Lager Time

Despite the over-saturation of average Lagers in the beer market, and despite the increase in availability of excellent Ales, there is still a place for the humble commercial brew. Lets face it, on a hot day, pretty much nothing beats a cold, crisp Heineken (even if it is brewed under license). So it warms the cockles of my heard when a craft range brings out a Lager.

Despite being the most widely drunk beer in the world, Pale Lager still has the potential to surprise. Bottom fermented and cold stored, Lager is renowned for begin easy drinking and refreshing.

Boundary Road up the ante considerably with Ein Stein Munich Lager. First appearances are deceiving  it looks and smells like any other lager, but the first sip reveals incredibly well balanced roasted malts, incredibly almost impossibly crisp and just a hint of bitterness.

A Lager this most certainly is, but what a spectacular beer. Between this and a couple of other new releases from Boundary Road, this brewery is taking it's craft to the next level!

Slam Dunkel

Water, Barley, Hops, Yeast. The ingredients list for beer is short but the variety that comes from those four things is vast and inspired. We are told that to make great beer we need the freshest ingredients, the best ingredients. The best beers much like the best meals, are made with attention to these details.

In order to preserve the purity of their beers the Reinheitsgebot was established in one of the birthplaces of beer, Bravaria in 1516. Reinheitsgebot, or "German Beer Purity Law" for short, initially excluded yeast, because it wasn't until after Louis Pasteur revealed the role of micro-organisms in fermentation in the 1800's that yeast was revealed to be an essential part of beer.

German Beer Purity Law, or at least the tradition of it has inspired beer makers ever since and particularly German/Bravarian beermakers which brings us to today's beer: Flensburger Brauerei Dunkel.

Right here we have a classic German Dunkel, which is just any mid strength beer made with darker roasted malts. Made in the classic pop-top bottle giving it a real european feel the beer is a warm reddish brown and much warmer in colour than many northern European Dark Ales. Wonderfully deep aroma with cereal and dough. The taste is rich warm and nutty with a nice light carbonation, a very pronounced cereal with a lingering bitterness.


More balanced than many of it's English counterparts for sure, and the colour is just so inviting on a cool winter's evening. 


It's sparked some interest on the role of yeast in certain beers which I'll look at another time.