Sinha Stout - Sri Lanka 16-3-11

The Low Down:
Sri Lanka is not the sort of place that comes to mind when I think of stout beer. A traditionally heavy and full flavoured style of beer does not seem to match with the continental nature of Sri Lanka.

This looks like Narnia Beer. Aslan is on the label. It's a decadent chocolate mocha flavour, that's so so so smooth. If you tried to pass this off as a frappaccino, I would believe you.

The massive 8% alcohol is hardly noticeable. It smells like toffee, and drinks like it too. There is one spelling mistake on the bottle so I have to deduct a point for that, but in Sri Lanka, "hons" may actually mean hops.

More importantly, my girlfriend, who hates the taste of everything, had a sip of this and said she quite liked it, and it's a stout!

Packaging: 9/10
The Only reason this isn't 10 is the misspelling. Narnian beer!
Refreshment: 10/10
So so sooooo easy to drink, it goes down like a milkshake (which I secretly suspect it is).
Flavour 10/10:
Chocolate, Toffee, everything wonderful with stouts is so pronounced, and the alcohol is barely noticeable. The aftertaste is like golden syrup.
Alcohol Content: 9/10
8.0%. Though you would never guess from drinking it.
Price: 9/10
$4.50 This is amazing. It's the same as my 'on the way to work coffee' price.
Total: 47/50

Conclusion: 
Ice coffee in alcohol form. This is truly an amazing beer, and the fact that it comes from probably one of the hottest places on earth makes it doubly so. The bottle claims "an extraordinary chocolate mocha liquer like character" and I agree. Extra Ordinary is the way it should be described. Drink this with anything, it will work.
Cheers.

Zywiec Original Beer - Poland 16-3-11

The Low Down:
Brewed to an original recipe since 1856, this beer is steeped in Polish tradition. It has survived occupation by both the Russians and the Germans, and that's a pretty awesome feat for a brewery.

This is what I told myself right up until I opened the bottle. This beer has bitterness, to the point that it could be called a Zywiec bitter. There is a little fruity goodness, but the hops and bitter tang win through.

The bottle at first I didn't like, as it looks like a European childs toy from the 1800's, but it gains a great deal of respect as it has a sticker on the back that reads: "Refrigerate, wait until Zywiec logo appears, this indicates the ideal drinking temperature".

Science, in this case, is an adjective used to describe this bottle.

Packaging: 9/10
A scientifically advanced bottle that manages to mix with the traditional brewery style.
Refreshment: 6/10
Easy to drink, but not as easy as some due to the extra bitter flavour.
Flavour 6/10:
Bucket loads. Most of them a kind of hoppy bitterness, but tinges of summer fruits as well. oh and a little bit of a booze finish.
Alcohol Content: 7/10
5.6%. This is basically a lager, but you get quite a kick out of it.
Price: 7/10
$4.30. 500mls. In a science bottle, with a good drop of alcohol. A reasonable deal.
Total: 35/50

Conclusion:
A reasonably generic beer, but with a mild manor and a science bottle. A traditional Polish Easter breakfast comes to mind when drinking this beer: Cold-cuts served with horseradish sauce and beet salads, breads, scrambled eggs, smoked salmon, marinated vegetable salads and chocolate cake, amongst others. So drink it with breakfast on Easter Sunday.
Cheers.

Erdinger Kristall Weissbrau - Germany 15-3-11

The Low Down:
Picking a German beer is not something to do lightly. I put in a lot of research before selecting this 5.3% alcohol wheat beer from the Lederhosen home-land, and it comes highly recommended. I'm a fan of wheat beer to begin with, and this is no "mere mortal" Wheat beer.

I don't quite have "the city drinking Kristall", but I hope this recommendation persuades some of you to run out and grab a bottle of the Erdinger.

It's a slightly fruity, slightly dry, very wheaty beer. It's smooth and highly carbonated, so you can drink it really quickly, and it comes in 500ml bottles, so watch out or you may hurt yourself.

