Since I started in the wine and spirits industry, I have noticed a gradual and welcome increase in the number of quality beers and lagers that are available.
It used to be that being a beer fan meant you were either a young man downing pints of fizzy lager in bars or an old fuddy duddy real ale fanatic drinking stouts and bitters in the local pub.
Nowadays, however, the image of beer has changed beyond recognition and there is so much choice and variety available that anyone can find a beer that they love and that can be enjoyed in pretty much any situation.
For a start, there is a wider variety than ever of bottled premium lagers, such as Foster’s Gold. This type of beer is packaged in a way that is appealing to the under-40s and which makes beer more accessible for enjoying in, say, a nightclub or at a festival, where a full pint of beer is not necessarily practical. Couple this with their cool, crisp and refreshing taste, and it’s no wonder bottled premium beers have proven such a sure-fire hit for the drinks industry.
And it’s not just bottled lager that has helped to bring beer ‘to the masses’, so to speak. Fruit beer is increasingly popular in bars and pubs, with cherry and raspberry varieties fast becoming the drink of choice for adventurous drinkers.
The great thing about all this new choice and variety is that it is opening up a whole world of new taste experiences to so many people. It used to be the case that drinking beer at home meant opening a can in front of the TV, but with the quality on offer these days, a variety of beer is increasingly enjoyed as an accompaniment to a meal, while relaxing in the garden and a whole range of other occasions.