Brewery: Budweiser Budvar
Location: CeskÈ Budejovice, Czech Republic
ABV: 4.7%
Version: Bottled
Source: Tesco

I’ve encountered a fair few tasty dark lagers in the past twelve months or so and have come to the conclusion that I’m a big fan of the style. So when I spotted Budweiser Budvar Dark on the shelf in Tesco a couple of weeks back, I had no hesitation in grabbing a couple for the trolley, and I cracked the first one open last night.

Budvar Dark pours a very dark, almost opaque brown-black with a thin tan head and a slight effervescence; definitely not a ‘fizzy’ lager, this one. Flavour-wise it provides plenty of coffee cut through with a slight toffee sweetness and it was very reminiscent of some of the coffee porters I’ve tried. Not quite as dense and heavy as a coffee stout, perhaps and with that slight vegetable-tang that I’m starting to associate with good quality lagers (I’m sure it’s something to do with the lager malts or the particular hops employed, but my knowledge isn’t up to scratch in that department yet).

All in all, a very tasty dark beer indeed and a good example of the style, I reckon; Budvar Dark certainly held its own in comparison to the BrewDog Zeitgeist that I had immediately afterwards for research purposes and it’s one that I wouldn’t hesitate to try on draught, should the opportunity arise.

There’s some info on Budweiserbudvar.co.uk about the origins of the beer and the brewery’s ambitions for the style:

Budweiser Budvar Dark is a retro-beer. This is because it has been designed to come as close as possible to how all Bohemian and Bavarian lagers tasted before bottom fermented golden lager stole the show in the mid nineteenth century. Now, thanks to Budweiser Budvar, the Darkside is moving centre stage again.

And on the strength of this tasting, I certainly hope that turns out to be the case.

Our local (Prestwich, Manchester) branch of Tesco has scored poor to middling for its bottled real ale section for some time, but I usually stroll down the appropriate aisle on the optimistic, but usually-disappointed, off-chance that they’ve managed to stock something interesting for a change.

So I was pleasantly surprised yesterday when I wandered on by and discovered a scattering of ‘NEW!’ shelf-tags in the section. Pick of the bunch had to be two from Flying Dog, not only their pack-leading Classic Pale Ale but also one of their speciality brews: Gonzo Imperial Porter. At 8.7% I’m betting that one packs something of a wallop and I’m looking forward to trying it (£2.49 a bottle, by the way, and I think it was £1.69 for the Classic Pale).

I also picked up a bottle of Budweiser Budvar Dark Lager, on the grounds that there’s always room for another Czech dark lager in the beer cupboard. And then, crossing the aisle to the UK real ale in a bottle section, I spotted a few that were new to Tesco but that I’d either already sampled or seen in Sainsburys. Although the, up in the top-right corner, I spotted a few bottles of Morrissey Fox Brunette, so I grabbed one of those for sampling as well. The beer cupboard is once again full to over-flowing and there’s another consignment on the way from BrewDog as well. I know, I know, I really need to drink more…

But yeah, anyway, head on down to your local Tesco – you might be able to pick up something new and interesting. And speaking of supermarkets, have Sainsbury’s cancelled this year’s real ale competition / promotion or something? Not a sniff of it in our local branch, and I haven’t heard anything about it on my regular-read blogs, either. Anyone know what happened there?

In a fit of what appears to be sheer optimism (judging by the forecast for the weekend, at least), The Independent ran an article on Monday that featured Roger Protz’s ‘Ten Best Summer Beers’:

• Adnams East Green
• Fuller’s Organic Honey Dew
• Meantime IPA
• Shepherd Neame Whitstable Bay
• Budweiser Budvar
• Duvel
• St Austell Clouded Yellow
• Young’s Kew Gold
• Brakspear Oxford Gold
• Goose Island IPA

I posted tasting notes on the Adnams East Green yesterday and the Kew Gold back at the end of June. I’ve got the Fuller’s Organic Honey Dew lined up next. Tried the Whitstable Bay and Oxford Gold a while back, but I’d need to re-visit before I could comment.

As for the others: Budvar is one of the better-flavoured commercial lagers out there, the Meantime IPA is on sale in our local Tesco’s and Duvel is available pretty much anywhere, so shouldn’t be too hard to track down. The Clouded Yellow I can’t drink (it’s a wheat beer and I have an Intolerance, or an allergy, or something – whatever, wheat is evil and makes me feel like crap after consuming it) and Goose Island is apparently only available in cases of 24 from T’Internets. Hmm.