Carlsberg Elephant Beer 

http://www.carlsberg.com/

Brewed by Carlsberg Danmark A/S  
Style: Strong Pale Lager 
Copenhagen, Denmark

A true Carlsberg classic, Elephant Beer was first launched way back in 1959. The elephant represents both strength of the beer and an exotic taste, or at least that’s what the pen notes say.

The inspiration came from Architect J. L. Dahlerup who, in 1901, created a tower resting on four elephants carved in granite. He in turn got the idea from the Minerva Square in Rome, where an obelisk supports an elephant.

This became known as The Elephant Gate and today is part of the main entrance to the brewery in Copenhagen.

The four elephants each bear the initial of one of Carl Jacobsen’s children: Theodora, Vagn, Helge and Paula. Carl Jacobsen, of course, is the son of Jacob Christian Jacobsen, the founder of the Carlsberg brewery.

Since then, the Elephant Gate has been a famous Danish landmark, and this is why Elephant beer is so important to the Carlsberg group, representing both historic and family ties.

The Elephant beer is made in the Carlsberg Brewery in Copenhagen and exported all around the world.

Review: 330ml bottle Bottle of Carlsberg Elephant Beer: ABV: 7.20% 

Comes in a 330ml (11.2 ounce) nice green bottle. With an alcohol content over 7% you are expecting a kick with this brew.

Would look nice to drink cold from the bottle.

On pour a nice clear golden yellow colour, with a good foamy head which settles to a decent looking lager, no real lacing.

A real beery smell, with a very strong tinge of alcohol, and a very sweet, grainy maltiness apparent, some hints of honey.

On taste I got a creamy mouthful, with some grains

Lots of sugar, a very sweet malt after taste, too sweet in fact. I found this NOT NICE at all, too harsh to drink! Lots of alcohol in the taste

Overall, it was too strong, a bit chemical, a bit flat, and a very bad chemical aftertaste. It is certainly a strong beer to drink!

For sure its strong and has a kick but that’s in absence of any discernible taste or flavour.  I found it very difficult to drink, lots of bitter hops, too many, and the malts kicking in to the fore. Not for me.

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Calvinus beer

http://www.calvinus.ch/

Brewed by “Les Frères Papinot” (Brauerei Locher Appenzeller Bier)  
Switzerland

Calvinus beers have been brewed by the Papinot brothers of Geneva (“Les Frères Papinot”) under the umbrella of the small scale, but popular, family run Locher Brewery in Appenzell for over 15 years. So even though it is classed as a Geneva bier, at the moment this is strictly not quite true.

Having said that though the recipes and brewing methods are taken directly from Geneva, and the name gives reference to Calvin the protestant reformer, a man with strong links to the city.

Beautiful Alpine spring waters are used in the brewing process with organically grown barley, hops and yeast. There are three types of Calvinus beers: light, wheat and dark.

Review: Bottle of Calvinus Blanche Beer: Style: Wheat beer, 5.20% ABV

Brewed with wheat from the Appenzell region, this Witbier is brewed in the best craft tradition, unfiltered, containing Alpine spring water, organic wheat, barley, hops, yeast, coriander and orange peel.

On pour a lovely yellow colour shows with a very nice creamy frothy head, all of which looks pretty good. The head is damn good, very bubbly, but it does die a little after, with not much lacing.  Beer turns to a murky cloudy colour after a while when it settles.

The smell is strong, a lot of sweet smells, mainly wheat and yeast, and some citrus.

A very strong taste, full of sweet grains at the start. This is a very tasty beer, full of taste. A taste of cream, wheat and yeast, with each mouthful nice and smooth, and very light. Even if it was very sweet you do get used to it, and this beer is a bit of a slow burner. In the end I did enjoy drinking a couple of these beers. Wide tasting and pretty refreshing. Not bad.

Review: Bottle of Calvinus Blonde (organic) Beer: Style: Belgian Pale Ale 5.20% ABV

Only organic ingredients are used for this pale, naturally cloudy beer that was originally brewed according to a secret recipe from Geneva.

On pour a lovely looking beer appears, golden yellow colour, with a big frothy creamy head, that looks good, but which dies a little, the colour changes too, gets a bit murky and cloudy by the end which doesn’t look great to be honest

A nice aroma, faint but has a good beery smell, smells of citrus, bready malts and earthy hops.

