Australia's most over rated beer

My father in law knows I like good beer, but he doesn't know much about beer himself. Unfortunately for both of us he bought a case of Crown Lager. Like 99% of beer consumers in Australia he equates Crown Lager as a quality product. The reality is that its over rated shit. Basically you are paying $60 for a carton of VB. The Australian beer market is interesting. Quality is expensive and bullshit marketing talks and somehow makes shit products walk. Take the marketing spiel below;
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"Without a doubt, Crown Lager is one of Australia’s most iconic brands. It is the country’s original premium beer and continues to outsell any other premium beer on the market. Crown Lager had an auspicious start. It was launched to the Australian consumer in 1954 to celebrate the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. Prior to that it was available only to an exclusive group of individuals made up of diplomats and visiting dignitaries. It’s the special care taken to select only the choicest Australian barley and the best Pride of Ringwood hops, along with the attention to detail in the brewing process, like the extended lagering, that creates this premium beer. This helps produce the creamy fruitiness, rich malty mid-palate and crisp clean hop finish to deliver Crown Lager’s distinctive, full flavoured premium lager taste. The brand’s understated elegance has seen it emerge as an icon - a classic in its own right."
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Hmmm, what a bunch of lies. The only thing premium about this beer is the inflated price. Hops fell by the wayside years ago and synthetic hop extracts are now the norm. Rich malt flavours, hop finish, full flavour and creamy fruitiness?? Where, not in this beer. This is like shit sprayed with perfume. It looks and smells good from a distance, but up close its still shit.
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The most disappointing aspect of the whole affair is that with all the great beers available in Australia, this is the beer that most Dad's and tradespeople buy themselves as a treat over Christmas. While it is a rubbish beer, I do rate it higher than other mass marketed swill like Toohey's Extra dry. But only just.

Bank Holiday

I am back at work now after spending the bank holiday weekend in a lazy fashion. Luckily it is ticker Tuesday and I can fill you in on what I have been up too. On Friday evening I managed to get down the Roebuck in Chiswick for pint of Adnam's bitter (which was a little plain) and a pint of Erdinger. I decided to go for the proper real keg as I have yet to have a decent pint of ale there on cask. After this I enjoyed an awesome ribeye steak down the road at The High Street Brasserie. I am going to rave about this steak for a bit as it was pretty awesome. Probably over 400 grams worth with the marrowed bone still attached. I enjoyed it rare as all good steak must be enjoyed! (BTW I washed this down with two pints of Staropramen) I am a little bit ashamed with the after dinner activities which saw me drinking pints of Foster's lager in Belushi's at Hammersmith - a circus of a venue with maybe just a smidge more class than a Walkabout, but not much more. The Fosters was cold and refreshing though and certainly suited to the warm evening.

Saturday evening I nicked down the Parr's Head for a Thai feed and had an excellent pint of Hancocks HB, which tastes pretty similar to Fuller's London Pride (I had the two back to back and I couldn't discern between the two). After dinner I managed to crack open a bottle of T.E.A from the Hog's Back brewery. It was a little disappointing, but it did have a nice solid yeast cake which fell into my glass during pouring. The positive of the solidarity was that I could remove it easily with a spoon!

Sunday was another lazy day and I managed to read a whole book from cover to cover. I didn't end up drinking any beer at all, but did enjoy half of a very nice bottle of Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc at Gordon Ramsey's Boxwood Cafe. I highly recommend the Veal and Fois Gras burger which really is something special. The crispy pigs trotter entree I had was a little bit too oily and the gingerbread cheesecake I had for desert were a little bit disappointing but overall it's a good place to go for a meal if you are interested in eating in overpriced restaurants (as I am!).

I managed to get one beer in yesterday (Monday) which was freebie sent to me by Nicky who does PR for Marston's. This was Wychwood Beewyched (5% abv) which is a honey laced ale that has a soft honey aroma and avoids the excessive dryness that most braggot (beer brewed with honey) suffers from. I actually enjoyed this beer and would probably drink it again if I was forced to!

So maybe I didn't really get the most drinking out of the long weekendas I could have, but I needed a break and there is more to life than beer - OK well not much more.

Crown Lager

Crown Lager (abv 4.9%) is often described as Australia's original premium beer. However, the only thing premium about the product is the packaging and its price tag! The beer is basically Fosters lager repackaged into a fancy bottle. For a long time it was the beer of choice for corrupt policemen and everyday business men as they made their way to the Chinese restaurant for lunch. It was the Australian Chinese restaurants equivalent to Cobra and Kingfisher in the UK curry house. Crown Lager (known colloquially as a "crownie") was originally brewed in 1919 as "Fosters Crown Lager" and was initially only available to visiting dignitaries that visited Australia. During the first royal visit of Queen Elizabeth II to Australia in 1954 Fosters marked the occasion releasing Crown Lager to the general Australian public . Crown lager is highly recognisable by its uniquely shaped bottle and by its 1954-trademarked logo that has only changed four times in the history of the beer and despite that its utter crap, remains one of Australia's most popular premium lagers. You can find more infor at the Fosters website here: http://fosters.com.au/enjoy/beer/crown_lager.htm

Fosters Lager

Ok, I won’t even bother to justify this one. Basically Fosters is a generic mega swill lager that tastes pretty much average. The only thing here that scores some points with me are that the brand identifies with Australia and that it was served by a guy with a keg on his back! (see the pic!)

This pint was consumed at the “Crusty Demons” unleashed tour and cost me £3.20 and came in a plastic cup and was dispensed from a guy with a keg on his back. The beer was luke warm, over carbonated and had a head on it that looked like an ice cream. Basically this beer is Pi$$.
On the other hand crusty demons were awesome and put on a really good show. I can’t believe how far freestyle mx has come and tricks that were impossible a few years ago such as backflips are common place now. Check out the video below!