Viru (Tartu)

Here's an odd little beer.

Viru is an Estonian pale lager. On the pour it generates a thin fleeting head with wisps of corn on the nose.

The mouthfeel is equally thin,  and the sup veers to overly sweet malt. Negligible bitterness and an overly watery length.

Really cool octahedral bottle though, I believe based on ancient Estonian architecture. It's really the only standout feature of a rather unmemorable 5% abv beer.

4/10 - Anonymous body underneath glamourous clothing.

- The Broadside

Monsieur Rock (Sharps)

Brewed with Jean Marie Rock of Oval, this Anglo-Belgian collaboration tries to combine the best of both brewing worlds with extended lagering.

It bursts from bottle with perfect BC fizz. The Saaz hops run riot with senses, filling the air with fresh herbal, grassy almost peppery aroma. There are glimpses that transport you back to you earliest days of lager drinking when it was an innocent thing if wonder.

The malt is smoother than a floating Rolls Royce and it exudes a creamy depth that coats the mouth. They seemed to have bottled the brewers holy grail of "mouthfeel". It's sweet and bitter in perfect harmony, the hops don't stamp authority, just arrive with a welcome handshake and begin mingling with the malt.

The genius of this beer is it's simplicity. On one level this could be passed to even the most hardened commercial lager drinker where it would be consumed with pleasure. On another level it can be sipped and pondered, enjoying every note in perfect harmony - like listening to Dark Side of the Moon, in the dark, on headphones, on a bean bag. Try it!

9/10 Wondrous, if only all beer was so perfectly balanced. The most quaffable beer I've had all year. I need another!

Read more about the collaboration and head brewer Stuart Howe here
Or buy Sharps beers here

Pilsner Urquell vs Budvar

The term "Lager" has long been synonymous to tasteless mass produced beer in the UK, long lost from it's east European origins as a method of cold storing beer, but I'm by no means an expert on the subject!

I thought I would visit two legends of this Bohemian Pilsner style for what some would call a taste of the "true lager experience"

Both pour a beautifully clear light amber gold, with Urquell the merest shade darker. Neither give big foamy heads, reducing to no foam after a minute.

Both a light on the nose, no English or US IPA hop power, or premium ale malty depth. Delicate is the key word, both having a subtle freshness, the Urquell is slightly grassier with more hints of those Saaz hops. The Budvar has slightly more caramel maltiness on the nose.

Both have that beautiful clean taste, no fruity middle, these beers are fermented at low temperatures to ensure the flavors a clean and crisp. The Budvar has less malt depth to start, the bitterness is slightly more prominent, with a finish that has the tiniest sharp tanginess to it. The Urquell offers something very different, there is an amazing biscuit crunch to the malt, like toasted bread it provides a fantastic depth of flavour. The following bitterness matches perfectly with crisp and noticeable Saaz hops coming through.

Two great beers, but the Urquell provides fantastic depth, with delicate flavors floating around the taste buds like summer butterflies.

Budvar 7/10 A solid example of the clean refreshing style.

Urquell 9/10 A truly delightful beer, delicate and light, but flooded with flavor.

Both beers are readily available in the UK, and in most good supermarkets.

Ceilidh (Williams Bros) 4.7%Abv

A craft lager matured for 90 days.

Pours crystal clear light gold, almost unnervingly like commercial fizz lager. Lovely biscuity aroma, an almost oaky depth.

The malts only trace is light sweetness, building to an almost toffee warmth. The beer snaps to a finish, crisp hops, light citrus, and a finale of lingering bicuity malt.

8/10 A cracking lager, mature flavours, very drinkable. The world would be a better place if this was the drink of the masses.

Thanks goes out to Williams Brothers for providing this to review.

77 Lager (Brewdog)

Pilsner is a term everyone knows. In Europe it is used these days to denote a light coloured mostly hoppy lager. In the US, it's more frequently used to signify a premium beer, regardless of hop character.

This drink fully confirms that Scotland is in fact in Europe. This is a lager brewed on ale terms, 100% full leaf hops and malt, and the characteristic Brewdog cocksure marketing describes it as "a lager that actually tastes of something, 77 will redefine the (lager) experience forever". Those chaps know how to set expectation.

It pours a deep faintly murky amber, and jives about in the glass with a decent lagery fizz. The nose is hoppy and a little florid.

The taste is divine. The opening note is a malty crunch, and as crisp as a crisp. The body is not too long, but then it ought not to be in a lager. The finish is hoppy and refreshing, with a delicious bitter length to it.

This is a hot weather drink, and a cold weather drink to remind you of hot weather. Its a sociable beer, and a beer to drink at home to reminisce about being sociable.

I think this is best bulk bought for a party. This has crunch, bite and character, but doesn't ask the drinker to acquire a taste for it. The finish is long and bitter, but it's a crafted bitterness like the end of a well written tragedy.

8/10 - Delicious. A benchmark for UK pilsners and an export to challenge some of the best in Europe.

- The Broadside

Xingu Black Beer

The Brazilian beer Xingu (pronounced shin-goo) is quite fascinating, and unlike any other beer I've tried.

It's 4.6% ABV and sold in small bottles (12 fl oz US), and I came across it on the back of a shelf in Tesco. The label mentions the beer is inspired by brews first made by Amazonian indians from manioc root.

When they say black, they mean it - no light at all passes through this and it's akin to staring into a scrying mirror. On pouring a brown head forms which lurks around in a threatening fashion.

The nose is sweet and malty, with a handful of chocolate and a pinch of fudge.

With my UK experience of black beers limited to porters and stouts, I was expecting a heavy viscosity, but the beer is surprisingly light. It's very lowly carbonated, so the thinness never feels gassy. This is essentially a black lager.

The sweetness intensifies slightly on taste, this beer is all about the malt and I can't really detect any hops at all. The bitterness, for what it is, seems malty too. The end notes are faint plum and butter.

I checked only slightly at the start of this drink as it was so different, but I'm warming to it with each sip. If you don't mind your beer slightly sweet then I'd recommend giving this a try. It's not dessert-wine sweet, but for a light imbiber after a meal I could think of a many worse options.

This is different, but certainly not some madcap speciality blend. To the end of the glass this turns into an easy-supping but exciting drink that any beer fan ought to try at least twice.

7/10 - I may have to get another of these…

- The Broadside

Boston Lager (Sam Adams)

So its got lager it the title, this is going to be pretty bland and tasteless right? Wrong.

Wow! An explosion of the senses, it leapt out of the bottle like a genie held captive for a thousand years, caused a tornado of fizz into the glass, and released a spectacular bouquet of sweet floral smells before settling like traditional ale.

Its sweet to taste but with light maltiness and wonderful crisp refreshment. The finish is subtle, a mix of delicate flavours simmer through, like a walk through a Moroccan spice market, each fading away before you can grasp them, before easing off without the expected finishing hop kick.

Mesmerised, amazed, speechless, I want to kick down the doors of Carling, Fosters and the rest of the impostors who have muddied the once great name. This is Lager, a thing of beauty, drink it up, enjoy it.

America, Sam Adams, I salute you, you have taught me a lesson today.

When to enjoy : Anytime time of the day or night, this is refreshment in a bottle.

8/10 Go out and try it.