Taste was a little hard for me to describe, wasn’t strong, was malty and deep tasting.  Bitter aftertaste, hoppy and earthy, with a long finish. Crisp and good in the mouth.

Was drinkable for sure with light flavours, not bad, could be a session beer, but nothing to write home about either, and, dare I say it, a little boring, but drinkable all the same.

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Estrella Damm

http://www.estrelladamm.com/en/

Brewed by S.A. Damm
Style: Pale Lager
Barcelona, Spain

Estrella Damm, known as the Mediterranean beer, was formed in Barcelona in 1876 by August Küntzmann Damm, a recent arrival from the Alsace region of France, fleeing the Franco-Prussian War. Both he and his wife settled down in the Catalan capital, and August continued with his passion for brewing, bringing the skills he learnt back home but this time using the advantageous Mediterranean climate and excellent locally produced natural ingredients to produce good tasting beers. Today the S.A Damm has its very own malthouse where it can produce its own malt barely and still use the exact same recipe that August used all those years ago.

Over 125 years of brewing has made this brand the oldest in the whole of Spain, and the name Estrella means “star” in both Catalan and Spanish.

Estrella Damm is available in many countries, including Australia, and in the UK as a 4.6% version. In the United States, it is available through United States Beverage, LLC.

Review: Bottle of Estrella Damm: ABV: 5.4%

Estrella Damm,  the Mediterranean beer, a perfect accompaniment to some Tapas or exquisite Spanish seafood.

On pour, a massive head appeared, light clear yellow in colour. The large head took a while to settle, all that carbonation I guess. Not really much to look at, a fairly standard euro lager, had some slight lacing.

I did like the aroma. Had a typical beery smell, was very good on the nose. Smelt clean and crisp, of sweet malts, grassy hops and a touch of citrus.

Was a very light beer to drink, quite easy to guzzle down. Not a whole lot of taste to be honest, but a hint of an aftertaste, the faint bitter hops in the end. The beer was a typical Euro lager, crisp and clean, smooth and very easy to drink. I’d imagine it wouldn’t be too bad to have it, served cold, while staring out to the Mediterranean Sea on a hot summers day.

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Polar Pilsener Type Beer – Cerveza Polar

http://empresaspolar.com/

Brewed by Empresas Polar
Style: Pale Lager
Caracas, Venezuela

Don’t know a whole lot about Venezuela to be honest, Hugo Chavez and his social revolution and that they tend to win a lot of world beauty pageants (6 Miss World, 7 Miss Universe, 7 Miss International and 2 Miss Earth titles: Thanks Wiki!).

So it was great to come across a Venezuelan beer at the local offy, called Polar with a very distinctive logo of a Polar beer,  go figure!

Polar is Venezuela’s most popular brand made by Empresas Polar, the largest brewery in the country, founded in Caracas by Lorenzo Alejandro Mendoza Fleury, Rafael Lujan and Karl Eggers in 1941. Since then they have diversified into all kinds of industries, mainly in the food and drinks industry. The brewery produces other beers but Polar is by far the most popular, and can be purchased in America (if you search hard enough for it), but mainly on the holidays islands of Aruba and in and around Venezuela.

So they have the most beautiful women on the planet I wonder what kind of beer they have…..

Review: Bottle of Cerveza Polar: ABV:5.00% 

The Polar Pilsner from Venezuela, the vacation beer perfect for the beach and served ice cold.

The appearance wasn’t too bad, looked good.  On pour, a nice white head developed which quickly dissipated. The beer was a pale, yellow colour, and with some thin lacing

I found the aroma was pretty strong, a very acute smell, very sweet, of malts, grain, very citrusy. I did like the smell.

Taste was interesting. I did taste what felt like some fruit, lemon and apples. This beer tasted more like a fruit juice than a beer, very sweet.

Was very easy to drink, had a good flavour and taste on all fronts, grainy and sweet malts.  Easy to drink, nice good mouthfuls, a nice feel on the tongue. Not a strong beer, and no strong aftertaste, but still pretty sessionable, with a very crisp, clean finish and smooth to drink.

Not a bad beer overall. Can imagine it must be nice sipping it ice cold on a beach near the Caribbean.

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