We recently had a friend of ours return from Argentina. He brought back with him the country’s most popular beer, Quilmes Cristal. In recent years, the Quilmes brewery (Cervecería y maltería Quilmes) has been all but bought out by Anheuser-Busch InBev, purveyor of American light lagers. Joining us on this week’s Happy Hour is @JasonBGP, a welcome addition. The Cristal is an American Adjunct Lager coming in at 4.90% ABV. I didn’t know this beer was available in the states, but I did find traditional 12 oz. bottles in the area – so you should be able to track down a bottle and try it out.

Cervecería y maltería Quilmes - Quilmes Cristal
Style: American Adjunct Lager
ABV: 4.90%

The Beer Genome Project Happy Hour #7 Show Notes

0:00-2:12 - Introduction
2:12-19:01 – Quilmes Cristal
19:01-19:44 – Conclusion

We were able to sample the Saison, the Dubbel, and the Tripel. However, due to the limited quantity of bottles available, Tommy and I purchased a few other hard-to-find craft brews. I left with two bottles of Kiuchi Brewery’s Hitachino Nest XH Ale, two bottles of Well’s Banana Bread Beer, and a bottle of Brauerei Heller’s Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier (Märzen). Tommy picked up a bottle of Private Weissbier-Brauerei’s Aventinus Wheat Doppelbock, a bottle of Ommegang’s Ommegeddon, and a few other Belgian brews (I shall update the post later to name them).

We left The Four Firkins very pleased with the selection, and having finally met Alvey, I was able to put another face to a name (and his Twitter presence @fourfirkins). I received an email from Jeff Williamson of Flat Earth Brewing Company earlier this week, where he mentioned that growler sales would happen twice a week now, on Tuesdays and Thursdays, from 3:30 to 6:30. With nearly an hour left, we jetted back to Saint Paul, and met up with Jeff at the brewery. We sampled a few beers there, including the Belgian Pale Ale, Sunburst Ale (apricot-infused Belgian Pale Ale), the Cygnus X-1 Porter, Northwest Passage IPA, Black Helicopter Coffee Stout, and a maple-infused Cygnus X-1.

After an afternoon of sampling, we decided to have more than just an ounce of beer, here and there. Tommy wanted to enjoy the afternoon outside on a patio, so we made a few pizzas, and sat in my backyard, enjoying the spring weather. Later in the evening, we decided to actually review a few beers. I opened my November 2006 vintage of Avery’s Mephistophele’s Stout, and Tommy chose to finish the evening with a sour / farmstyle from Ommegang — the 2008 Ommegeddon. Here is the video (please sound off in the comments if you have had any of the beers I mentioned in this post):

The Ides of April from Shawn Horton on Vimeo.

When I was in the UK, I was there to enjoy all the beers I couldn’t have back home. This meant sampling most everything from the unpronounceable to the standard “import” available at the local Tesco. The standard selections of beer included such favorites as Guinness, Stella Artois, Kronenberg 1664, Heineken, Fosters, and tonight’s focus, Tennent’s Lager. Now, the beer I had over there was much different from the one I found a few weeks ago. The Tennent’s I found in the UK was actually of the Strong Lager variety. There are a few differences I need to address. The Strong Lager came in a 500ml can at 9.0% ABV. This beer was 2-3 times stronger in alcohol than what everyone else had found, compounded with the fact Tennent’s came in a larger can and a 4-pack. You could hardly drink this beer without chasing it with a drink as sweet as Strongbow.

Now, if I may interject into my own review here, I would like to speak briefly upon the concept of UK units. Here in the US, we are used to reading the ABV (alcohol by volume) of our beer. In the UK, I had to quickly catch up on their measurements of UK units. The brilliant part of UK units is that the value is calculated based on volume. In the US you can have a can of beer at 8% or a bottle at 3.2% and never really know how much you had to drink. With UK units, you just add it all up. One UK unit is equal to 10ml of pure alcohol. It doesn’t get much more simple than that (easy calculations are always a nice thing after a few taste testings). I would love for the US to adopt this system, right after we move to metric. If you have experience with the UK unit system, or have further thoughts, please follow up with me in a comment for this post.

To get back with the review, you could say that I was eager to pick up the Tennent’s Lager not out of fondness for its taste, but more so for nostalgic reasons. I had forgotten, however, that the Tennent’s in the UK was the Super Strong Lager at 4.5 UK units (9%), whereas this imported Tennent’s Lager was at a much more palatable 5% ABV. Not to spoil the ending, but the lighter in ABV import was a much better tasting beer. Now, on to the review!

