Tusker (Kenya - Nairobi) 4.2%

Tusker (Kenya - Nairobi) 4.2%

Dry hops, lightly malty, just the barest hint of creamed corn (DMS) and a touch of skunkiness. In other words, the classic international lager aroma.

Light malty flavour, very crisp. I find some North American lagers (Budweiser and Canadian) sometimes leave a scummy feeling on my tongue but Tusker is very refreshing and really makes me want to reach for a second. Also the malt body is quite light but is also really quite satisfying for a light lager. This is a plus-lager.

Gosser (Austria) 5.2%

Gosser (Austria) 5.2%

A creamy malty aroma that is a bit musty and has occasional hints of misplaced banana. Gold in a glass with a resilient head. The taste is fairly bitter, a little sour and just a little bit... cheesy. Gosser's taste reminds me more of a gluten free beer than a conventional beer. Hey, with food you may not even notice the weird taste and mouthfeel which is slightly drying. This beer does not taste good.

Pacifico Clara (Mexico)

Pacifico Clara (Mexico) 4.6%

Light tasting except it is quite bitter for such a light tasting beer. A little bit malty but in general quite light tasting. In short, it's very light tasting!

Schooner -Oland (Canada)

Schooner - Oland (Canada) 5.0%


A little maltier than most lagers, but really similar to the rest. It has a fuller flavour but is still pretty ordinary but it is a good enough beer, fine for those that just want a lager but still want some depth of flavour. In Schooner's case the depth comes in its maltier body.

Molson Export Ale (Canada)

Molson Export Ale (Canada) 5.0%

Yellow and fizzy, a little more malty than an international lager and it has a hint of the thickness you'd expect from an ale.

Brava - Labatt (Canada) 4.9%

Brava - Labatt (Canada) 4.9%

Pale gold in a glass with a frothy head and decent lacing. Creamy, malty, white bread, sweet aroma. Sugary sweet taste, very thin mouthfeel, lightly skunky; barely hopped and somewhat malty. A pretty standard international lager by a mega-brewery. Not worth a beer geek's time.

Molson Canadian Wheat (Canada) 4.5%

Molson Canadian Wheat (Canada) 4.5%

Pale, slightly cloudy gold colour in a glass but with a bit of a brownish hue and a big white head. The aroma is a little like a wheat but with a skunky, disappointingly weak malt aroma.

The taste is disappointing also: there is a bit of sweetness and a vague bit of wheat flavour but it tastes mostly like someone poured three drops of a Hoegaarden into a Molson Canadian.  I had high hopes for this beer because megabreweries have been making efforts to crack the craft beer market and Molson Canadian Wheat's back label even includes the proper wheat beer instructions on the back (pour most of it into a glass, swirl and then pour the rest). However I was disappointed. Save yourself $12.78 and don't pick up a 6-pack of Molson Wheat, it's not terrible but it's not much of a wheat beer.

Asahi Super Dry (Japan) 5.0%

Asahi Super Dry (Japan) 5.0%

A lightly malty, lightly hopped aroma. Asahi pours a shade paler than full gold with a head of respectable. The taste is quite sweet, lightly malty (a bit like the way canned corn smells) and lightly bitter but with a more bitter than expected finish. Basically Asahi Super Dry is a typical international lager but I'd choose it over Budweiser or Molson Canadian if I was at a Yomiuri Giants game at the Tokyo Dome (and those beers were my only choices). Also it comes in a can that is frankly adorably small and perfect, I suppose, for the commuting salaryman.

Estrella Damm (Spain - Barcelona) 4.6%

Estrella Damm (Spain - Barcelona) 4.6%

Estrella pours a pale gold with a thick and fairly resilient head which leaves behing some nice lacing and is a bit surprising. A malty, lightly hoppy aroma with something that reminds me just a little of pears.

A sweet, at times bordering on overly sweet, malty taste with overtones of lightly toasted bread, balanced with just a bit of hops and bitterness. Over all this is actually a nice tasting lager, however a glance at the ingredients list (that I'm guessing the EU forces the brewer to include) shows that Estrella uses rice and maize rather than just barley and a stabilizing agent called propylene glycole alginate. Needless to say this certainly isn't an ingredient list I associate with craft beer and it goes to show that even though it doesn't taste half bad this is a megabrewery's international lager not a craft beer.

VB [Victoria Bitter] - Carlton and United Breweries (Australia) 4.6%

VB [Victoria Bitter] - Carlton and United Breweries (Australia) 4.6%

Skunky, malty aroma. Quite sweet taste, barely bitter, a hint of apple. An ordinary international lager but... it's from Australia!

Tennent's Original Export Lager (Scotland) 5.0%

Tennent's Original Export Lager (Scotland) 5.0%

A pale gold colour in a glass with lacing actually. Creamy sweet malty aroma with a the barest touch of dry hops. Light malty and sweet taste but with a bitter finish not much of an aftertaste - a touch of durum semolina (the main ingredient in pasta).  Overall Tennent's is a pretty innocuous ale, so I can see why it is popular in pubs: it is not bad but not really much there.

