The Beer World Cup last 16 now gets under way. Click on pictures and links to get a general review and info on the beers we will be a drinking during the Football World Cup

 

                Brazil V Chile

Skol Lager V Nomade Scotch Ale: 0-2. Gave the win to Nomade as an ale it is always going to come out victorious over a light lager, no contest really. Sorry Skol, nice and all that you are, but its sweetness versus an ale tasting of traditional and smoked malts. Skol is a lovely beer that goes down very well, nice taste not bitter, and very very sweet. A nice looking beer too, decent head and appearance, with an lovely aroma of sweet corns, grain and hay.  All very nice but I as said against a good ale it wont win. Nomade with its interesting fruity and malty aromas,  a taste of sweet malts with hints of grapes and smoked malts. And a small bitter aftertaste that wasn’t overwhelming. And by the end Nomade was the alcohol that was strongest in terms of power for your buck. Victory to the plucky Chileans.

 

              Japan V Costa Rica

Kirin Ichiban V Imperial Beer. 1-0 to Kirin Ichiban. The Japanese beer was pretty nice and quite drinkable with a lovely pale yellow colour appearance that had a very good sized creamy head that lasted. A good look. Imperial also looked the part. Crystal clear, pale golden straw colour, and, on pour, a small frothy white appeared. Both beers about equal on appearance. Both beers also about equal on smell, both having sweet aromas of toasted malt and a not overpowering smell, faint but nice. But it was the taste that separates the two similar beers. Both sweet, yes. Both smooth, refreshing and light, yes. But I felt that Kirin just edged it with its flavouring. Had more flavours that you could taste, of hay, wheat, and light floral hops, with what tasted like a subtle creamy aftertaste that was enjoyable. Imperial also had a creamy aftertaste of its own, but for some reason it left a dryer feeling in the mouth. Close, but Kirin wins this battle.

 

             France V Argentina

Kronenbourg V Quilmes: 0-1 to Quilmes, who just shaded it in a very tight contest between two beers who match each other very well. Kronenbourg is a nicer looking beer, with an appearance that is hard to beat, a lovely clear amber colour, with a nice frothy white head. Quilmes, although decent, cant beat the French beer here. Both beers smelt sweet. Quilmes probably more obvious than Kronenbourg, with a malty aroma. For taste which is, of course, the most important factor, Quilmes just edged it. Kronenbourg has a lot of very interesting and complex flavouring going on: from fruit, sweet caramel malts, honey, to a sweet malt taste at the start followed up with a mild hop bitterness. All in all a good variety of flavours. Quilmes had also an interesting mix. There’s a little corn and grain sweetness to open it up, a kind of sickly sweet. It does eventually settle down into a nice decent drink and there is a bitter aftertaste which grows on you. It’s this aftertaste that gets the victory for Quilmes, a more lingering memory.

 

Germany V Russia

Baltika 6 Porter V Friedenfelser Urtyp Hell: 1-2 to Friedenfelser in a very very close contest, that went to extra time. I really enjoyed both beers, both different but with their own unique good tastes and quality’s. The final decision was which beer I would drink in extra time, and I went with the German beer, just. Baltika Porter, surprised me, I wasn’t expecting a porter from Russia to be so delicious. Appearance good, black and decent creamy head, its a porter after all. Strong aroma of chocolate and roasted malts, enticing. For a porter it didn’t have a very bitter taste, it was more sweet than bitter, and this meant it was very easy to drink. The taste was of dark chocolate, coffee and roasted malt, not overwhelming and not strong. But despite how smooth it was, there was a kick to it, that 7%ABV is there and you will notice it! Friedenfelser’s Urtyp Hell, on the other hand, was a lovely tasting beer that I could have drank all night. Good appearance of a lovely golden yellow colour, with a decent frothy head. Good aromas of malts and grains with notes of grassy hops. But it has a winnable taste that I loved. The flavours were of a light sweetness, a grainy malt taste and a light hop note. It tasted very nice and smooth and the flavours were not overbearing, making this beer an excellent session beer, and one of the best that I have had in this Beer World Cup. The beer that I wanted to drink more of in extra time was Friedenfelser Urtyp Hell

 

 

               Australia V Mexico

VB Bitter V Corona: 3-0 to VB Bitter. Not really a whole lot to say. A strong “bitter” is not going to lose to a light beer, not in my World Cup anyway. Corona is a light beer that has a great refreshing taste, with flavours that are not overwhelming making the beer go down smooth and easily, but I want to actually taste something in my beer and VB does that for me, especially with its famous sour aftertaste.

