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New and exciting posts from the best half decent blog around

Carib Premium Caribbean lager

Carib Premium Caribbean lager

Carib Premium Caribbean lager

http://www.caribbrewery.com/

Brewed by Carib Brewery Limited 
Style: Pale Lager 
Champs-Fleurs, Trinidad & Tobago

Carib Beer is just one of a line of beers brewed by the Carib Brewing Company, Ltd. based in Champs Fleurs, Trinidad and Tobago. Launched on May the 16th, 1950, it is a popular brew in the country to be found pretty much everywhere on the two islands. 

Carib Premium Caribbean lagerTrinidad’s economy used to rely solely on sugar and oil production with little much else. In 1947, the Caribbean Development Company Limited (CDC) was formed by British native, Sir Gerald Wight, then Chairman of Alstons Company Limited (now McEnearney Alstons Limited), who founded the brewery in the hope of trying to boost the economy of Trinidad with something different. In 1950 the CDC launched its award winning Carib Lager beer.

Since then, Carib Brewery has grown substantially and today is the market leader in Trinidad, with sister breweries in neighbouring Grenada and St. Kitts and Nevis . Their products are also internationally popular and exported to over 30 countries worldwide. The success of the brand has made the brewery churn out other beverages too, as it also produces Stag Lager beers, Mackeson Milk Stout and a range of Shandy products (Ginger Shandy, Lime Shandy and Sorrel Shandy). 

Review: 330 ml bottle of Carib Premium Caribbean lager: ABV: 5.0% vol 

Carib Premium Caribbean lagerMine was a 5% abv but I see some places you can get 5.2%

Coming in a clear bottle that looks very similar to Corona. The Carib beer that is quintessentially ‘Caribbean’ or so they say as on their website they state that the Carib Beer logo is “known around the world as a symbol of the Caribbean’s blue waters and year-round sunshine”. Steady on boys its just a gammy logo!

On pour I get a nice, lovely fluffy white head and a golden yellow beer. Some small carbonation going on.

A very clear beer with a small white head and some good retention. looks ok.

Carib Premium Caribbean lagerOn nose I get a good lagery malty smell, very beery with a lot of citrus. 

On the taste I got some creamy mouthfuls, a very lagery taste, and a strong malted barley taste as well.
Not much in the main body, very light tasting, also not much overall taste or flavour. Flat taste, shit beer really. Bland.
As a lager its ok, much better cold, but overall a very boring generic lager.
Wouldn’t go out of my way to buy it. Not a whole lot to say about it. Little flavours or tastes.
The second bottle, which was much colder, was a bit better and more drinkable but overall a largely forgettable brew………….They say it might be more enjoyed sipping it ice cold on a beach in the Caribbean. that might be so, but I think I’d prefer a better lager to lounge in the sun with, to be honest. Forgettable beer. 

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Kingfisher Premium

Kingfisher Premium Lager Beer

Kingfisher Premium Lager Beer

http://unitedbreweries.com/our-brands/premium

Brewed by United Breweries Group
Style: Pale Lager 
Bangalore, India

First established in 1857, Kingfisher Premium Lager is an Indian beer brewed by the United Breweries Group, Bangalore. It is India’s No. 1 selling beer, as it says so on the bottle “India’s Premium Lager”, to be found everywhere in the country, and it is also sold throughout the world in, I am guessing, mostly Indian restaurants, as I have never seen it before in a bar or an off license. 

Kingfisher Premium United Breweries Group is a major Indian conglomerate company with its core business centered on beverages, aviation (Kingfisher Airlines!), chemicals and fertilizers, and investments in various other sectors. They even have a F1 team, Force India, and also have a football team, Kingfisher East Bengal F.C, in the Indian League, based in Kolkata. 

The UB Group was founded by, Thomas Leishman, a Scotsman, in 1857. Initially the group was focused on beer and the brewing industry, and were behind the coming together of 5 breweries in South India under the name of United Breweries in 1915.  The beers were extremely popular with British troops stationed in India at that time.

In 1947, the company was bought out by Mr. Vittal Mallya, the first Indian director of the group. 

During the 1950s and 60s, the company expanded greatly by acquiring other breweries and also to extend its portfolio into wines and spirits. The Group also moved into agro-based industries and medicines, forming a long-term relationship with the German company, Hoechst AG, to create an Indian pharmaceutical company, Aventis Pharma, an Indian subsidiary of the global pharma giant Sanofi-Aventis.

Kingfisher Premium The company markets beer under the Kingfisher brand, and owns various other brands of alcoholic beverages. It is India’s largest producer of beer. UB also financed a takeover of the spirits business of the rival Shaw-Wallace company, giving it a majority share of India’s spirits business.

Nowadays the Heineken Group holds just over 40% equity shares in United Breweries Ltd.

As for Kingfisher, there are quite a few different beers brewed by the company, from Kingfisher Strong, “Ultra”,  a red and a regular lager, amongst a rake of others.

