotels in the country and some of the best supermarkets. It is forecast to be the one to watch by many industry insiders!

From our moment in Peru we are now immersed in an industry we never planned to be in against some big people with lots of money! However with a fabulous product and some great support we are hot on the heels of some of those brands!

Thanks for all your support, we are glad you are as big a fan of CUS-KEN-YA as us!

Kieron & Gareth

The Discoverers

Red Stripe

From Wikipedia:- Red Stripe is a 4.7% abv, pale lager brewed by Desnoes & Geddes in Jamaica. It was first produced in 1938 from a recipe developed by Paul H. Cotter (the son of founder E. P. Cotter) and Bill Martindale.

Unfortunately this is now brewed and bottled in the U.K. Very watery and I'm sure not like the imported beer. A very English 7.5 MBW. I've got three more to drink yet....it's a tough job!

Palma Cristal

Palma Cristal

Brewed in Holguin Cuba. 4.9%ABV. Another Pete Special.  Pale yellow in colour, not much of an aroma and watery to taste. Maybe better with a cigar! 

7.9 MWB

Producers notes:-

Brewed in Cuba since 1928, Palma Cristal is the leading Cuban beer brand. Ingredients: Water, malted barley, sugar and hops. (Plato level 10°)

Stella Artois

A super beer, one of the greats, a giant amongst men. It's taken up permanent residence in my fridge. It scored a deserved 9.0 MWB

Mongoose Premium Beer

"Original Extra Smooth Indian Recipe" which means brewed and bottled in the U.K, always a disappointment. Not the best tasting lager and struggling to call it a World Beer so for that its scores a sorry 7.1 MWB, the lowest score yet.

WULD Beer

WULD - 4.5%ABV - Last from Fuerteventura trip, bumpy boat trip to Los Lobos with the family. Could only try it after I stopped feeling sick!!  7.8WBF 

Cerveza Wuld Pilsen a Pale Lager beer by Font Salem (Damm), a brewery in El Puig, Valencia, Spain. 

Quilmes

Quilmes - Argentinian - 4.9% ABV nice and fresh, more Ossie Ardiles than Diego Maradona - 8.5MBW

Duff Beer

Duff - drank on holiday in Fuerteventura . 2 homer's aka Pete & Me

 7.25 MBW

Boheme Pilsen

Boheme 1795 from the same town as Budvar but that's where the similarity ends - 7.9MBW

Vratislav

Vratislav - 5%ABV - Brewed in Prague by Staropramen - not bad at all as you'd expect from this Czech brewing power house. 

 8.2MBW 

Kingfisher

Kingfisher Feel's wrong drinking this when not eating a curry, 8.2 MBW solid player. 

Manufacturers blurb - " Our story began in 1857, where Kingfisher beer was first created at Castle Breweries in Mysore, which in 1915 joined forces with four others in southern India to form a brewery of the highest class. It produced a refreshing lager of the very finest quality, worthy of the title of India's No.1 Beer. And so United Breweries was born."

Ringnes

Ringnes Pilsner £8 down the plug hole in Norwegian hotel. 4.6%ABV - Nice beer, tad on the pricey side! Brewed in Oslo - 7.7MBW

Bavaria

Bavaria is actually from Holland.

5% ABV. Tastes a bit dull but at £1 for 1/2 litre from Morrisons it gets 8.0 MBW

STAROSLAV

Aldi special, STAROSLAV. 4%ABV. Bland as a Milliband speech but finished quicker thank god. 

7.1 MBW

Cruzcampo

Cruzcampo 4.8% ABV

Brewed in Sevilla Spain

7.8 MBW

Flensburger Gold

Flensburger Gold 4.8%ABV
Brewed in Flensburg, Germany. Loving the old flip top. Very Malty. 7.9 MBW

REINA

Reina - brewed in Tenerife, the last of the Canary Isle trio.....and the worst, no real flavour  7.3 MBW

COMMERCIAL DESCRIPTION

The beer of a new generation in the Canaries. Brewed in accordance with the 1516 purity law.

Carib Lager

Carib Lager

Brewed and Bottled at Carib Brewery Trinidad WI. 

5.2%  alc./vol.

Sweet and slightly cloudy, easy to drink. 

8.2 MBW

Producers Description

"Launched on May 16th , 1950, this full bodied, clear and refreshing lager with 5.2% ABV is the flagship brand of Carib Brewery and the preferred brew of Trinidad and Tobago."