            England V Colombia

London Pride V Club Colombia: 2-1 to London Pride. Club Colombia, much like its football team, have surprised me in this beer World Cup. I have found it to be a very tasty refreshingly good beer, with a nice looking body that was enjoyable to drink. It pours a lovely clear gold body, with a decent frothy head that lasts and has a smell that is not overpowering but sweet and corn like. The taste was of sweet toasted malts with no real aftertaste. A decent light tasting beer that I would recommend for a good session. But up against a strong ale in London Pride a lager will have to be much more than just nice. It would have to be seriously amazing to beat London Pride’s taste extravaganza! London Pride with its famous amber reddish colour, aromas of some biscuit malts and earthy hops with hints of caramel sweetness, and tastes of light caramel, some earthy hops with a mild bitter aftertaste. Its taste is unique to London Pride, lots of flavours, subtle and complex. I also enjoyed the strong aftertaste, which made you feel in no doubt that you were drinking a strong ale.  A win for the English ale.

 

     Nigeria V Switzerland

Feldschlösschen Original Pale Lager V Guinness Export: 2-0 to Guinness Export as the stout beats the light tasting lager. Feldschlösschen is a good beer, with a nice taste and easy to drink. The appearance is of a pure clear yellow colour, bright and clean with a good big frothy head on top that stays. Looks refreshing and tantalisingly good. The aroma is light and malty, on the grainy side but with a little sweetness. The taste is of a classic lager style, nice crisp and a smooth refreshing drink. Grain dominates the taste with very little bitterness. Not complex, well balanced, and very easy to drink. Could drink these all day long. Could, but up against Guinness Export it wont win. Simply because of the flavouring, or lack of it in the Feldschlösschen lager. Guinness Export is the complete opposite, full of exciting and interesting flavours, that had a very powerful aftertaste. It pours the expected pitch black colour with a tan whitish head. A very strong aroma of dark cocoa, coffee and roasted malts. The smell is quite strong on the nose. It was a very strong tasting stout, with a long bitter aftertaste, that had a bite to it. Overall a good strong stout, tasting of roasted malt with traces of coffee. As you would expect with a Guinness stout the flavours are complex and well balanced, making it one of the worlds richest tasting beers, and no contest for a nice, very nice, but bland Swiss lager. 

 

           USA V South Korea

Samuel Adams V Hite Lager: 2-0 to Samuel Adams.  The American craft beer classic beats the Korean lager comfortably enough. Strong flavours, from the hops and malt, well balanced, with hints of caramel that lingers in the tongue. This is a delicious beer that looks great, golden with a good sized frothy head. Smell of malts and a bit of floral hops. This is a good all round package, good taste, smell and, of course, taste. Easy to like and enjoy. Hite lager is a nice, pleasant tasting beer, but I am looking for more than session beers at this stage of my beer world cup. Sweet, clear and crisp is all good but it will need a bit more to beat Samuel Adams. Hite is perfect as a session beer, as it goes down well, is pleasant and refreshing, and I would recommend it as a beer when having a nice meal.

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Argentina V Germany Fifa World Cup Final 2014

After match synopsis in red!!

Beers: Beer World Cup Final:

http://thisdrinkinglife.com/world-cup-beer-2014-final-n-3rd4th-play-offs/

Who is set to win the battle of the beers? London Pride from England has made it to the World Cup Beer final after putting in some great battling performances to beat beers from from the USA, Italy, Costa Rica, Colombia and Australia. LP now goes up against the formidable German trio of Karlskrone, Lowenbrau and Friedenfelser, who have got to the final by beating beers from Chile, Argentina, France, Portugal and the USA. All three beers are brewed under strict German brewing quality regulations and will be tough to beat. Who will quench the thirst, set the mood, get me in the right spirit? Click on picture for a preview of the beers. Get the beer result after, much after!

 

 

 

 

4-3 To the German beers, but just about. London Pride was up against three tough German competitors but did well considering the amount of beers that were sampled!

Overall London Pride is a decent ale, tops. And was more than equal to the Germans, but I just give the victory to Germany for the Karlskrone and Friedenfelser Hefe-Weizen which slightly put them ahead. Needless to say the next morning I had a raging hangover, thank god the World Cup of football and beer is over as I need to return to normality and reintroduce myself to the wife!

Read full review here

PreGame:

Argentina: After about a month of drinking beer and watching football it comes all down to this match tonight, Argentina against Germany to be crowned the best in the world. Germany have the team while Argentina have the player. This is the game that Messi has longed for all his life. You can forget about the Champions Leagues and Spanish trophy’s, this is the one that matters to him the most. Tonight he has the chance to be remembered in the same manner as Diego. Take a deep breath Lionel tonight will be some game.

