After drinking more and more craft lagers, I am still left with the question, how different can these beers really be? And is craft lager beer not just a “scam” of some sorts? Not in the sense that the brewery wants to scam us beer drinkers, but that these beers are a quick cash grab of people who are fed up with commercial beer. But for me personally, my drunk opinion, is that most of these beers are just capitalising on a market that is fed up with commercial beers and are seeking something different. Not because they want to drink a different beer, challenging their preconceived notions of what a beer is and can be, but because these beers conform to what they want a beer to be.

Nonetheless, the market is flooded with these products, these lager beers, and I really wanted to taste most of these beers, because I am/was curious, but also because I wanted them to challenge my notion of what a lager is and can be. And some of them really did this, some of them were totally different, which kept the spark alight in me to buy more and more craft lagers. But in the end, I am still left with this burning question of how different these beers are really from the commercial ones.

For this #BeerSaturday post, I reviewed and drank Striped Horse Lager, Old Harbour Lager, and Buffelsfontein Lager beers. Without further ado, let me continue to the beer review! (P.S., the last beer contains some funny and humorous quotes which I will translate and explain!)

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Striped Horse’s Lager

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Lager | 5% ABV | ?? IBUs

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The beer did not have much on the nose immediately, but this can be expected from a cold lager (in my subjective experience). I did smell the pizza I paired these beers with! And that might have been the problem…

The first taste had a slight malt taste, and it was well carbonated. It was a classic lager, which did not really go beyond or push any boundaries to the style as brewed by the commercial beers. I am sure if I had to do a blind tasting, I would not taste much difference. (This is more of a critique against myself than a critique against the beer.)

In the end, it was a good beer, with a good price point, challenging the commercial beer a bit.

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Old Harbour Beer’s Old Harbour Lager

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Lager | 4.5% ABV | ?? IBUs

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This is a beer that is heavily promoted and advertised throughout the town of Hermanus. From the golf course, to the most obscure restaurants you will find this beer on either tap or in bottles. For good reason, it is a tremendously good beer!

The first smell had a slight malty note, but not too strong. It was a bit sweet as well. But nothing much beyond that.

The first taste was good, refreshing, malty, and with good and balanced bitterness. But again, nothing that really pushes the boundaries or anything.

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Buffelsfontein’s Lager

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Lager | 4% ABV | ?? IBUs

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This is a rather strange beer. I am not sure one can really label it as craft in the sense of craft. Craft being small brewery that honours the craft of brewing beer. But this beer and brewery is rather a marketing scheme, one that targets a specific demographic. Which in my opinion is a bit counter craft beer tradition. It is not about the beer but rather about the beer drinker, the image you want to portray.

Nonetheless, it is a craft beer in the sense that it is a very small beer and brewery, and it is somewhat humorous! More on that later.

Just as was the case with the previous two beers, it was well balanced in terms of malt and bitterness. It was very refreshing, and it was a good beer. I could see myself drinking this, if the market was not this flooded and on the price point, I would rather drink another beer.

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On the more humorous side, the beer has some interesting things to offer. The specific demographic it wants to cater to is young males in South Africa, but this is somewhat problematic. One might hint at fragile masculinity at this point…

The first joke is on the neck of the bottle. There is line that says translated that, “No lips should go beyond this line, it makes people uncomfortable.” One might already see what they are indicating here.

The second “joke”, if you can call it that, is that, “This beer will never be mad at you when you look at the curves of other beers. It won’t become mean when you walk into the home late after a night out, and it won’t mind if you crack a dirty joke in front of the in laws. […] This beer loves that you have a beer belly, and it would love if you arrived at home with a newly bought gun in place of bread and milk. […] So treat yourself.”

I am sure you can see what I mean with the marketing and the targeted audience.

Postscriptum, or What Should We Drink, Then?

In the end, we drink the beers that we want and the ones we like. And this is what beers should. It should not be about politics or anything like this. But beers should also challenge us, especially craft beers that are different. But this is a rant for another day.

I hope that you enjoyed your #BeerSaturday.

For now, happy drinking!

All of the musings are my own, albeit inspired by the beers I drank. The photographs are my own, taken with my Nikon D300.