The BeerCast

As the days begin to finally lengthen, Lagerboy stirs from his sluggish hibernation – dreams of carbonation and CO2 prickle soon to give way to reality. Winter’s no fun for a fizzhound – it’s hard to laze by a roaring open fire with a Kölsch – so he tends to go to ground during the months with lots of letters in them. However, climate change being what it is, Lagerboy has emerged a tad early – and is keen to set about his latest conquest.

Cartoons and motor racing might immediately bring to mind the much-missed Wacky Races – but the playful label of (the lengthily-named) Laverstoke Park Farm Organic Real Lager (4.5%) reveals the gentleman behind this particular golden treat to be 1979 Formula 1 World Champion Jody Scheckter. Having retired from the life of fast cars (having raced in an age where retirement was a decidedly rare outcome), he started a farm in Hampshire.

Keen to be organic and biodynamic (which must be the new organic), Jody’s Laverstoke Farm also grows hops and barley – and being a thirsty South African, beer was very quickly on the agenda. Brewed at contract-kings Hepworth’s, the lager looks a beauty – brilliantly clear gold, with a thin collection of bubbled lacing clinging to the edges. The aroma is grassy and malty, with some caramel in evidence.

Unfortunately, the flavours are a slight let-down. It’s dry and grassy, leading into an earthy, slightly metallic finish. Not every lager needs to be a world-beater, of course (indeed, to some that statement would be an oxymoron). As such, there’s nothing wrong with Laverstoke Farm’s effort – it’s perfectly drinkable, organic, and has a fetching label. But at the end of the day, it’s no Ferrari.

Laverstoke Park Farm website

Lagerboy likes discovering new words – ideally on the side of a green bottle from which something fizzy has just been released. So imagine his textual joy when reading the back of the label from his latest conquest – St Austell Korev (4.8%) – he found another way to order everyone’s favourite beverage.

Ko•rev (cor-eff) n. traditional Cornish word meaning beer.

Can’t argue with that (although a quick Google reveals Korev is also a Yiddish word for relative, and a system of planets in the Star Wars Universe*). St Austell have been brewing since 1851, and this, apparently, is their first lager – or the first produced by current head Roger Ryman.

It pours a brilliantly clear golden colour, with lazy rising carbonation and an inch-high head – looking quite the teutonic pilsner. There’s a slight grassy herbal aroma, alongside a fair hint of grain (flaked maize having being added). It’s reasonably crisp on the palate, although the finish arrives pretty quickly.

It’s certainly a drinkers lager – the mix of hops (Perle, Hersbrucker and Saaz) just about make themselves known. The (locally grown) lager malt comes out on the taste, along with that typical creaminess you get from be-maized lagers. Carbonation is quite evident, although never over the top.

The Publican predicted late last year that 2011 could be the year of the craft lager. Whilst that fills Lagerboy’s head with wonderment, often those two words placed together just don’t deliver. Korev is well-made, and certainly more than a step in that direction.

*They are far, far away

Many thanks to Harriet Bremner at St Austell for the sample – we received other beers from the brewery at the same time, look out for other reviews in the near future…

It’s Lagerboy’s station in life to chug his way through waves of yellow fizz – indeed, that’s what he thrives on. But just because he restricts himself to the see-though end of the spectrum doesn’t mean he has to sacrifice quality. Lager – that glorious process that results in cleaner, crisper beer – need not involve corn or rice. Crafted, bespoke lagers are out there now more than ever, and when it comes to reviewing them – there’s only one person fit for the job.

So it was that we let the froth-forward hoodlum loose on a lager from the most prolific (and talked about) brewer in Europe – Denmark’s Mikkeller. Founded in 2006 by two homebrewers – Mikkel Borg Bjergsø and Kristian Klarup Keller, they have released such noteworthy beers as 1000IBU, Beer Geek Breakfast, and Big Worse Barley Wine. Mikkel now runs things on his own, and with no brewery to call home, flits from one mash tun to another all over the continent.

It must be wonderful – essentially he can do pretty much anything he likes, brewing with contacts and collaborating with the likes of Stone, Alesmith, BrewDog, De Molen, Amager, and Nøgne Ø. The majority of Mikkeller beers are produced at De Proefbrouwerij in Belgium – and boy does he keep them busy. Last year, Mikkeller released almost eighty beers. And yes, at least one of those was a lager.

