Cheers to new beers

New variants from two tried and trusted brands.

IT looks like a Guinness. It is black, just like a Guinness. It even comes in that familiar-looking black Guinness bottle. But the Guinness Premium Beer certainly doesn’t taste like the Guinness we know.

For starters, one sip of it and you know it is actually a lager, not a full-bodied stout. However, take your time to savour it, and you will detect a slight, malty aftertaste – that Guinness flavour we all know and love.

Also known as the Guinness Black Lager, the Guinness Premium Beer is a new product that is not officially out in the market yet. Brewed in Dublin and imported by Guinness Anchor Berhad (GAB), Black Lager is being tested here in Malaysia, currently the only country outside Northern Ireland where it is available.

Guinness is not the only brand in the GAB stable that is releasing a new variant to their main line. Tiger Beer recently launched the Tiger Crystal celebration brew, a slightly lighter and smoother version of the normal Tiger.

So why have established brands like Guinness and Tiger come up with different variations of their beers? It’s not just these brands – many other beers also have light, extra strong, gold, iced or other versions of their beers. The question, however, is whether these variations make a difference.

Black Beer

The answer to that question is more obvious where Guinness Premium Beer is concerned. Being almost synonymous with stout, it makes sense for Guinness to expand its horizons and try to tap the lager market as well.

“First of all, Guinness is not a stout brand, it’s a beer brand, so we’re not confining ourselves to just stout,” explained Peter Khemlani, GAB’s marketing manager for the brand. “Many people respect the Guinness brand, but don’t necessarily like the taste of stout. So this gives them a chance to enjoy the Guinness brand in a form they can appreciate.”

But why would people like the brand if they never drank stout in the first place? Well, according to Khemlani, Guinness is such an iconic brand globally that even if you don’t drink stout, chances are you will still retain some respect and appreciation for the brand.

Guinness Premium Beer contains 5% alcohol volume, which is consistent with most lagers (by comparison, Guinness Stout contains 6.8% AVL). It is also brewed pretty much the same as most lagers, with one significant difference – roasted barley is added to it during the brewing process.

“The roasted barley is what makes the beer black, and gives it that unique flavourful character of Guinness. The essence of Guinness is very much present in that bottle!” said Khemlani.

In Malaysia, Guinness Premium Beer is the first time a variant is being introduced to the brand since the somewhat unsuccessful Guinness Light some years back.

Globally, this is not the first beer variant that Guinness has tried. The brand has also released extra strong and light versions of its stout, as well as other styles of beer such as Guinness Bitter and the Guinness Breo wheat beer.

Since it was introduced in trickles in various “Guinness stronghold” pubs around Klang Valley, feedback for the new lager has been positive, though Khemlani admitted that it was still too early to tell whether it would be successful enough to be commercially produced.

“The response from bars and pubs has been encouraging – people are pleasantly surprised that it is a Guinness but a lager, and is black in colour.

“This is a chance for a new generation of beer drinkers to assess the Guinness brand. We hope lager drinkers will be intrigued by the taste; and as for our usual stout drinkers, we hope they are open to it. But if they want to stick to stout, they are most welcome to!” he said with a laugh.

White Tiger

Things get a bit hazier (and not just because we were already two bottles in) when it comes to Tiger Crystal, though. Unlike the Guinness Premium Beer (which still comes in the standard Guinness black bottle), it is obvious from the clear, shiny-looking bottle that Tiger Crystal is different from the normal Tiger brew.

But don’t mistake it for a “light” beer, though. It may have slightly less alcohol (4.5% compared to the normal Tiger’s 5%) but the formula and ingredients are still the same.

According to Sean Koh, GAB marketing manager for Tiger, the difference between the two is that Tiger Crystal is brewed using a cold suspension brewing method (as opposed to a tropical brewery like the normal Tiger beers) where the beer is filtered under -1°C temperature to lock in specific aromas in the brew and get rid of the bitter aftertaste.

The result is a beer that is significantly easier to drink – the taste and flavour is distinctly Tiger, but it is much smoother, crisper and more refreshing than the usual Tiger beer.

“Regular Tiger drinkers would be able to tell the difference – it is less bitter, and the bite in Crystal dissipates very quickly, so it is much easier to drink,” said Koh, who added that for that reason, many female drinkers who normally shy away from beer have come to like Crystal.

Tiger Crystal is a limited edition “celebration brew” that was specially released here in conjunction with the Lunar Year of the Tiger. It is the first variant of Tiger Beer ever released in Malaysia, and is already available in Vietnam, China and Thailand (surprisingly, it is not available in Singapore despite Tiger having originated from that country!).

“Malaysians in general tend to be quite predictable when it comes to beers, but there are more and more discerning drinkers out there looking for new beers to try. When there are more variants available, you can have different beers for different occasions,” said Koh, who reckoned that major brands like Tiger and Guinness would have more success in introducing variants.

“These are brands that people generally trust, so more will be confident in trying something new from these brands,” he said.

Khemlani concurred, adding that with the expanding beer market in Malaysia and more imported brands being introduced here, it is a good time to test the market with variants like Tiger Crystal and Guinness Premium Beer.

“People are more interested in trying out new beers these days. So it would be better for them to try new beers from brands they already trust,” he concluded.

Michael Cheang doesn’t mind trying out new beers, and reckons if it’s gonna be a lager, it doesn’t matter if it’s black or white.