Deus Does Exist

I spotted bottles of Deus Brut des Flandres in my local Waitrose earlier this week. The 75cl bottles were priced at £12.15 each.

I've never quite understood why Belgian beers using champagne yeast such as this, and Malheur Bière Brut are so expensive. After all Kasteel Cru is also brewed using this ingredient and is not sold at such a premium price.

I'd be interested in how well it sells. Waitrose is, of course, quite a posh store, but is it really ready for such expensive beers?

Classical Music With Your Tinnies

I realise this is supposed to be a blog about beer, but in my defence I have bought beer from the store so there is a tenuous link, but look what they are doing at my local supermarket.

You couldn't make it up.

Fancy A Pint Of Cider For 26p?

Well you are too late and will now have to pay the astronomical 34p a pint. Supermarket chain Sainsburys have been forced to withdraw their cheapest cider brand from the offer of buy three bottles and get a fourth one free. The cider has the most basic of packaging and presumably the most basic of flavours, but it will still get you drunk.

To me 34p a pint is far too cheap anyway, but is not as bad as the 44 pence for a litre of lager I reported on in November.

Selling alcohol this cheaply does promote drunkenness, or at least bring it closer to people's level of affordability, but more importantly it is another nail in the coffin of the pub trade which is losing establishments at a fast rate of knots.

It's worrying that Sainsbury's feel the need to do this at a time when they are announcing their own beer awards. Clearly they have a schizophrenic outlook on alcohol sales.

Messing Up The Best Job In The World

28 year old Helen Moore claims to have the best job in the World. She is chief lager taster (sic) for Tescos Supermarkets. She has tasted over 1000 lagers as part of her job. I suspect they mean beers of all genres rather than just lagers, but that's British journalism for you.

Of course drinking 1000 different beers is not a particularly unusual feat, but the fact that she has done this in the name of Tescos whose beer range is fairly ordinary to say the least is strange.

Particular 'gems' from around the World available in Tescos at the moment include: Kamenitza Svetlo from Bulgaria, A. Le Coq Premium from Estonia and Bergenbier from Romania. None of your World classics there which a woman whose tasted more than 1000 should be able to pick out and a supermarket with the clout of Tescos could arrange to stock on your shelves.

I have a distinct hatred of Tescos and reading about this woman makes me even angrier. I mean just look at her favourite five beers. Is she really fit to have this job? Couldn't all of us do a much better job?