Saigon Export - Sabeco (Vietnam) 4.9%

Saigon Export - Sabeco (Vietnam) 4.9%

A malty, slightly musty with a dry hop flavour a little like a Euro Lager but slightly thicker on the tongue. An unremarkable international lager but hey, it's from Vietnam!

Lezajsk (Poland)

Lezajsk (Poland) 5.5%

Gold in a glass with some lacing as well as a frothy head that fades quickly though not as quickly as some lagers. Lezajsk also has a malty and sweet aroma that has a more robust and rounded malt character that many other Euro lagers. A malty flavour with a bit of toasted bread, slightly sweet, moderately bitter (for a lager) with a lingering, bitter (for a lager) and ever so slightly toasted aftertaste.


Not a beer that is going to 'wow' you but I think it's a bit of a stand-out from an uninteresting class. If you like Euro Lagers on the bitter end of the spectrum Lezajsk is worth trying. I always recommend local brews rather than imports but if you're in Poland or you are going to buy an imported lager (like Grolsch) anyway pick one up, you may like it better. If, ceteris paribus, I had to choose between Lezajsk or any of those North American megabrew international lagers I'd have to go with the Lezajsk as it has more depth of malt flavour, a better balance and a better level of overall bitterness.

Alpine Max 6.0 - Moosehead (Canada)

Alpine Max 6.0 - Moosehead (Canada) 6.0%

Pale gold to gold in a glass. Has a malty, very slightly yeasty aroma. Malty and a little sweet: typical bland international lager taste but with a slight alcohol burn even though it's only 6.0%. The alcohol probably stands out because there is so little actual flavour going on that there is nothing to mask it. This would be a fine choice if all you drink is bland international lagers and are looking to get drunk on the cheap, otherwise you aren't missing much by missing Alpine Max 6.0.

Euro Lagers - Part 5: The Rest

Being the truly universal beer, lagers are produced in just about every country of the world. In this final part of my five part Euro Lager Saga (tm) I present six Euro Lagers from five countries in Europe not known for their beer production. Although their countries of origin may not be known for their beers and Euro Lagers are not the most titillating style, the last three are actually quite good (especially Kronenbourg 1664)!

Zubr (Poland) 5.6%

Dark yellow gold. Tastes of musty melon, it is sweet and not bitter. Somewhat unusual taste for a lager. Great copy-writing on the back label and a really cool bottle cap.

Viru (Estonia) 5.0%

Gold is a glass. Malty and fairly bitter for a lager - somewhat musty tasting. Thicker on flavour than a typical international lager but bland compared to any other style. The bottle is really cool though, and I quite like the bottle cap.

Peroni (Italy) 5.1%

Smells a little bit malty. Really carbonated and tastes of... barely anything. A little malty, barely hopped at all. If you want your beer to taste like nothing at all this beer is for you... or if you just want its cool bottle cap. Otherwise I would suggest you save yourself for a beer with a flavour.

Birra Moretti (Italy) 4.6%

A dry hoppy, slightly malty aroma. Gold in a glass. Quite a malty flavour with sweetness and toasted bread as well as a hint of caramel and all balanced out by lightly dry hops flavour - not very bitter but just bitter enough to make Birra Moretti work. A very nice Euro lager when it is all said and done.

Mythos (Greece) 4.7%

Quite skunky aroma - likely due to the light green bottle and UVB. A dry, light hops aroma typical of Euro lagers; a little musty perhaps due to age. The taste is mostly of that same dry hops flavour, though in Mythos it is bordering on wood tones with a hint of smoke. A bit of a tang and some spicy also from the hops. Lightly malty and probably more bitter than sweet. All in all, not a bad beer it's quite refreshing because it is dry rather than sweet and would probably pair well with spicy foods and lots of other kinds of fare. A fine Euro lager. Pale gold in a glass with a good head of foam.

Kronenbourg 1664 (France - Strasbourg) 5.0%

A sweet malty aroma with a touch of dry hops bitterness and a fairly strong banana and white grape juice smell too. More flavour to this beer than I expected from a Euro lager: it is still predominantly sweet malt but with a few lightly roasty hints and a bit of dry hops, but also plenty of that same white grape juice and some perfumy herbal characteristics make Kronenburg 1664 much more complicated than other Euro lagers. My refrigerator can be a little cool for ales and higher alcohol beers but the low temperature suits a lager like Kronenbourg 1664 just fine. I don't suggest giving it a few minutes to warm up. Gold in a glass with a good head and nice lacing. I was actually worried it might be flat when I opened it not much gas escaped when I cracked open the can. However, that was only because the can was very full (I might have an extra 5 ml) so there was very little room for gas to accumulate.

