Tusker Lager

This is now brewed under licence across the border by Tanzanian Breweries (SABMIller). Not sure if they have an exclusive contract but all the Tusker I saw in Kenya and Tanzania in Sep 2005 was brewed by Tanzanian Breweries. Surprising, as the brewers used to be arch rivals. Anyway, this is not a patch on the Tusker malt lager. It’s a typical sugary-corny African lager. Hello taste? Pale gold, thin head. Aroma of corn starch and sugar water. The palate is thin and fizzy. Flavourwise, it’s corn and sugar water, with a light metallic bite from TB’s piss-poor bittering hop.

Bottled. Pale yellow coloured with a white head. Aroma of malts and grain with bitter notes. Flavour of malts and grain with notes of hops and butter.

Very pale, clear yellow, but had a nice frothy white head that left a little lacing down the glass. Grassy and lightly malty aroma. Slightly malty and sweet taste. Something was a little off about it though. A decent pale lager from Kenya.

Bottled. Pours a light golden, with a thin white head. Aroma? no, not really. Taste is sweet corn, with some unpleasant sour notes. Not recomended.

I had to try this one again after the first bottle I tried tasted as though it had spent a month out in the African sun. Second sample was a little cleaner, thankfully, but I did say a little. Poured into a stein glass, clear pale yellow-gold body with a lot of very fine carbonation raising a huge, fluffy white head that rose a good inch out of the rim, remained for the length and left rings of foam down the sides as I drank. Obviously it was quite attractive in the glass, I just wish it had stayed there. Subtle peppery, grassy and sour hop nose, quite clean. Fell apart in the mouth though, lightly sweet, pasty and slick across the tongue, ultra-light bodied and in desperate need of flavour. Medium, ’tonic water’ carbonation moved it along with considerable ease and the finish was short and crisp with nothing left to remember it by. After half a pint a light grassy and sour hop note came through prior to the swallow, but it remained otherwise tasteless. Nothing was honestly too disagreeable about it and I would imagine it would be heaven in its homeland. Average. (50cL, Liquor Merchants Morley, Born on 01/06/05)

I must say I was totally shocked by this one. A very clean lager and very acceptable lager from Africa. Not much in the way of taste or excitement but that is preferable to lots of bad taste.

A nice light decent lager. Not really very hoppy, but still a nice light easy drinking beer. Light, fizzy, but no weak flavors. Acceptable.

Bottled sample. Very pale yellow in colour with high carbonation. Grainy cereal malt aromas, along with a note of wet grass. Flavors are not so good: creamed corn, canned peas, and a bit of apple juice with a bit of herbal hops in there somewhere. Very poor.