There's a misconception that people who enjoy real ales and craft beers consider lager to be the devil's juice and wouldn't touch it with a 10 foot barge pole. But I'll let you into a secret... ale drinkers will drink any old garbage, poor lager included. But they'll also appreciate a good lager. Time to reassess?
I'll let you into another secret, one that many UK real ale drinkers would deny to their graves... there's just as much shit ale as shit lager.
But these are old arguments and to most those times have changed (though not to all). Beer is now thankfully just beer, the good and the bad; the stuff you like and the stuff you don't and style is just another consideration rather than the front-line of a battle.
And let's face it, in a country as hot as Malaysia, lager is by far the most refreshing style of beer to start off with. It's almost a necessity.
There is a pink elephant in the room, however, and it's simply that many of the most famous and popular brands of lager and pilsner are as insipid and devoid of taste as the old-school, real-ale drinkers would have you believe. I still wonder how one such lager available over here manages to take water as a starting point, add some lovely ingredients and somehow manage to end up a drink less flavourful than the original water had been. It must take real effort to do that.
Thankfully there are increasing numbers of good pilsners and lagers available from both commercial and craft brewers. Strangely, Stella Artois is amongst them.
Why strangely? Well, as a younger man I was not a big fan of Stella. During the late 80s and early 90s it was amongst a wave of beers selling themselves in the UK as Premium Continental Lagers, some new to the market, others reinvented versions of beers that had been around in the UK for years. A younger generation of pub goers lapped them up.
Up until then lagers in the UK were just a evil as the ale drinkers said they were. Low in both alcohol and taste and often badly served, figuratively and literally, by landlords who didn't think much of them.
Lager, it must be said, wasn't to blame for this state of affairs. The style had flourished on the continent for decades as the beers we know today, but back then they were deemed too strong for rather staid post-war tastes in the UK and so were often brewed specifically low at 3.5 to 4.2% abv. Most of them were awful.
Add in that chilled taps and even fridges weren't commonplace in pubs till the 80s in many cases and the fact that strong drinks were thought a bad choice for long lazy session drinking anyway, and what you ended up with was a weak and warm beverage that no one wanted to drink.
But through the 80s, helped by a marketing resurgence that gave us some of the best remembered TV ads of the time, lager finally took hold in the public conscience. It was served at the correct temperature, people stopped putting lime cordial in it and it very quickly started to outsell real ales by huge numbers.
Finally the time was right for the UK to get a taste of lager the way it was supposed to be and swiftly the 3.8% beers were replaced by 5% beers and everyone was drinking "Premium Continental Lager Beer" by the bucketful. The problem was, all the pretty average lager got lumped in with all the decent stuff in the rush to jump on the Premium bandwagon and often the new stronger versions were no more tasty than the low alcohol versions had been previously. (Higher volume is no guarantee of quality, kids).
Stella Artois managed to negotiate most of the "lager bad - lager good" chaos as a late entrant into the UK market, quietly doing its thing under the radar after arriving from Belgium in 1976 until the time was right for its ascent. 10 years later and with a push from a suitably sassy advertising campaign, Stella was heading to the top of the best-sellers league. By the early 90s it was the UK's favourite premium lager and even earned an ill-deserved reputation as a drink that caused domestic violence. Utter nonsense of course. That copious amounts of alcohol imbued by the weak of stomach and weak of will can end up with abuse is a sad truism across the globe. Stella just happened to be the most popular beer so got lumped with an inappropriate nickname.
All of which is in stark contrast to the brand culture they were aiming for. "Stella Artois, Reassuringly Expensive" the ads told you, with the words Premium Continental Lager Beer embossed on the label. "Wifebeater" the tabloids replied, unfairly.
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But these are old arguments and to most those times have changed (though not to all). Beer is now thankfully just beer, the good and the bad; the stuff you like and the stuff you don't and style is just another consideration rather than the front-line of a battle.
And let's face it, in a country as hot as Malaysia, lager is by far the most refreshing style of beer to start off with. It's almost a necessity.