Appearance

As a European import, you could have guessed that Tennent’s Lager came in a light green glass bottle. Further, I probably won’t surprise you with the fact that this Scottish brew smelled a little skunky as I poured it into a glass. It wasn’t an offensive odor, but something all too familiar with these European lagers. The beer looked very crisp and golden as it fizzed away in its Pilsner glass. There was a small amount of head on top of the lager, and I was quite surprised at how well that amount of head was retained. When you put light through the back of the glass, you can see the carbonation in the beer and the large bubbles rising to the top.

Aroma

Once you get past the initial “probably a result of the green bottle” smell, the aroma of this beer is actually quite pleasant. Light, yet contained a distinct roasted characteristic. I can say I wasn’t expecting any sort of malt aroma, which was nice, so I pressed on to give the Tennent’s a taste.

Taste

Even though I picked it up purely for nostalgia, this beer was not nearly as dreadful as I remembered it. Again, I am reviewing the Tennent’s Lager, and not the Tennent’s Super Strong Lager which I had before. I would attribute the change in taste almost certainly to the drastic reduction of alcoholic content. Despite being such a light and golden beer, the lager had a surprisingly medium to heavy mouthfeel, which came off as rather creamy. There was nearly no aftertaste, which is fine for what I consider to be a light lager. One last note, don’t let this beer get too warm.

Overall Evaluation

I’m going to give this beer a very positive score. Tennent’s is not your standard run-of-the-mill lager, in fact, I think it is superior to most if not all American offerings of the same style. I’ve stated many times on the show that I am not a large fan of lagers, but I’ll stick up for a beer that dares to be different. I can’t say that Tennent’s Lager is a radical, but it certainly brings character to a style of beer I find to be traditionally bland in flavor. Forgetting my nostalgic fondness for this import, I find Tennent’s to be a great, light, refreshing beer that has also been particularly difficult for me to find. A great lager, but still a lager, deserves a 4/5.

For those of you who haven’t heard our podcast (and I strongly urge you to subscribe), we here at The Beer Genome Project have four segments to our beer reviews: Appearance, Aroma, Taste, and Overall Evaluation. Additionally I am taking into consideration the idea of a “photo review”, so take a look at those as well. So, without further adieu, I present to you Lammin’s Kataja Olut from Finland.

Appearance

Out of the bottle, the Kataja Olut poured a clear orange to amber color. It was quite striking how clear the beer actually was, and equally amazing was how there was absolutely no head on top. Held up to bright light, the Kataja Olut became much more orange in color and it became evident how very little carbonation was within the beer. I could see some sediment floating around inside the glass, which I felt was unique to such a clear beer. Around the top of the glass there was no evidence of lacing. This beer was flat, clear, and could easily be mistaken as an iced tea of some sort.

Aroma

As soon as the first pour leaves the bottle, you can smell the sweetness of this beer. I can only best describe it as being a fruity juice smell. I picked up hints of apple, plum, and grape – so it runs the gamut. Just know that this beer is going to smell very sweet with absolutely no hints of hops or malt. However, if you take in a longer breath you may pick up the smell of alcohol, but it is subtle and not influential of the aroma in any way.

Taste

The pour of this beer gave away that it would be flat, with no carbonation. I figured the Kataja Olut to be a smooth, light beer, but it tends to have a heavy mouth feel. I attribute that to the abundance of a grainy, malt taste. Given the fruity characteristics of the aroma, the graininess came right out of left field. It’s a taste that will cover your entire mouth and linger. This particular beer lacks any characteristics that I could describe as refreshing, and I feel that some carbonation might leave a better crisp feeling in the mouth. At first sip, I imagine you won’t be impressed with the taste of the Kataja Olut, but I do feel it has a great deal of drinkability as it seems to improve greatly in taste as your sips continue.

Overall Evaluation

The fruity characteristics of the aroma are definitely a turn off to me, though I know some people will find this sweetness appealing. The taste of the Kataja Olut does not match what you would expect, especially with the idea of apples and grapes in your head. Truth be told, the first sip of this beer isn’t something I found too desirable either. However, the malt-graininess taste kept bringing me back for more sips. I found this to be a highly drinkable beer, but not one that I would necessarily want more than one of in an evening. The beer does fall quite flat in the mouth, due to its lack of carbonation, and I feel this is its weakest point. However, I will say that I am eager to try out more of the Sahti-style and see how the Kataja Olut compares.

Mike’s Rating: 3/5