 In case you missed it, here are the earlier Parts to this Euro Lager Saga:

Euro Lagers - Part 1: The Czech Republic
Euro Lagers - Part 2: Scandinavia
Euro Lagers - Part 3: Germany
Euro Lagers - Part 4: Belgium, the Netherlands and Austria

Euro Lagers - Part 4: Belgium, the Netherlands and Austria

While hardly representative of Belgian beers, Stella Artois is a large part of Belgium's export market. It is included here with a trio of Euro lagers from Holland and one from Austria.

Stella Artois (Belgium)5.0%

A pronounced mix of sweet maltiness and dry hops. The result is a sweet moderately bitter lager that is refreshing and characteristically well balanced. There is also a detectable skunky off-flavour, that comes about due to the use of a green bottle which doesn't block UV-B the way a brown bottle does. Though technically an off-flavour I feel the skunkiness adds to the balance of the beer by forming a bridge between the malt and the dry hops.

Hollandia (The Netherlands) 5.0%

A somewhat yeasty, grain aroma. Full gold in a glass. Malty and quite bitter. A slight metallic alcohol flavour which is surprising for a beer that is only 5.0%. A generally unremarkable beer but not bad.

Grolsch (The Netherlands) 5.0%

Its characteristic flip-top bottle is a favourite of home-brewers (read: favourite of mine) and has also seen service as a bottle for homemade hot-sauce. The beer itself is gold in a glass. It tastes quite bitter for a lager with a dry hops flavour. A pleasant and typical European lager.

Heineken (The Netherlands) 5.0%

A creamy malt aroma with a bitter touch of dry hops and a splash of something skunky despite the fact that this beer came in a half-litre can and not a green glass bottle. There is also banana in the aroma. Gold in a glass with perfect frothy head.

The taste is sweetly malty, chaulky with a distinct but not overpowering banana flavour. Not very bitter at all and not much of the dry hops flavour I get in the aroma, as a result Heineken seems to be more like a North American, rather than a Euro, lager.

Stiegl (Austria - Salzburg) 4.9%

Such a warm sweet malty scent. The aroma doesn't carry over that strongly into the flavour. Quite bitter, hoppy. Has barest hints of apple and nut. Yellow, fizzy, highly drinkable and more bitter than most lager/pilsner types; although it is bitter without a sprucy hops punch like an IPA, there is still a bit of hops character to go along with the bitterness and fizz. Also, the old-style design of the beer can is quite likeable.


 In case you missed it, here are the earlier Parts to this Euro Lager Saga:

Euro Lagers - Part 1: The Czech Republic
Euro Lagers - Part 2: Scandinavia
Euro Lagers - Part 3: Germany

Euro Lagers - Part 2: Scandinavia

Regular readers will know that my blog really got going during half of a year I spent in Norway (Norwegian Yule Beers). Here are a few other lagers and pilsners that I came across during my time in Scandinavia.

Fredrikstad Pilsner (Norway) 4.5%

Thin tasting, a little sweet (a kind of honey sweet) but very mild. It tastes lighter than 4.5% and isn't bad. However there isn't much to its flavour, good or bad. Cool label.

CB Pilsner - Christianssands Bryggeri (Norway) 4.7%

Thin but with a strong malty taste. It's unique but not terrible good: the flavour is one-dimensional and the beer is not very refreshing.

Dahls Pils (Norway - Trondheim) 4.5%

This is a dreadfully thin beer. It tastes of beer flavoured water with a hint of cardboard. The redeeming qualities are few and far between: it is cheap for Scandinavia and it has a nice looking bottle cap. Avoid this one.

Lundetangen Pilsner (Norway) 4.7%




A very sweet beer with a malty aftertaste. It's a little too sweet to be properly refreshing but in general not bad.

This beer is brewed by the Aass brewery but the recipe is from the now defunct Lundetangen brewery who's demise bankrupted the father of Henrik Ibsen, Norway's most famous playwright.

Nordlands Pils 4.5%

Nicely drinkable with a bitter (and delayed) aftertaste that I didn't mind. Somewhat sweet but definitely a solid Euro lager/pilsner. At 15.90 NOK it is on the expensive side of local beers but only by a few dozen cents per bottle.

Tuborg Green (Denmark - Copenhagen) 5.4%

A surprisingly lively pallet for a pilsner: a little bit fruity, a little sweet, a little bitter. Lightly carbonated and lightly, sparkling gold in a glass. Refreshing but mostly unremarkable.

Tuborg Pure Gold (Demark - Copenhagen) 5.5%

A dry hoppy smell. That hops character comes through in the flavour as well as sweet, smooth maltiness. This beer is a lovely gold (who would have thought Tuborg Pure Gold would be gold coloured!), well carbonated with a moderately bitter finish. All in all Tuborg Pure Gold is quite smooth, fairly refreshing though quite malty and is, on the whole, well balanced.

Gull (Iceland) 5.0%

A warm somewhat sweetly-toasted bread taste with a somewhat bitter aftertaste for a lager.

Viking Gultur (Iceland) 5.0%

A very ordinary international lager, slightly more malty and bitter than average.






In case you missed it, here's Euro Lagers - Part 1: The Czech Republic.