AROUND
THE WORLD IN EIGHT BEERS
Edited version published: Frankie #22 (Mar/Apr 2008)
With so many fine international beers on the market right now, you can’t
afford to stick with your tried and trusted local drop. It’s time
to inject some adventure in your beer-drinking habits. Think of this as
a Contiki tour for your liver.
MOOSEHEAD
(345ml, 5% alc./vol.)
Country: Canada
Judging by its macho label, you’d expect Canada’s flagship
beer to be the choice of moose-shooting lumber-jacks, and taste of sweaty
chest-hair and bleeding venison. Surprisingly then, it’s actually
a straightforward crisp lager—a masculine, no-bullshit affair that
reminded us of our own antlered mammal-themed beer: Toohey’s New.
However, it seems to have a strange effect on its drinkers. In the last
decade alone, Moosehead has been at the centre of two high-profile beer
heists. Hey, if it’s good enough to warrant large-scale beer theft,
it’s good enough for you.
HOEGAARDEN
(330ml, 4.9% alc./vol.)
Country: Belgium
Hoegaarden’s white beer is a little suspect, at least on a visual
level. Pour it into a glass, and there are floating bits of sediment strewn
throughout the pale beer, sort of like swamp-water bacteria. But all is
forgiven when you finally taste the stuff. Based on a traditional recipe—water,
yeast, wheat, hops, coriander and dried Curaçao orange peel—this
beer is the closest thing you’ll get to a delicious, health-giving
salad. For a country renowned for its mussels, chocolate and pork, this
beautiful, floral liquid would actually go well with honeyed crumpets
and high tea.
PERONI
NASTRO AZZURRO
(330ml, 5% alc./vol.)
Country: Italy
When choosing a light beer, civic-minded drinkers and designated drivers
look for full-bodied taste, with very little alcohol content. Peroni is
the almost the opposite: beer for those who want a light flavour, but
want the full, disgraceful effects of regular beer. Pinpointing that particular
demographic is difficult (Dogs? Delinquent youth?), and some will feel
Peroni is too diluted-tasting for their liking. But others will appreciate
the feather-light Italian brew as the perfect antidote to the carbohydrate
bombs that constitute an Italian dinner.
SINGHA
(330ml, 5.8% alc./vol.)
Country: Thailand
Thai cuisine doesn’t exactly do flavours by halves, do they? No
Thai meal seems complete without a dump of chilli, a decimated lime and
a slathering of fish sauce. That sort of attitude to food might explain
the flavour in Singha, a heady, rich gold beverage that stinks like the
barley, hops and malt inside have been fermenting for decades. There’s
sweetness too: the heavy and intoxicating after-taste is almost syruppy,
like molasses. Full-bodied and more alcoholic than the other beers here,
drink this stuff in hot, muggy, Thai weather, and you’re asking
for trouble.
SCHNEIDER WEISSE
(500ml, 5.3% alc./vol.)
From Deutschland comes this absolutely beast of a beer, the packaging
of which manages to consolidate elements of beer (brown glass), wine (generous
size) and champagne (this variety is called “Kristall”). Technically,
of course, it’s beer—a wheat-based ale with all-natural ingredients.
But like wine, it has an incredible palette. Every time you take a sip,
you experience something different, from nectar to oak to leather. And
like champagne, this is one fragrant bottle, like drinking your favourite
cologne. You can taste the love and care poured into this. Delightful.
Country: Germany
ASAHI SUPER DRY
(330ml, 5% alc./vol.)
According to surveys, Japanese consumers like their beers handsome, crisp
and light-flavoured. Asahi fulfils the criteria well: the packaging is
sharp, and so is the taste. Like most dry beers, it’s a straightforward,
no-tricks sort of brew, which means it won’t interfere with the
complex flavours found in your tuna and swordfish sashimi. For some drinkers,
multiple swills might render Asahi a little flavourless, but this means
it’s recommended for drinkers who like the mental effects of beer,
without feeling as though their guts and breath have been hijacked by
hops.
Country: Japan
SOL
(330ml, 4.5% alc./vol.)
Country: Mexico
People always warn you about the drinking water of Mexico, don’t
they? One strategy to avoid imminent dysentery in the region might be
to replace all of your fluids with this particular drop. Lighter-than-light,
palette-cleansing and burrito-complementing, drinking Sol is a strangely
hydrating poolside experience. Squeeze a wedge of lime in the neck and
you’re set for summer. Best served ultra-cold, this is also the
beverage recommended for beer-virgins, and those usually afraid of the
amber liquid. You’ll be a beer convert in no time. Viva la Mexico,
and so forth.
BINTANG
(330ml, 4.8% alc./vol.)
Country: Indonesia
Indonesia is responsible for one pungent pilsener. Upon opening this bottle,
it’s clear that something strange and possibly organic is happening
inside: this beer unapologetically reeks. Like Indonesian cuisine, subtlety
is not a virtue here, and neither is lightness: this is heavy, brassy
liquid that will leave your guts lined and, despite its lower alcohol
content, your liver feeling assaulted. Recommended for rowdy folks who
demand their beer tastes like beer, Bintang is one beer toxic and powerful
enough to sedate even the most prickly of diplomatic tensions.
BACK TO SELECTED WORKS INDEX
Last
Updated :: 29 March 2008
All Content ©
Benjamin Law 2008