Argentina are a team that don’t give away too many goals. Goalkeeper Sergio Romero  has kept a tournament-high four clean sheets in Brazil while Zabaleta and Mascherano are peaking at the right moment in defence. Mascherano pretty much saved his team against the Dutch when he put in a phenomenal last ditch tackle to deny Robben, at the far post, whose position had goal written all over it. The tackle of the tournament, unforgettable. That’s how you do it Rafael Marquez!

Argentina are in a World Cup final, and I hold my hand up I really didn’t expect it after watching some of their performances. I mean Switzerland, Nigeria and the Netherlands could have beaten them if they had got their act together. But its good to see Messi in a final and I would love to see the best player in the world lift the cup, but them Germans are hard to beat!

Germany: In the semi finals game we experienced a once in a life time amazing annihilation of Brazil by a German team who put seven goals past them in a match that saw several records smashed. Klose finally got Ronaldo’s record, Brazil suffered their biggest World Cup defeat of all time, and their first competitive home defeat in 39 years. Can another record go tonight, with Muller getting a goal to become the first player to be back to back world cup leading goals scorer. Probably. 

The Germans were brilliant against Brazil, five goals up after half an hour, without working up too much of a sweat. Amazing. It was all too easy for them. Thomas Muller, unmarked, gave them an early goal from a Kroos’ corner, stepping up to put the ball in the back of the net, with a smart finish. You could have heard a pin drop such was the shock from all around the stadium. Klose scored at the second attempt to set a new World Cup record of 16 goals, and go down in history as the best penalty box player of all time, or goal hanger as we say! Still, take nothing away from his achievement, its truly a great record to have.  

And as we were about to digest all this record breaking, Toni Kroos scored not one goal but two in the space of 179 seconds, and just before half time Khedira, who had a cracking game, strolled up, and from a lovely lay off by Ozil, calmly placed the ball into the bottom corner to make it five nil.

Even when Brazil did manage a shot on target the man mountain Manuel Neuer was equal to their efforts, keeping the Brazilians at bay with a few fine stops.

Super sub Shurrle came off the bench and promptly added two more goals to the Germany tally. One of his goals was a real cracker, in off the near post from a tight angle. 

The Germans have had an extra day off and didn’t exert themselves too much against Brazil, whereas Argentina had a full 120 minutes with penalties to put away a rugged Netherlands team. Will this make any difference to the game? I feel the Germans have their mind solely focused on lifting the trophy whereas for Argentina maybe a few of their players are just happy enough with a world cup final. My head says Germany but my heart says Messi!

And so the World Cup goes to Germany, for the first time since 1990. They have achieved what was thought near impossible, a European team to win on South American soil, and they fully deserved their victory as they collected the trophy for the fourth time to be champions of the World. Germany were easily the best team at this years World Cup, playing with confidence, showing great attacking ability and powering through teams with ease. They seem to have a team that might go onto to win this trophy again and again in the future, such is the ability of their relatively young squad. 

It would be a travesty if Argentina had got their hands on the World Cup. They played pretty poor football throughout the whole competition, struggling to beat teams, and showing very little to get too excited about. Messi was great early on, but withered away in the later rounds of the competition, and failed to step up to the plate in the final. I don’t care if the marketing men in Fifa think he was the best player of the World Cup, he way short of that accolade in truth. In the final they failed to get one shot on target in the entire game which is a pretty woeful statistic for any team, let alone a team gunning for a third World Cup victory. 

Higuain fluffed a very easy chance at the start and that really was as good as it got for Argentina all game. They huffed and puffed a little but Germany were not really under too much pressure from them. They had no pace to cause the Germans any problems and Messi was easily contained in midfield. In fact it was Germany who had the best chance of the first half when Howedes hit the post with a good header with Romero well beaten. 

Early second half Neuer did a great impression of Toni Schumacher when he nearly put Higuain in hospital with a reckless challenge for the ball. I guess he was going for the ball, but it looked awful in the replays and he was lucky to escape with a card. In fact he even got the free kick! Luckily for Higuain it wasn’t too serious and he was able to recover.

The game fizzled out a bit, was intense but  the chances were few and far between and it got to extra-time until the deadlock was broken. Götze calmly chested down a lovely Schurrle pass to sweep in a left-foot finish seven minutes from time. A great goal to win a World Cup final. Well done Germany, you deserved it. 

         Music to get you in the mood

Scooter  V  Entre Ríos 

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