Packaging: 9/10
Silver and clean, with a very "medal award winning" style.
Refreshment: 9/10
As with any German heff, the high carbonation and smooth flavour means this goes down (a little too) easy.
Flavour 10/10:
Plenty of fruitiness, and a tiny bit of bitterness, with an almost breakfast cereal like finish.
Alcohol Content: 8/10
5.3%. Wheat beer is generally around this mark, but the 500ml bottle and how easy it is to drink, make it dangerous. Dangerously Awesome.
Price: 7/10
$5.99. Picked it up as a single at the cheapest bottle shop I know of. It's a little expensive, but it's German. So I guess that makes it the BMW of beers.
Total: 43/50

Conclusion:
Like all things German, this beer is brutally efficient. Its efficiency is in the area of getting you merry, while imbibing the best flavoured beer you possibly could. I'm just dying for a German sausage with pickles and mustard now, with that off the cards, this beer will match anything.
Cheers,

TsingTao beer - China 14-3-11

The Low Down:
I drank this every day in China. There it costs around 80 cents for a 750ml bottle. It tastes like water, a little fizzy and then a few hops on the end.

The Bottle is 500 colours, and there is some sort of reference number printed on the bottle lid. It's bottled for Australia, in their Qingdao province facility. You would think if they bottled it for Australia, they would know what we like.

Rainbow bottle aside, it really, really suits Chinese food. Sweet, sour, salty, or spicy. Anyway, the bottle in china is much more demure. While a little watery, it is an excellent beer.

Packaging: 4/10
Rainbow here, regular there. Unfortunate choices made by the bottling plant.
Refreshment: 10/10
An excellent light Asian beer. You can and will enjoy many.
Flavour 8/10:
Very soft and simple. It doesn't try too hard, but it succeeds anyway.
Alcohol Content: 6/10
4.7%. pretty standard.
Price: 8/10
$3.60. Outrageous considering what it costs in China, but that's Australian Duty's and Tariffs for you.
Total: 36/50

Conclusion:
Not the best of China, but easily in the top 10, and with one and a half Billion people, It's guaranteed to be available pretty much everywhere. So drink it with a spicy ginger stir-fry, you won't regret it.
Cheers.

Halida - Vietnam 14-3-11

The Low Down:
Vietnam is hot and sweaty, because of this, you need beer, this beer. The competitor, Bivina, doesn't even come close.

From the elegant gold flake on the bottle to the delicious Asian malt and signature bitterness inside. It tastes like Asia smells. Errr that's the rainforest and rice fields, not the motor oil and refuse.

Some may say a typical Asian beer, but it's an Asian beer done well, and I love Asian beers.

Packaging: 6/10
The first beer without a drop shadow on the bottle. Gold, white and red. Classy
Refreshment: 9/10
Refreshing in only the way Asian beers can be. Then again, in 35 degree 100% humidity, anything is refreshing.
Flavour 8/10:
Given all the refreshment, this beer wins at flavour. It's unique among Asian beers in this respect.
Alcohol Content: 6/10
4.5%. Quite weak, but you will need to drink billions of them, so that's not a bad thing.
Price: 8/10
$2.99. About what its worth. It's a reasonable price for a quality beer.
Total: 37/50

Conclusion:
A delightful Asian beer. It's even better in Asia, but is well matched to the Asian style of food, and perfect on any hot day.
Cheers.

Mythos Helenic Lager Beer - Greece 14-3-11

The Low Down:
Unlike anything remotely Greek I have ever encountered before, this beer was inoffensive and uninteresting. Greek food is interesting. Greek labourers are offensive. This beer is about as "down the middle" as could be.

Largerish, watery, a brief flavour of hops, a tiny bit of malt, and then some fizz to finish on. The name is the most impressive part. 

Not to say it's a bad beer, it is in fact a good beer. It's a safe beer as anyone could drink it. What I'm saying is, I think this beer is not adventurous in anyway.

Packaging: 6/10
The concept of Lord Zeus and the gods in a beer gains this beer some ground.
Refreshment: 6/10
Averagely refreshing and easy to drink.
Flavour 4/10:
There is little in the way of flavour. tastes like whats in the bottle.
Alcohol Content: 4/10
4.7%. Once again, quite average.
Price: 5/10
$3.60. Considering it's so generic, the price seems about what you would expect.
Total: 25/50

Conclusion:
A generic beer that had exactly 50% of the points I could award. surprising? Not really. This is a good beer for drinking when you feel the need to have something exactly down the middle. If you buy it for a group of friends, no one will hate it. But no-one will love it either.
Cheers.

Efes Pilsener - Turkey 14-3-11

The Low Down:
For a pilsner, this was suprisingly low on the hop count, reasonably sweet, with quite low carbonation.

