Cerana: Bira 91: Boom: Premium Super Strong (India: Strong Pale Lager: 6-8% ABV)
Visual: Pale banana yellow. Lots of small bubbled carbonation. Clear. Rapidly descending large loose white bubbled head.
Nose: Clean. Brown sugar. Vanilla. Custard slices. Malt biscuits. Soft peach.
Body: Smooth. Vanilla toffee and vanilla custard. Slight wet cardboard. Golden syrup. Banana. Palma violets. Peach.
Finish: Vanilla toffee. Slight hop character – hop oils and low bitterness. Slight liquorice touch. Wet cardboard. Light chalk. Fluffy popcorn hops.
Conclusion: First non Kingfisher beer of the India trip has been found! And it isssss … fairly nondescript actually. It definitely has more character than Kingfisher by a mile, but that isn’t really saying much.
It is smooth, while being thicker than the average lager and more malt led, but thankfully doesn’t really show any alcohol burn considering the abv. Whatever actual level that abv is.
On the downside there is that slight wet cardboard, slightly muggy hop rough edge that tends to come with the more dull lagers, and it has a slight artificial feeling touch to it despite that lack of alcohol burn. So, imperfect but not overly harsh, just unrefined.
There are hints of palma violets and hop oils that call the German and Czech noble hops styles. Even smaller hints of peach and banana that call to the fruitier American hops. Nothing too well defined, but hints that it is trying for something more than the most standard lager.
Over all nothing stand out bad, but just generally sub average. The slight rough edges and lack of stand out character means that it doesn’t rise to be recommendable – just generally inoffensive.
Not worth hunting down, and considering where I was in India I had to really hunt for non Kingfisher beers not worth that hunt. Sub optimal but not horrible.
A bit meh and hard to find for that meh.
Background: So the full name is Bira 91: Boom: Premium Super Strong Rich and Malty Munich Lager. So, Cerana is the contract brewer, Bira 91 the beer company, boom the sub category for their more mainstream line so the beer name is? I dunno, Munich Lager? Super Strong? Don’t mix up your descriptions and beer names people, it makes things complicated for me! Similarly, while I tend to go for the description the brewers use, Munich Lager can fall under a bunch of categories, – due the beer strength just general Strong Pale Lager seems right as it doesn’t seem to have characteristics of a dopplebock or Imperial Pilsner despite its strength. Life is pain. Also the can lists the strength as 6-8%. Fucking helpful. Anyway, first non Kingfisher beer I found in India, so grabbed it do notes. Simple. Being on holiday I had to use what glassware I could find.