Mikkeller Czechet Pilsner is the recreation of an older beer of Mikkel’s – Tjekket Pilsner, which was originally produced in 2009 for a restaurant in Copenhagen. The new version is very similar – a Bohemian-style pilsner loaded to the gills with Saaz hops. It pours a deep, clear golden colour, and has a subtle grassy, fruity nose. The taste is crisp, and finishes with that sweet hop spice characteristic of the Saaz. Slightly earthy, the dry finish really makes this one stand out from the crowd…

Mikkeller website

Lagerboy hasn’t had a runout for a while – he tends to spend the winter months hibernating to avoid the plethora of dark beers that appear once the days begin to lengthen. But seeing as the sun has started to peak out from behind the sleety Edinburgh clouds, he set out on a mission to find one of Britain’s newest golden fizzies. Thornbridge Italia (4.8%) has been out for a month or so – and is already winning rave reviews, so it seems like the perfect start to another year of sparkly treats for Lagerboy.

Thornbridge are one of the prime movers and shakers of the current brewing scene, putting out some fantastic beer and routinely winning awards. Only last week Kipling won a Silver at the national SIBA contest, and Jaipur picked up a bronze at the inaugural SIBA Keg awards. Slightly less impressively – but not to us, of course – their Imperial Russian stout St Petersburg was named one of our best beers of 2010. I’m sure if we’d actually issued an award in physical form it would be nestling proudly on a mantelpiece somewhere in Bakewell.

Lagerboy would never dare drink an Imperial Russian stout – Baltika would probably be the choice, should he ever find himself east of the Dneiper. Sticking to the lighter, gassier offerings has stood him in good stead in the past – and seeing as Italia was brewed by Thornbridge in collaboration with lagermaster Maurizio Folli of Birrificio Italiano, it was approached with high hopes. Containing Pilsner malt and Hallertau Northern Brewer, Perle and Spalter Select hops it looks every inch the classic pils – pouring a hazy but vibrant lemon yellow with a inch-high fluffy white head.

The aromas of bitter hop and a slight crisp sweetness are very enticing, with a blast of citrus on the nose for good measure. On the palate there’s some spicy hop and a touch of earthiness, but the biggest impact comes from the citric lemon and lime flavours that erupt over the palate. Combined with an almost creamy mouthfeel, at halfway it reminds you of something like lemon cheesecake. The fruit continues on to the end, when a dry finish rounds off everything. Really very good indeed, if all of Lagerboy’s conquests are like this, 2011 looks like it could be a vintage year.

Writing about beer – or any other subject – can lead to interesting discoveries, or give you strange moments of realisation. For me, despite the numerous posts of Lagerboy (and many trips to Italian restaurants), I never actually realised that Peroni and Nastro Azzurro were different beers. Admittedly they come in almost identical bottles, but originally the former was the flagship of the Peroni Brewery, and the latter their premium brand launched in 1963. Also in my defence there’s only 0.4%abv difference between the two (Peroni weighs in at 4.7% and Nastro at 5.1%). I guess when drunk at Pizza Express they look and taste pretty similar.

Anyway, Lagerboy has been educated in the differing brands of Birra Peroni because of a meatier stablemate – Peroni Gran Riserva (6.6%). Despite the pretence of exclusivity, thanks to the muscle of SABMiller (who purchased Birra Peroni in 2005) the Gran Riserva can be found in most UK supermarkets. As it happened, Lagerboy was idly pushing a trolley around one such establishment when the dark red and gold bottle happened to catch his beady eye. It’s the strongest beer produced by the Rome-based firm, the rest being paler lagers either side of the magic 5% mark.

Peroni Gran Riserva pours a darkish gold or light amber colour, and has a nose of slight alcohol and dark stone fruits with plenty of malt. It tastes a bit like a bock (on RateBeer it is actually categorised as a Helles), with strong, sweet alcohol tastes, more malt and only a touch of hops. The aftertaste is plums and more sweetness. It all tails off a bit though, and leads off from a promising start into a muddling finish. It’s eminently drinkable, and probably better than either of their two more renowned brands, but there are better punchy lagers out there.

Peroni Official Website