Tasting Notes: Guinness Black Lager

Guinness black lagerBrewery: Guinness
Location: Dublin, Rep. of Ireland
Style: Black lager
ABV: 4.5%
Version: Bottled

Guinness have had mixed success with experimenting on variations of their famous stout, with probably more misses than hits. With this new 4.5% Black Lager, currently undergoing a trial period in Northern Ireland and Malaysia, they are looking to attract the younger lager drinker to the brand, giving them the flavour without the heaviness. Priced at £1.25 for a 330ml bottle it’s at the lower price bracket for those of us used to paying premium prices for our beer, but to me it still seems a bit on the expensive side for the average lager drinker used to “stack-em-high” supermarket deals. The draught version likely competes better but I’ve not had a chance to sample that version of it yet. And other than write-ups in various newspapers, such as this good one on the Times Online website, there hasn’t exactly been a high profile marketing campaign (or maybe because I don’t read local newspapers or watch much local TV I just haven’t seen any of it).

So how does the product rate? Well, it’s a black lager so it is, unsurprisingly, black in colour with a lot of fizz, and very watery looking with no head. There’s very little aroma as well, some faint coffee and chocolate maltiness lingering in the background, but then the average lager drinker probably doesn’t pay any attention to such things. So not off to a good start so far, and to be honest, the taste is the disappointment I was expecting as well – not much to it, with a very thin and chewy texture, but not in a good way. It’s also very dry, which I could see putting off a lot of their target market. I’m struggling to find anything positive about this beer, it’s below average for a black lager, I see no reason for it’s existence and it fully deserves to go the way of previous failures. But that’s only my opinion, what do I know, it’ll probably go on to be a roaring success. Although a couple of reviewers over at Beer Advocate do seem to agree with me.le:

  • http://thebeernut.blogspot.com The Beer Nut

    Interesting. Despite Diageo being the epitome of brewing evil around these parts I’m all for the idea of a mainstream black lager and really want to like this. I’m in Belfast late next week so will hopefully get my hands on a review bottle then.

  • http://www.darrenturpin.me.uk Darren Turpin

    I suppose that’s the problem with the likes of Diageo though – they take an interesting concept like black lager and then rather than trying to do an authentic, taste-filled Czech version they just turn the bland up to 11 and homogenise it to death for the mass market.

  • http://www.beerreviews.co.uk andy mogg

    Interesting stuff, its good to see they are trying new things, shame that they are quite getting the right.

  • tom

    I really wanted to like this beer. First generation Irish on southside of Chicago, and we drink a ton of the Stout. It is heavy, and i was looking for an alternative to serve my Thanksgiving guests, so they would not be filled up.

    Just poured an ice cold bottle into a glass, and the head disappeared immediately. Smell and taste is acrid, with nothing lingering. I will take a Sam Adams Black Lager over this one, and that is not a great beer.

    Very disappointed, we just had a huge campaign for this beer on tv ads, and I was very excited to try it. Just texted all of my friends and told them to save their money. I’ll drink American domestics cheaper and enjoy them more. I think Guiness should stick with the stout, the best beer ever created, and leave the lower level stuff to the also rans.

  • http://www.darrenturpin.me.uk Darren Turpin

    Hi Tom -

    You know, I was completely with you there, right up until the “best beer ever created” bit… entirely fine for you to have and hold that opinion, of course, but I have to wonder how many other stouts you’ve tried? There are some absolutely excellent ones coming out of the US craft beer scene at the moment (as well as here in the UK and in Ireland as well) and most of them really do knock Guinness out cold (in my own opinion, anyhow…)

    Take a look at the stout section here on blogobeer – and that’s just a tiny selection of what’s available, obviously. Or check out Andy Crouch’s book Great American Craft Beer and see what he’s recommending.

    Like I said, if you want to stick with “Guinness = greatest beer ever” then that’s absolutely fine with me. I’d just hate to think of someone missing out on some of the incredible stouts and porters out there because they hadn’t tried a few different ones.

  • Muuurph

    Like Tom, I’m also a south side Chicago Irishman and wanted to like this beer more. It’s a lager, that’s probably part of the problem. I was hoping for a thicker, more satisfying brew. At least I was expecting something more interesting. The taste disappeared as as the liquid passed down my gullet. Disappointing all around.

    I have been drinking many craft brews as of late and this just doesn’t stand up. Speaking of stouts the Dogfish Head Chicory Stout is REALLY good. Now that’s flavor. If you like coffee and good beer, this one satisfies.

    Tom, if you’re looking for something other than Guiness Stout to serve your guest on Thanksgivng, I recommend Smithwicks. A good brew that’s not too heavy, and won’t cost you $10 a six pack like the craft brews.

  • http://www.darrenturpin.me.uk Darren Turpin

    Hi Muuurph – I’ve managed to get hold of a few from Dogfish Head over here (60 minute IPA, 90 minute IPA and their Brown Ale) and they’ve all been very good indeed. Not seen the Chicory Stout, but I’d love to try that one – I’ll have to keep my eyes open for it.

    We used to have Smithwick’s bitter in the UK, but I think they renamed it Kilkenny at some point. Unless I’m confusing the two, or it’s different brews from the same brewery or something. Think it’s still called Smithwicks over in Ireland, maybe.

  • Ed Ashby

    Either it’s been more of a success than I expected, or Guinness have decided to try pushing it a bit further afield. I still see it for sale here, and there was a run of very large billboard posters a few months back but the publicity does seem to have dropped off. And I saw no TV ads here either, but maybe they were crammed into the breaks between the soaps and reality TV shows, so there would be no chance at all of me seeing them then.

    I suspect that both Tom and Muuurph are much like ourselves, and not really part of the target market. I only drink Guinness in pubs here, as most of the time it’s the best of the limited range on offer (and that’s including bottled), but there’s just too much variety, and far superior tasting stuff, available in bottles for home consumption to bother with it any other time.

    Smithwicks and Kilkenny are different beers, like most Irish beer originally completely separate companies but now part of Diageo. Personally, I wouldn’t bother with either of them, stick with the Guinness. Or if Blackwater Brewery is available over there then I can certainly recommend checking them out.

Latest Comments

Recent Comments

Powered by Disqus

Subscribe for Updates

Facebook


Twitter Lists

I follow over 2,500 beer-themed Twitter accounts via @FolkAle and have organised many of them into lists:

If you run a beer-relevant Twitter account and would like to be listed, please follow me at @FolkAle and I’ll take a look.