Turkey is pretty much a giant dust storm from what I can tell from watching "From Russia with love." A sweet and mild lager would probably be just the ticket. Sunday was hot too, and I enjoyed this beer immensely.

While the pakaging looks like Foster's (The worst beer in the world), thankfully it doesnt taste anything like it. It's still going to lose some points on the likeness.

Packaging: 5/10
I Like it. It's simple and descriptive. But it looks like Foster's.
Refreshment: 9/10
A sweet and light dust bowl beer.
Flavour 6/10:
It doesn't have a strong flavour, but what is there is good.
Alcohol Content: 7/10
5.0%. a great represantation for a pilsner.
Price: 8/10
$2.50. the same price as the other drivel this week, but much better value.
Total: 35/5

The Conclusion:
Light and sweet and not too hopy, this beer is a good choice for the dry heat. Drink it in the desert, and it would probably go awesome with a kebab.
Cheers.

Quilmes Cristal Cerveza - Argentina 14-3-11

The Low Down:
It's Fizzy, oh god is it fizzy, and refreshing. The brown bottle lulled me into a lageresque sense of security, but this is a propper crisp and dry style beer.

Only the tinniest hint of malt and bitterness, the overwhelming flavour is an incredibly mild hop. The nice dry finish means it leaves you thirsty for more. Good thing I bought 6.

The packaging is lazy and the packaging matches the price, at 17 dollars for a 6 pack, $2.85 is the price it looks, not the price it tastes. 

Packaging: 4/10
Nothing to see here. except cristal WHAT IS THAT?
Refreshment: 8/10
Very very refreshing, like putting you face into a waterfall for exactly as long as a mouthfull lasts.
Flavour 6/10:
The Flavour is mild, but diverse.
Alcohol Content: 6/10
4.9%. Stronger than it tastes, and that's good enough.
Price: 8/10
$2.85. A Litte more than the other 6 packs I ordered this week. but worth it.
Total: 32/50

Conclusion:
A pretty good representation from Argentina. The name is weird, but the beer is tasty enough. I can vouch for the fact that it's delicious with chicken and roasti.
Cheers.

Estrella Damm - Spain 14-3-11

The Low Down:
A craving for tapas is the first thing that happpened when I cracked open the Estrella.

Once again an import for $2.50. Unfortuantely this one is worth less.

It tastes very lager-ish, and the maltiness is evident. I don't know if you can get different qualities of malt, but this one is evidently the clearnance bin special. Brewed with rice and corn, it seems like a messy combo of flavours, but its overall fairly sweet.

The tapas craving was mainly due to me wanting something to counteract the malt flavour, sadly all I had was some cardboard, and it was a pretty good match.

Packaging: 5/10
The Gold star rates it well, as does the blurb about it being the soul of barcelona.
Refreshment: 4/10
Definitely needs something refreshing alongside, like a different beer.
Flavour 4/10:
This is full of flavour, it's just not very good flavour.
Alcohol Content: 4/10
4.6%. Maybe a tonne more boozahol would have hidden the rest of the flavours.
Price: 6/10
$2.50. Sure its cheap, but it's not worth it.
Total: 23/50

Conclusion:
You are better served spending your money on any of the other ~$2.50 beers. Drink it when you are already drunk. Then it's quite servicable.
Cheers.

Dos Esquis XX lager Especial - Mexico 14-3-11

The Low Down:
This beer is Mexican, and a six pack for $14.99 means that it's about the same price as cheaper domestics.

Fairly bland and with limited flavour, it's quite crisp, and opening it up after having walked from the bottle shop a couple of kilometers to a friends place in 30 degree heat may have skewed my rating of refreshment a little.

It's a little malty and bitter. Apart from that a reasonably generic pale lager with some finishing notes of greenery.

Packaging: 5/10
Classy design, the 2 red X's also make it seem almost naughty.
Refreshment: 8/10
Crisp, icy and smooth, if served cold the bitterness doesn't even play into it.
Flavour 5/10:
A bit malty and a bit grassy, but nothing extraordinary.
Alcohol Content: 4/10
4.5%. A little low but the refreshment and crispness means you could drink this all day in the sun.
Price: 8/10
$2.50. Its cheap, and not particularly nasty.
Total: 30/50

Conclusion:
Neat and crisp, better than Corona, the Mexican beer that everyone knows, and better than some domestics, for around the same price. Drink it when it's ice cold, but the weather isn't.
Cheers.