Kronenbourg Premier Cru
I have some considerable experience (if not expertise) in the field of alcoholic beverages, and couldn’t help but be intrigued by the arrival in my local Safeway of Kronenbourg Premier Cru. Premier Cru comes packaged in a classy blue 500ml bottle (called the ‘eiffel’ I believe, in some kind of attempt to evoke France. Premier Cru claims to be brewed in Strasbourg but as it belongs to the portfolio of Scottish & Newcastle Breweries it’s difficult to be sure where it originated) and does stand out in the fridge next to other bottled premium lagers (look for it between those huge 660ml bottles of standard Krony, or those terrifying 1l vats of filthy Budweiser).
I was initially intimidated by the prominent sentence fragment ‘6% vol’, knowing full-well the damage that can be inflicted on the social skills and balance by 5.2% Stella ‘Wife Beater’ Artois or 5.7% San Miguel, but curiosity finally got the better of this cat and I gingerly bought a single bottle.
First impressions were quite positive. The beer is smooth and well-rounded with a hoppy flavour and clean finish. But… the problems begin after a few mouthfuls have already been dispatched. Eventually, and possibly inevitably in a 6% lager, a faint flavour of what can only be termed Special Brew creeps into the mix. I found this quite interesting as it’s not something I’ve ever encountered (er… that I remember) with San Miguel, so it could well be that the sensible upper limit for alcohol strength in a lager falls somewhere in that 5.7% – 6% region (although some of the crazily strong Belgian numbers are actually OK in small doses even up in double figures).
It’s an interesting beer and worth a try if you fancy just one or two at home after work one evening. But do yourself a favour and buy a couple of 330ml bottles of Nastro Azzurro or imported Stella as well.
16th December
2003