Carlsberg Lager

Brewed by Carlsberg Brewery
Style: Pale Lager
Copenhagen, Denmark

[Re-rated as a head-to-head comparison between the Danish version 4.6% ABV - which must be the original and the Brittish version called Carlsberg Export at 5.0% ABV - according to Oakes the same beer] The color is the same - though maybe the English version is slightly darker yellow. The head is clearly more dense in the English version and therefore longer lasting. The aroma of the Danish version is slightly sour and grainy - where the English version is more clean grainy. The flavor is standard pilsener in both of them, though the English version again comes out cleaner and with more power. I definatly go with the English version if this was the only two beers I could choose from - but they are close, so Oakes could be right. I just don't always get the some beers exist in different versions and others don't. [Original rating] A standard pilsener as all the big brewing groups brew them. Nothing that will upset anybody - and therefore nothing that will thrill you.

(Bottle 33 cl) Danish version: pale golden with an almost absent head. Subdued late bitterness. Not bad just very plain.
4/2/5/2/8=2,1 310899

(Bottle 33 cl) Thai version: Nice hoppy nose and very hop-aromatic all the way through to the finish. Quite pleasant and seems more sophisticated than the standard Danish version - or I’m just influenced by the white thai beaches...
5/3/5/2/10=2,5 121103

(Bottle 33 cl) UK version: I thought this would only be a slightly modified version from the standard Danish version, but instead I find an incredibly flowery smelling beer. The excellent hops remain in focus all the way through to the palate leaving also a pronounced bitterness. Fully golden with a decent head. A very nice surprise.
6/3/6/3/12=3 120404

(Bottle 33 cl) Portuguese version brewed by Unicer. Pilsener golden, small white head. Lovely floral nose. Lightly sweet malt and a very discreet bitterness. Pleasant alright - a beer that won’t offend anyone. Comes in a special Euro 2004 (European soccer championship) bottle with a football cast into the bottle.
5/3/4/2/10=2,4 100705

RB #1000, clearly a personal RB milestone. And this beer deserves to be amongst the first 1000 and it deserves this exact spot. Why? Well H.C. Andersen said "Herfra min verden går" (From here my world endeavours). This holds true for this exact beer and my beerworld as well. In the lack of diversity one "learns" to adapt and accept a beer like this as "what beer is". This isn’t bad, just the way Carlsberg over the years have excerted their attitude towards the Danish beerscene has been bad, they have improved. Their people are all talented brewers, they just happen to work in a company that has to sell in big quantities to sustain in a global market - therefore it becomes mainstream. But on a warm summerday this beer does exactly what it should and the product they produce is ALWAYS the same - fact. If one likes it or not is a point of opinion and not a question about fact.

Therefore this is my rating 1000, 999 beers before this that all have been one big adventure thanks to a lot of nice people and hopefully many more beers and nice ratebeerians to come. CHEERS!

Darn, I guess I have to rate the bloody beer:

33 cL can. Pours golden yellow with a huge chalk white and creamy head disappearing within the first 30 seconds but leaving some lacing. Corn and malty slight sweet aroma. Corn sweet flavoured. Mild bitterness into the finish. Straight forward lager. Solid

Yellow fizzy adjunct lager. Sweet and bland this is a well below average industrial lager. I have no idea why the canned and bottled version are listed separately.

Bottle. Golden color with small white head. A little taste of hops. Boring Danish pilsner.

Bottled. Golden colour, big white bubbly head. Fruity aroma with hints of hoppy bitterness. Sweet fruity taste with a bit bitterness in the finish. Carbonation tickles your tongue a bit too much.

Bottle, 4.6%. Golden colour, small unstable white head. Grainy aroma, hint of green apple. The flavour is also grainy and has a strange bitterness. A quite ordinary pale lager.

Bottled. Clear yellow coloured with a white head. Aroma of malts and corn. Flavour of malts, corn and hops.