Unbelieveable. A nice Lion beer.
In fact , it’s worse than that, it’s actually a really good beer.
Launched several years ago (remember the stupid ad campaign with the black clad idiots demanding the return of their Saaz hops?) Yeah, well I hadn’t tried it even once since then. Recently, I was in a slightly foreign to me supermarket, with a different layout to the beer fridge, and I grabbed a sixer of Pils, just because. Bloody good luck, as it turns out.
Quite a tall brown glass bottle (330ml, 4%ABV), with a simple silver, orange & dark blue label.
Pours nice, deep fairly dark (for a Lager) amber, substantial head.
Clean hoppy scent.
Malty, clean and smooth in the mouth. Strange on the malt, actually, as it’s malty but cool tasting (I enjoy the ‘warmth’ usually found with maltiness), must be those mystical saaz hops, huh? (It’s fun to play along with the marketing puffery sometimes, you know.)
Interesting aftertaste, quite fruity, maybe a subtle hint of crisp Apple.
Whatever you do, don’t drink this one too cold, you’ll mask the subtle flavours, and that’d be a damn shame, as this is probably the best Lion badged beer on the market today. Indeed, it’s quite possibly the best big brand New Zealand Lager.
Cheers.