5.1/10
—
Appearance 5
Aroma 4.5
Flavor 6
Texture 5
Overall 5
Industrial pale lager recently put on the market with nothing but commercial purposes, as a means of marketing for a Youtube and radio personality called Average Rob (in real life Robert Van Impe) - mass-marketed beers only existing because of mass-marketing always make me very suspicious at best (and angry at worst) so I will be extra critical this time, especially when "average" is promoted as something positive... At least this guy is not overly secretive as to where it is actually brewed (Martens - like many cheap and often "below average" supermarket lagers for that matter), though the can itself only mentions "brewed in Belgium", which represents another point of criticism for me. Anyway: eggshell-white, plastery lacing, moussy and thick, fluffy, stable head on a crystal clear, pure and warm yellow golden robe with a column of visible sparkling in the middle. Aroma of cooked cereals, wet white paper, plaster, dust, wet flour, grass and a hint of chamomile or other field flowers from the hops (a feature absent in many other industrial pale lagers, it must be said). Neutral onset, fizzy carbonation with minerally effects, rounded and very slick mouthfeel; typical pale malt sweetish cerealliness, thinnish, sweetish like chicken food with a sourish undertone, but at least not plagued by metallic effects. The sourishness is accentuated by the carbonation; something vaguely flour-like appears in the end, along with a soft, floral hop bitterish note, floating thinly over ongoing watered-down 'cerealliness' but nevertheless managing to linger for a brief moment. Very likely a clone of Martens Pils or even (more likely) simply an alias of it, and in that sense, at least to my personal memory, not the worst industrial standard pale lager on the market: there are no unpleasant metallic or chemical off-flavours and there is a bit more hop bitterness than is averagely (sic) the case in this class of 'beers'. Your typical bland 'wet air' beverage, in all, but to my personal appreciation, just a tiny notch better than Maes or Jupiler - though this is obviously a matter of so-called 'micro tasting' and the differences are microscopical. Expected even worse, to be completely honest...
Tried
on 21 Oct 2022
at 22:23