The Kingfisher beer has won “several international awards for its quality and taste”, including “Asia’s best strong lager” in the World Beer Awards in 2013.

Review: 330 ml green bottle of Kingfisher Premium Lager Beer: ABV: 4.8% vol 

Kingfisher Premium Like the logo of the beer, a nice and striking picture of a Kingfisher. 

On pour get a decent sized white frothy head, and a golden amber coloured beer, some small carbonation going on. Some lacing on the glass. Overall, not a bad looker.

Typical lager smell, with a very particular hint of sweet malts, barley and corn, slightly metallic as well.  

Kingfisher Premium Taste is ….bit citrusy and very, very hoppy, not smooth anyway.
Ok not bad, got some tastes…… the malts, the corn, the citrus, and the barley, and the beer has some character, but might need to drink again for further assessment. To be honest It was not what I was expecting. I was getting ready for another generic tasting lager but this is slightly different, and it kind of threw me to be honest!  The beer has a bitter taste to it that’s a bit sweet.
Wholesome taste, and for a lager not exactly sessionable, but it certainly had a bit of a kick to it. Overall, an interesting beer and one I would like to revisit again. Must try and get it the next time I am having an Indian curry! (cheesy, I know!)

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Small chat with Rod from the YouTube site “Rod J BeerVentures”

Small chat with Rod from the YouTube site “Rod J BeerVentures”

I’m talking with Rod from the YouTube site “Rod J BeerVentures”

A chat with Rod from Rod J BeerVentures
Thanks to Rod for giving his time and for sharing his beer thoughts and experiences

Check out Rod’s stuff:
http://www.rodjbeerventures.com/
YouTube
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram 
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Goggle Plus
Untapped

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Chris from the YouTube site “The Trucking and Beer Channel”

Small chat with Chris from the YouTube site “The Trucking and Beer Channel”

I’m talking with Chris from the YouTube site “The Trucking and Beer Channel”

Thanks to Chris for his time and for sharing his beer thoughts and experiences

Check out Chris’ stuff:

Youtube channel
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Das Schwarze

Das Schwarze from Stuttgart

Das Schwarze

https://www.schwabenbraeu.de/

Brewed by Dinkelacker-Schwaben Bräu
Style: Schwarz bier 
Stuttgart, Germany

SchwabenBräu is a brewery based in Stuttgart and owned by Dinkelacker-Schwaben Bräu GmbH und Co. KG. The company owns the largest brewery in the German state of Baden-Württemberg, a state in the southwest of Germany bordering France and Switzerland, and the location of the Black Forest. 

Das SchwarzeIt was founded in 1878 by Robert Leicht. Leicht was a progressive entrepreneur, open to technical innovations, so much so that the brewery very soon had electric light, an artificial ice cooling machine, a cable car, an atomized bottling plant and much more, and in 1897 was the first German beer to be delivered motorized, with a truck from Gottlieb Daimler. At one stage the company had the largest bottling plant in the world!

In 1996, the competing breweries of Schwaben Bräu and Dinkelacker merged to form Dinkelacker-Schwaben Bräu AG, then after there was a brief flirtation with brewing giants, InBev, who took over in 2003, but the brewery regained independence again in 2007. Bought back by Wolfgang Dinkelacker, great-grandson of company founder Carl Dinkelacker. 

Schwaben Bräu produces a wide array of beers, from their Pils, a helles and a wheat beer, and the odd seasonal beer for Christmas and local festivals. 

Review: 0,5l black flip top bottle of Das Schwarze: ABV: 4.9% vol 

Das SchwarzeThe ‘Black Forest Dark beer’ coming in a nice enough dark bottle with a fiip top.

On pour looks great, a jet black colour, with a bit of a reddish hue, decent frothy white head which settled down to a thin layer, some lacing. Looks crisp and ready to devour. Not a bad looker.

The aroma is faint, very faint. Slightly beery, malty and grainy and some fruits but not much on the nose. 

Lovely mouthfuls at the start. Get a taste of the toffee.                                                                      Can really get a good feel for the beer, and nice creamy mouthfuls. Initially. 

Das SchwarzeSweet malty taste. Very smooth, but overall not a whole lot of flavours or tastes though.
It is a bit bland, but easy to drink. No kick, no substance to it and a tad bit disappointing.

Second bottle.
Do get the coffee and dark chocolate notes, it is slight though at the front end. smooth, easy to drink, and light but, as I said, it is a little disappointing as all the tastes are only fleeting on the palate. They really need to stick around that little longer!

I can’t taste the alcohol,  and it is a pretty weak beer.                                                                        These black lagers are kind of a waste of time to be honest, no kick, no standout tastes.
I think black beers are the one style I struggle with as I always find them too weak to enjoy and don’t really see the point in them to be honest, but I will keep trying them………………

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