I’m a booze expert and blind tested UK’s most popular beers – snobs will HATE surprise winner that left me gobsmacked
IT’S a bank holiday weekend and that means, come rain or shine, thousands of Brits will be getting on the booze.
But with hundreds of different cans on the market, which lager truly passes the sniff test?
Beer campaigners recently warned that pints are becoming an “unaffordable luxury” as the average price edges towards £5.
A draught pint of lager, the UK’s favourite style of beer, has hit £4.77, which is 21p up on last year, and the highest it’s ever been.
Fortunately, buying a four-pack of the same beer from the supermarket and chilling out in the park or your garden can save you tons of dosh.
Drinks expert Joe Wadsack did a blind test of cheap cans of lager available across the high street, and was stunned by his favourite.
Peroni 4 x 440ml, £7.25
Peroni proved to me that being the most expensive beer doesn’t mean it’s the nicest.
As I first smelled it, it had a lovely, toasty, malty quality to it, and like it had nice, clean ingredients, which hadn’t been lying around for ages before the beer was made.
When it comes to taste, however, I found it to be a little bit on the thin side.
Despite the ABV being 5 per cent, I thought it tasted much lower, and thought it was nearer the 4 per cent mark before I knew.
Having said that, it’s not bitter, and tasted just as clean as it smelt, with a nice, fresh nuttiness to it, almost like an almond taste which was quite refreshing. Not bad.
Rating: 3/5
Stella Artois 4x568ml, £6.25
At first glance, this looked like a good beer with nice head retention. But when I went in for a sniff, it smelled of nothing, which is a bigger sin than an unpleasant smell.
The taste was not very well-balanced either, as it was slightly bitter, but also a little bit on the sweet side.
It felt like there’s some sugar in there that didn’t need to be there, while the texture was a bit oily and thin too.
This was definitely my least favourite – and I can’t say I was too surprised when I found out it was Stella at the end.
What it does show is that cheap doesn’t mean bad, as this was the second-most expensive beer I tried.
Rating: 1/5
Carlsberg 4x568ml, £5
I was absolutely flabbergasted when I discovered I’d ranked Carlsberg the highest, as it gets a very bad rap from beer snobs.
But, during the blind test, I was very impressed.
I immediately felt like this beer had a vibrancy to it and looked like it had more to say than some of the others. It had a nice and clean head and nose.
Thanks to its continental smell, I had a feeling the beer was from Germany or the Netherlands, so I was right, but I was sure it was a Heineken. So close yet so far!
Carlsberg only has 3.4 per cent ABV, and although I could tell there was less alcohol in this drink, it still tasted like a proper beer with a balanced freshness and nice acidity.
Rating: 5/5
Rheinbacher Premium Pilsner 4x500ml, £3.49, Aldi
As I went in for a sniff of this beer, the first thing I noticed was how much it smelled of hay, with a nutty, full-weighted, barley-ish nose to it.
Before I found out where this German beer was from, I was sure it was Spanish.
The taste was a little bit saline, with a saltiness to it, which I thought was actually quite nice.
I’d have liked a bit more body to this beer, and a bit more flavour, but it had quite a light, refreshing touch to it.
I can imagine it would do just the trick if it was ice cold, and I was sitting in a hot square somewhere.
Plus, the price is refreshing too, at a very reasonable £3.49 from Aldi.
Rating: 3/5
Sainte Etienne Premium Lager 4x440ml, £3.49, Aldi
Another very cheap beer from Aldi, but not quite as enjoyable a drink as the Rheinbacher.
It looked lovely in the glass, with a good head on it, but the smell reminded me of a Saaz hop, as it had quite an earthy nose.
While it was a quaffable drink, the taste just wasn’t full-flavoured enough for me.
It was very middle of the road, and sometimes I think it’s better to not like the taste of a beer than be indifferent, as someone is going to enjoy the flavours of the one you didn’t.
Rating: 2/5
Estrella Damm 4x440ml, £5
I was a big fan of this Spanish beer.