There is a pink elephant in the room, however, and it's simply that many of the most famous and popular brands of lager and pilsner are as insipid and devoid of taste as the old-school, real-ale drinkers would have you believe. I still wonder how one such lager available over here manages to take water as a starting point, add some lovely ingredients and somehow manage to end up a drink less flavourful than the original water had been. It must take real effort to do that.
Thankfully there are increasing numbers of good pilsners and lagers available from both commercial and craft brewers. Strangely, Stella Artois is amongst them.
Why strangely? Well, as a younger man I was not a big fan of Stella. During the late 80s and early 90s it was amongst a wave of beers selling themselves in the UK as Premium Continental Lagers, some new to the market, others reinvented versions of beers that had been around in the UK for years. A younger generation of pub goers lapped them up.
Up until then lagers in the UK were just a evil as the ale drinkers said they were. Low in both alcohol and taste and often badly served, figuratively and literally, by landlords who didn't think much of them.
Lager, it must be said, wasn't to blame for this state of affairs. The style had flourished on the continent for decades as the beers we know today, but back then they were deemed too strong for rather staid post-war tastes in the UK and so were often brewed specifically low at 3.5 to 4.2% abv. Most of them were awful.
Add in that chilled taps and even fridges weren't commonplace in pubs till the 80s in many cases and the fact that strong drinks were thought a bad choice for long lazy session drinking anyway, and what you ended up with was a weak and warm beverage that no one wanted to drink.
But through the 80s, helped by a marketing resurgence that gave us some of the best remembered TV ads of the time, lager finally took hold in the public conscience. It was served at the correct temperature, people stopped putting lime cordial in it and it very quickly started to outsell real ales by huge numbers.
 |
Finally the time was right for the UK to get a taste of lager the way it was supposed to be and swiftly the 3.8% beers were replaced by 5% beers and everyone was drinking "Premium Continental Lager Beer" by the bucketful. The problem was, all the pretty average lager got lumped in with all the decent stuff in the rush to jump on the Premium bandwagon and often the new stronger versions were no more tasty than the low alcohol versions had been previously. (Higher volume is no guarantee of quality, kids).
Stella Artois managed to negotiate most of the "lager bad - lager good" chaos as a late entrant into the UK market, quietly doing its thing under the radar after arriving from Belgium in 1976 until the time was right for its ascent. 10 years later and with a push from a suitably sassy advertising campaign, Stella was heading to the top of the best-sellers league. By the early 90s it was the UK's favourite premium lager and even earned an ill-deserved reputation as a drink that caused domestic violence. Utter nonsense of course. That copious amounts of alcohol imbued by the weak of stomach and weak of will can end up with abuse is a sad truism across the globe. Stella just happened to be the most popular beer so got lumped with an inappropriate nickname.
All of which is in stark contrast to the brand culture they were aiming for. "Stella Artois, Reassuringly Expensive" the ads told you, with the words Premium Continental Lager Beer embossed on the label. "Wifebeater" the tabloids replied, unfairly.
Stella Artois are still trying to be elegant in their advertising to this day and are currently refusing to use the word glass when chalice is more appropriate. But as you can see, some typical North East frankness shows the results are as hit and miss as ever.
During that mad Premium Lager gold-rush, on the occasions I did drink lager I tended to go for Kronenbourg 1664 instead, which I found a much more satisfying beer. Which is why it's strange that I now consider Stella in a much more favourable light. Perhaps my tastes have changed, or perhaps it's just that for many years Malaysia was starved of choice when it came to decent lager? Either way, I do savour it more than I used to on the occasions I have it.
Stella Artois is a Belgian Pale lager; light with subtle hop, malt and citrus notes, but well balanced at 5% abv. It's a crisp and refreshing drink on a hot day and a great alternative to the commercial lagers more commonly found in Malaysia.
You can find it increasingly in most of the large supermarket chains. It's more difficult to find on tap, but is usually available at Brussels Beer cafe outlets.
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Stella Artois is a Belgian Pale lager; light with subtle hop, malt and citrus notes, but well balanced at 5% abv. It's a crisp and refreshing drink on a hot day and a great alternative to the commercial lagers more commonly found in Malaysia.
You can find it increasingly in most of the large supermarket chains. It's more difficult to find on tap, but is usually available at Brussels Beer cafe outlets.
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