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Beer has an interesting way of testing boundaries. In the sense that you go into tasting them, sometimes expecting or anticipating a certain taste, and then if it does not taste like what you thought it would taste like (in a good way) you are blown away or left disappointed. But when a beer tastes exactly like what you expected it to taste, you are also somewhat left disappointed. At least I am. Or when I buy a beer I have not yet tasted, and it tastes like all the other beers on the market, then I am doubly disappointed.

The only way to find out if a beer is your next favorite is to taste it...

So, what can you do but to taste them all? It is impossible to taste every beer on the market as there are just too many different ones. But you can try.

And after tasting 10 craft lagers already, and 4 more in this post, I can say that there is so little variance from beer to beer that it does not really matter what you drink. Maybe my taste buds had gotten so used to the beers that everything started tasting the same, but I am not sure that is 100% the case.

Nonetheless, craft breweries, brewing on smaller scale and having more a touch for the craft of brewing beer, always brews better beers than commercial breweries. But on price point, craft lagers does not make sense to me. Similar beers, brewed by commercial breweries, are half the price, and only minimal taste differences exist. In my small journey of craft lagers, only two beers really stood out as radically different, one from Saggy Stone Breweries, and one from an international craft brewery from Germany, see the beer I reviewed at the end of this post, or the 15th craft lager in this small series.

Without losing too much track, let me share with you my tasting notes of these 5 beers!

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Boston Breweries: Naked Mexican

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Lager | 4.5 % ABV | ?? IBUs

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I cannot remember when last I saw this beer in the store. For a long time, my brother always drank this beer. And then for 5-8 years, I have not seen this in the store. When I saw it, I immediately bought it.

As I opened this beer, I was struck by the lovely malty aroma. It was close to that mash tun smell every homebrewer knows about.

The first taste confirms this malty notes. But there is a slight and pleasurable bitterness in the back of my throat. I really savoured that first taste, as it was close to other very malty beers that is so often pushed to the side in the South African market.

The smell did not warn me how bitter the beer would be though, a pleasant surprise. It was a great reminder of what beers we drank when we grew up!

Funny thing, with the new iterations of their beers, all of the beers are labelled with "GLUTEN OUT", as they started added some enzymes in their beers to get all of the gluten out. So, these beers can be drunk by people who cannot drink normal beer.

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Boston Breweries: Premium Lager

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Lager | 4% ABV | ?? IBUs

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As I opened the bottle, I got a very strong yeasty smell which almost instantly went away. The malt and bitterness from the hops on my nose quickly arrived after the first smell.

My first taste was nice and hoppy, totally different to the malt strong Naked Mexican above. However, it was still balanced with that classic lager maltiness.

As I drank the beer, there was a slight acidic taste, which actually worked for this beer. This made this beer a bit different to the other craft lagers. It was a very good beer!

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Jack Black Brewing Co.: Brewers Lager

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Lager | 5% ABV | 22 IBUs

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Jack Black Brewing Co. is one of my favorite beers. They brew some of the best, and some of the ones I grew up with.

But I have never really liked their lager. It is too similar to normal commercial beers. And for the price point, I am not sure if I will really ever buy this beer. Not because it is a bad beer, in fact, it is a delicious beer! But it is more than double the price of any other lager.

The first smell was subtle, but it smelled like most of the lagers out there. Nothing new, nothing pushing the boundaries.

Taste was the same. Nothing special. From a brewery brewing some of the best ales in my opinion, it is sad to see them not push the boundaries a bit, especially on this price point.

But I really enjoyed it, contrary to all that I wrote. I would drink this every time I braai (BBQ) some food, or while the fire is going.

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Cape Collective: Lager

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| % ABV | IBUs

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I have been looking for this beer for a while now. I had their session IPA and it was very good, so I had high hopes for this beer.

The first smell was beautiful, it smelled like a bakery with freshly baked breads coming out of the oven. It really had a delicious toasted malt smell.

The taste was the same, and I was not disappointed in the least. The taste reminded me of the crust of bread, when it is baked a bit darker than the rest. It was such a pleasant first taste, I wanted more! There was a bit of bitterness to balance everything out.

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Stangen: IPL (India Pale Lager)

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India Pale Lager | 5% ABV | ?? IBUs

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This beer was a bit of a wildcard, as it was not a straight up lager, being a IPL, nor was it from South Africa, being a German Craft export beer. I have seen it in stores for a while, and it tickled my fancy a bit...

The first smell was overwhelmingly malty, rather odd for a IPL in my expectation of it. It was also a bit sweet and with a balance of bitterness from hops.

I was in love with the first taste. If all lagers could taste like this! It was a strange combination of extreme malt (tasting like the smell of the mash tun) with the hops of a generic IPA coming through as well - that classic fruity citrusy and piney hops.

I have never had such a lager from any South African brewery yet...

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Postscriptum, or Farewell for the Craft Lagers

My dad and I really appreciate a lager beer when we light the fire. And having now tasted so many of these craft lagers, I cannot get it over my soul to pay so much for them when they taste so similar to the commercial ones. I would much rather spend a bit more to buy ales and stouts from the craft breweries.

But I am way too biased in this opinion, because I grew up drinking Black Lable, one of the biggest commercial beers in South Africa, and because I generally don't drink lagers any longer!

So, take everything I have written with a grain of salt.

In any case, happy drinking for #BeerSaturday, and keep well!

All of the musings and writings, opinions and drunken words, are my own and I am not paid to write anything. All of the photographs are my own, taken with my Nikon D300.