Estrella Damm

Alc 4.6% vol. Brewed in Barcelona Spain, a pale lager that's very easy to drink....very easy.
8.1 MWB

COMMERCIAL DESCRIPTION

This beer is the jewel in the crown of Damm’s century-long beer-brewing experience. Since 1876, when Alsatian August Kuentzmann Damm founded the company bearing his name, numerous generations of master brewers have perfected this lager until it has become a landmark in the world of beers. This lager beer with a universally appreciated character and taste is ideal for drinking at any time. Its high quality is due to the finest selection of raw materials and the meticulous brewing process. It stands out for its creamy hops-flavoured froth and refreshing taste.

Warsteiner Premium Verum

A Pilsner Lager from Warstein, Germany. Strong tasting, pale golden pilsner. Very nice drink but definitely not a session beer. 8.0 MBW

Blue Marlin Premium Beer

Alc 6% Vol

Another offering from the father-in-law whose outdone himself this time. Strong nice taste, very palatable so it scores 8.4 MBW 

Brewed and bottled by Phoenix Beverages Ltd Pont Fer, Phoenix ,Mauritius.  

FIX HELLAS

FIX HELLAS

Premium Lager Beer

Est. 1864

Alc. 5% Vol

Papa Pete special. 

A pale, sweet tasting lager. Rather dry with a nice after taste. 

8.0 MBW

"Fix Hellas" beer is brewed and bottled by Olympic Brewey SA in Athens, Greece. 

Efes Pilsener

Another offering from Peter, slightly sweet pale lager scores a friendly 7.9 MWB

Product info:-

"Brewed in Istanbul, The flagship product, Efes Pilsen (called "Efes Pilsener" in English) gets its unique taste from rice added into the ingredients at brewing stage. The 5.0% ABV beer has been described to have a "tangy malt and hops aroma, rich malt in the mouth, and a bitter-sweet finish that becomes dry and hoppy."

Dorada

Lager brewed in the Canary Islands and one I enjoyed in Fuerteventura, a light and rather sweet tasting lager. 4.4% ABV and a cracking session beer. 

 8.0 MBW

Mine and Papa Pete's in the 'Blue Rock', Fuerteventura.

Budvar Dark

From the Budvar stable, a strong dark rich lager, serve cold and it's delightful, not a session beer. 4.7%ABV. 

A Bohemian 8.9 MBW

From the producer:-

"The finest available ingredients are transformed into Budweiser Budvar's dark lager by the devotion to the brewers' art so long cherished by our brewery. The result: a lager with an inimatable flavour straight from the heart of darkness. Experience the magic every time you take a drink."

Commercial Description (June 2014)
"Declared Best Lager in the World in this year's World Beer Awards, run by Beers of the World magazine, Budweiser Budvar Dark is a retro-beer. This is because it has been designed to come as close as possible to how all Bohemian and Bavarian lagers tasted before bottom fermented golden lager stole the show in the mid nineteenth century. Now, thanks to Budweiser Budvar, the Darkside is moving centre stage again."

KEO

KEO - from Cyprus, a unique taste which is a tad disappointing - 7.5 MWB

Alhambra Reserva

Just fantastic - see it, buy it, drink it, thank me. 8.8 MWB

"Reserva 1925 is the top of the range lager from Alhambra – an independently owned Spanish brewery named after the Alhambra Palace in its home town of Granada.

Alhambra Reserva 1925 is an ultra premium lager: dark amber colour, distinctive hop and caramel aromas on the nose with a full flavour and crisp finish.

At 6.4% it is brewed and matured for 35 days making it one of Spain’s finest lagers. It is presented in a unique embossed bottle."

Peroni Gran Reserva

'Double Malt' - you can really tell.

6.6% Vol

Brewed and bottled by Birra Peroni - Roma

Well deserved MWB 8.8

Sapporo Premium Lager

Country of Origin: Japan

Brewed by: Sapporo Breweries Tokyo. 
Japan's oldest brand since 1876

ALC. 4.7% VOL, pale lager slightly Malty taste. Another Papa Pete Special, where is he getting them from? MWB 8.1

The Halkidiki olives were nice too!

Mythos Hellenic Lager

Brewed in Thessaloniki in Greece. Pale lager, Fresh and crisp. 4.7%ABV. Best export since Stavros Flatley. 8.1MWB