Helles Lagerbier (Schlenka)

Another enticing continental beer I picked up from Barrel and Bottle in Fordingbridge Hampshire.

It pours the faintest straw blonde with gentle but with precision carbonation. Gentle noble hop aroma on the nose, but light enough to be lost in a gentle breeze, hints of sulphur.

The initial malt arrives as stealthily as a longbow arrow to the chest, when it does their is no stamp of bitterness, just an exquisitely creamy and smooth middle. This gentle sweetness arrives with the final hop bittering like old dance partners slipping into polished routine.

Long sunny days with friends, drinking cool bottles of this...the stuff dreams are made of.

8/10 Delicate, exquisitely subtle, a beer to be savoured. Don't be fooled by its simplicity.

Bohemia Regent

I picked this up in South Hampshire's new beer shop Bottle & Barrel, it was great to see a lager with a bit more providence than what you would find in the world beers section of your local beer isle.

It pours with a gentle more ale like fizzy, the slim but perfectly formed foam head appears slowly but stays right to the end. There is gentle hop nose, herbal and grassy, just enough to notice but perhaps missing a bit in the expectations of a ardent Hophead.

More golden than expected it carries a delicious caramel opening malt, coating the mouth with smooth creamy silk. There is a textbook stamp of bitterness as one would expect with a pilsner, blending with the malty caramel to leave lovely lingering herbal bitterness.

7/10 A solid pilsner, not quite as noble as Jever or Urquell, but certainly better than all the other supermarket lagers.

If you live in Hampshire check out Beer & Barrel for some real treats and great local beer, cider and cask beer to takeaway.