Kingfisher Premium Lager
By John & Dad on February 22, 2011 @ 6 PM (1 Comment)
Kingfish is the well-known nickname for Huey P. Long, former Louisiana governor and senator. It has absolutely nothing to do with this review other than for us to say that maybe there’s some deep-rooted psychological sentimental attachment to the beer name we’re reviewing. See, we’re both from Louisiana, and we can tell you that everyone from Louisiana both loves and hates the wild state government history. Corruption, scandal, salaciousness, it’s got it all. Huey Long embodied all these qualities as well as any other governor (no slight to you in your jail cell Edwin Edwards), so though we’re supposed to hate him we all kind of love him. A guy you love to hate type thing. Like Bill Belichick. Or Alex Trebek.
Anyway, today we’re reviewing the Kingfisher Premium Lager that comes to us from the United Breweries Group in Bangalore, India. They say on their own web site they are the world’s no. 3 spirits company and we tend to believe them because their chairman looks a bit like The Most Interesting Man in the World. Kingfisher is reported to be the no. 1 selling Indian lager in the entire universe and is also reported to be the best selling lager in India.
Kingfisher comes in a green 12 oz bottle with an ABV of 4.8%. For our review we used a standard British pint glass and got a starting beer temperature of 41.4 F.
Our initial pour gave us an average 1 1/4″ fizzy white head that left no head lacing as it dissipated quickly. There’s a soft amount of carbonation and it’s a perfect yellow color and completely clear – no haze in this glass.
For our aromas we pulled out a generic grain, light honey, corn, light floral, light lemon and a hint of popcorn.
For our initial flavor we got a moderate sweet and for our finish flavors we got a light sweet and a very light bitter. For our tastes we got only light grain and honey – that’s pretty much it. Honey is the main taste, and though simple the taste is much better than the smell – there’s a surprising amount of sweetness in the taste we weren’t expecting.
The finish length is short, the mouthfeel is oily, the tongue hit is in the middle and there’s really no body lacing to speak of. On our patented malt to hop scale it comes in 2 clicks to the left of balanced on the malty side.
For our bottom line notes we got a yes to drinkable, repeatable, balance, memorable and buy again. Our only no’s were for harmony and wow factor.
Is it a simple beer? Yes. Most pale lagers are. But there’s more to it than that. Compared to an American pale lager (think Bud, Coors, Miller) it isn’t dominated by a watery mouthfeel and taste. It’s more yeasty and malty with a really nice sweetness to it. The sweetness in it could work well with the curry in Indian food or even Tex Mex style Mexican food.
For a lager, as it warms, it keeps it’s chops about it without nastying out. We actually wouldn’t mind a few more of these. It could be a good change of pace beer, especially for us as we don’t do many lagers. Though it’s in a green bottle there’s no skunkiness and no soapiness to it.
Overall Kingfisher is just a nice lager with not much hoppiness – and The BeerFathers approve. At this point, we’re actually prepared to say this is our favorite pale lager.
Please be aware that if you purchased Kingfisher Premium Lager in the US, it was probably brewed by Mendocino Brewing Company in California or at Olde Saratoga Brewing Company (a subsidiary of Mendocino Brewing Company) in Saratoga Springs, NY. Mendocino Brewing produces Kingfisher Premium Lager as a client brew for the United Breweries Group (UBG). I suspect that you did not have a truly imported brew from India, unless an imported recipe is good enough for you.
Please spread the word. Most U.S. blogs and beer raters seem to be unaware that Kingfisher Premium Lager is a client brew of Mendocino Brewing Company in the US. Look on the bottle, it will tell you where it was brewed.
Thanks,
Dick