On first sniff, there was definitely no mistaking this was a good, proper beer.
It had a lovely creamy, nutty smell, almost like lemon oil, which was gorgeous and fresh.
The taste wasn’t bad at all. It had something to say. My only criticism was I’d have liked it to be slightly drier, as there was a tiny bit too much sweetness there.
However, it’s nice and savoury at the same time, so it had the right amount of balance.
I’d definitely drink an Estrella Damm with some Tapas. It’s a little cracker, actually.
Rating: 4/5
Heineken Lager Beer 4 X 440ml, £5.50
Before I did the blind taste test, I said Heineken was probably going to be my favourite, so I was shocked to find out I actually found it quite average.
While I found the smell to be lovely, clean and refreshing – almost like a cream soda – the actual taste was a bit sweet for me.
If it had been drier I think it would have been rather nice, as it was clean and not too malty.
It definitely would seem I prefer Spanish beers!
Rating: 3/5
Cruzcampo 4x440ml, £5
Straight away, I could see that this beer was a lot darker than the others, which is usually a sign of an older beer.
The taste of it went with that theory too. It had a lot more flavour than most of the other beers and didn’t smell as hoppy.
It wasn’t as clean and defined a flavour as some others, but it’s savoury and has a full-bodied, nice, drying finish – it’s sweet without sugar, and has a nice ripeness to it.
Cruzcampo is clearly a good-quality beer, and it’s no wonder it’s Spain’s beer of choice!
Rating: 4/5
Foster’s 4x440ml, £4.50
When I swirled this beer, I thought it must be expensive, as the head retention was so good. How wrong was I?
Having said that, I could tell the beer was nice enough, but low in alcohol – which Fosters is, at 3.7 per cent.
Export beer should be pushing 5 per cent, and this didn’t have the strength I look for in a good beer.
The wheat made up for that a little bit, giving it a bit of texture. This was a very well-made session beer and I can imagine sinking quite a few of these quite easily in a pub, but the flavour is just a little bit too dull for me.
Rating: 3/5
Carling 4x440ml, £4.49
When I first looked at this beer I could see it had some dark colour there, showing signs of conditioning.
But I was slightly put off by the smell, which was quite wheaty, earthy and unclean.
The taste was also quite unpleasant, I was detecting a note of something that wasn’t sitting well with me.
However, the beer did have a lot of flavour so I couldn’t criticise it for not tasting of anything at all – which is the biggest sin in my book!
I’ve got a thing about the greater good and although Carling wasn’t my cup of tea, I can understand why a lot of people enjoy it.
Rating: 3/5
Grabbing a pint at local pub is becoming ‘unaffordable luxury’ as whopping average price revealed
A PINT down the pub is becoming “an unaffordable luxury” as the average price climbs closer to £5, campaigners warn.
Data shows a draught pint of lager has hit £4.77 — 21p more than last year.
The Campaign for Real Ale said that the figure — from the Office for National Statistics — showed customers will stop visiting pubs.
Chairman Nik Antona: said: “A pint of beer, cider or perry in your local could become an unaffordable luxury, as made evident by the latest ONS data.
“With the cost of a pint continuing to increase, consumers will soon struggle to support their local pubs, social clubs and tap rooms.
“Unfortunately, pubs have had no option but to raise their prices in order to survive, as the only alternative would be to close their doors forever.”
Mr Antona added: “Both the UK brewing and pub industries are in the throes of a perfect storm.
“The skyrocketing cost-of-business crisis, customers tightening their belts due to the cost of living, sky-high energy prices and unfair business rates are a brutal mix that threatens to be the death knell for many community venues.
It came as new data shows 784 pub businesses went bust in the past 12 months.
The number of insolvencies – including operators with multiple sites – has soared by almost a third in just one year.
Peter Kubik, at accountants UHY Hacker Young, which revealed the data, said: “Current alcohol prices mean more people are choosing to drink at home.”