This. Is. Pretty. Good.

So last week I posted a blog about the fact that I had a pint of Brewdog This. Is. Lager, a beer that I like, after having two pints of Pilsner Urquell thus rendering BD TIL pretty shit.

See, Brewdog and I, we’ve had our differences in the past but they were pretty cool about it and offered to send me a few bottles which was awfully nice of them!

A couple of days later, before the bottles arrived, I had a spare hour or so on my hands so I decided to pop into The Bell Hotel Wetherspoons in Norwich and have a pint on an untainted palate, and it was the beer I remember having pre-Urquell. It was great – it had that solid biscuity malt backbone, that hop bite and a crisp and clean refreshing finish. Somehow it was warming, even on a cold evening.

I loved it!

Then, last Thursday, three bottles arrived at my house. Sadly I was suffering from a really horrific cold so I couldn’t crack one open there and then, I shoved them in the fridge and decided to come back to them when I was feeling good again (hell, I wasn’t even home anyway as I was at Emily’s).

So the other night I had a couple of hours spare at home before making the journey back to Gorleston and thought I’d open a bottle.

Sidenote: To me, lager is drunk in pints in the pub or straight from the bottle/can at home. I don’t care if it’s a ‘craft’ product… in my mind a lager is for that purpose. No fuss, no overthinking, just to be enjoyed.

So there I was, sitting in front of my computer with a cold bottle straight out of the fridge, that has come to me straight from the brewery and I crack it open.

I take a sip and instantly I want to be at a BBQ in the summer… it’s just so nice and refreshing as it’s got bitterness and subtle citrus flavours as well as a nice maltiness and it’s so well rounded.

It’s a pretty good beer, I have to say, and to be honest I think I prefer it bottled to keg which is an incredibly rare thing to happen.

What I’d like to see, however, is This. Is. Lager in cans because they’ll be easier for me to take to friends houses or the beach in summer.

Alongside Punk IPA, 5am Red Ale, Dead Pony Pale Ale & Brixton Porter, Brewdog currently have a very strong core – or headliner – range right now and I’d also like mixed packs of all of them to be readily available in shops, but until then I’ll mostly be drinking six packs of Dead Pony in Majestic.

Cheers,

Nate

Disclaimer: I have had many free pints of Brewdog This. Is. Lager at Wetherspoons courtesy of Eddie Gershon PR sending me a bunch of vouchers to write about the new beers. Also, as I mentioned, I didn’t pay for the bottles I received because I’m a jammy bastard. I also borrowed the bottle image from here: http://www.brewdog.com/blog-article/this-is-lager