iLoveMyBBQ.com Favourite BBQ Beers
It is a tough job but someone had to do it. The iLoveMyBBQ.com team has finally completed the difficult task of reviewing a good number of beers to make sure we can give you the absulte difinitive answer.
We have tried a great number of beers so for this article we have just shortlisted it to our final 5 favourites, and listed them in the order that we like them.
Some points to note; we have given every beer a “Taste”, “Cool-Factor” (how good you look drinking it in public) and a “Frisky-Factor” (how many bottles it takes before Clim-Tim get a bit frisky with Clim-Claire) rating out of 10.
Number One - Sol 24 x 330ml bottles available from Majestic for only £21.60!
Our absolute favourite BBQ Beer, best served with a wedge of lime and at a near ice cold temperature. We love the fact this is not as strong (or “hoppy” as my right hand testing Man, Clim-Tim calls it) as some of the others on offer. The fact it is so light makes it a great session drink and despite constant jokes about pig-flu, we think it is possibly the best thing to come out of Mexico since bushy moustaches!
No 1 BBQ Beer - Sol
Taste 9/10 - only lost points because of the tangy lime you sometimes get from the top of the bottle
Cool Factor10/10 - the choice of the coolest social breeds out there, Graphic Designers and Marketing Folk
Frisky Factor 6/10 - Clim-Tim needed a fair few before getting jiggy with it
Number Two - Peroni Nastro Azzurro 24 x 330ml Bottles from Majestic, only £25.92
Porbably the most controversial selection of the bunch. Controversial because it was only really the blokes that like this one so we discounted the ladies opinion as punishment for them always switching to wine half way through a BBQ and showing disloyalty to our noble beers!
Personally, I love this beer and think it is the best BBQ beer available for a drink in the evening after a hard day at work or toiling in the garden. It only lost marks because it is not quite as cool as Sol. No need for lime or any of that shenanigans in Italy’s leading lager and the taste is strong, crisp and very addictive.
Taste 9/10 - strong and crisp - will take you mind of the rigours of the day (sorry, sounded a bit arty there!)
Cool Factor 7/10 - I can imagine one of the trendy teacher from school drinking this
Frisky Factor 4/10 - A strong lager with strong consequences for Clim-Claire
Number Three - Corona Extra 24×330ml Bottles from Majestic only 30.00
This narrowly pipped Sol to the top spot and would have probably won had we not accidentally drink one and then followed it with a Sol. It is a great session beer but has slightly less flavour than its fellow Mexican beer colleague.
Clim-Tim loves this one, probably because he can drink industrial vats of the stuff without it really affecting him and I liked it because you can just keep drinking it without getting bored, which happens quite often with BBQ session drinks.
Corona BBQ Beer
Taste 8/10 - Lost out to Sol because it has a slightly less distinguished flavour
Cool Factor 9/10 - Unites people this one, accountants, marketing folk and even social workers all drink this
Frisky Factor 10/10 - Tim can drink this until the cows come home
Number Four - Staropramen 24 x 330ml Bottles from Majestic only £24.00
Came from nowhere really this one and only came into the reckoning after BBQ lager discussions led it to be compared to Becks so we thought we should give it a try. I am glad we did now because it was much better than Becks and did not leave the dodgy after-taste that we found comes with Becks.
Comes from the Czech Republic and that is pretty much all we know about this mysterious but tasty BBQ drink. It did have a smooth taste which made it work so well over a long BBQ’ing session and unlike some of the other pilsner beers it did not leave us with the mother of all hangovers the next day.
If only it was a little more popular it would have got a better Cool Factor score and maybe featured higher.
Taste 9/10 - Great tasting beer, if not a little to “hoppy”
Cool Factor 5/10 - Never seen anyone drinking this in a bar. Shame, as it is a great drin
Frisky Factor - 3/10 - Like Spinach to Clim-Tim’s Popeye! Only a few in and we knew a good night was ahead.
Number Five - Asahi Super ‘Dry’ 24 x 330ml Bottles from Majestic £22.80
I cannot remember how we found this little beauty. It may have been whilst trekking around Majestic and looking for new lagers to take part in our BBQ Beer challenge. However it made it into the testing zone no longer matters as it is one of the nicest beers we tried.
Japan's Best BBQ Beer
The flavour is very distinctive which is good because you remember it but not so good when you are drinking it through a long BBQ session. When you consider that it beat off challenges from the likes of Becks, Fosters, Stella and Heineken you can understand how much we liked this little Japenese fella. One thing we did notice and did stand it in good stead was that when it was not quie chilled to its optimum temperature it still tasted vey nice.
Taste 8/10 - Probably had the most distinctive beer of all the BBQ lagers we tried.
Cool Factor 7/10 - As with everything from the Eastern world, it is cooler than Daniel Craig in an ice bath - just not very mainstream yet.
Frisky Factor 7/10 - This posed no significant Frisky Factor threat to Clim-Tim and in turn, Clim-Claire.
Have you got any BBQ Beer tips or favourites or disagree with the judges decision? If so, post a comment below or send them to andy@petoba.com
