JustTheSam

This is a much maligned beer, with many beer snobs writing it off almost immediately for being weak (3.6%), in a can and from such a mainstream brewery. That said, this same beer (on draft) was champion beer of Britain (Bitter category) and silver overall in 2004. Some people were so horrified by this that they threw their CAMRA cards out of their prams at the time. Personally I rather like it!

It's the four pack of cans that I reach for most often from the supermarket shelf, precisely because it's weak (I'm a Radio 2 listening 30 year old now) and fairly cheap, whilst not being too bland or too over the top. You don't always want an intensely flavoured, knock your head off brew. It has a decent, malty flavour with a drinkable level of bitterness that's great when you're after a mild but satisfying beverage, and it doesn't too badly for having come in a can.

Right from the start I’ll point out that God Lager is Swedish for good lager, though the rear label makes plenty of hints that this is in fact a divine beverage. I bought it from Waitrose purely because it looked a little unorthodox on the shelf and seemed to promise something that it could surely never live up to.

And frankly it didn’t. This is a fairly straightforward lager in pretty much every sense, though it has a very fine bubble (in fact it almost seemed flat) that gives it a somewhat classy feel, but only just. Maybe it only achieves perfection in being the perfect example of average, unassuming lager? Even if it is, I need something with a bit more flavour to get excited about. Still – credit to the Nils Oscar Company’s marketing department for a good gimmick.

Ever so slightly cloudy but virbantly coloured beer – like egg yolk almost.

A somewhat bitter, thirst-quenching summer brew. With the terrible summer having run out of what steam if had, that’s probably why it was a pound a bottle in Sainsburys. Hints of honey perhaps, though hard to tie down.

Very pleasant indeed – it’s a shame I’ve only just discovered it as the summer weakly waves goodbye.

I spotted this beer at a pound a bottle in Sainsbury’s so grabbed a couple as it sounded really different. It describes itself as being made with wheat and barley malts (rather than just barley as is normal), fermented with honey then conditioned for six months with spices – though it doesn’t say which spices!

I thought it might be similar to a continental wheat beer – cloudy white with hints of spice – but it’s definitely its own style of beer. It’s a very rich amber and almost entirely clear. The flavour is quite deep, bitter and smoky with a slightly burnt malt flavour reminiscent of a stout. The spice just leaves a subtle, lingering flavour in the mouth.

At 6% ABV and with a real depth of colour and flavour it’s not a ‘light’ beer in any sense. It’s almost a winter warmer, but I hadn’t twigged that until I’d poured it to accompany the grand prix qualifying mid-afternoon. Still, I quite like it and it was well priced, even for a 330ml bottle, so cheers!