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The previous two #BeerSaturday posts for me was on various craft lagers found in the South Africa craft beer scene. This week, I am continuing this series with two beers from Darling Brewery who have taken up this idea that South Africans cannot Braai (BBQ) without a lager!

The two beers I am trying this week are the Just Braai Lager, and the Just Beer Lager. Both these beers are available in most retailers, challenging the commercial breweries and their seeming monopoly. I can justify these beers, as they are on a price point similar to the commercial beers. They are not double or tripled the price, like so many other craft lagers on the market. But not just on price point, these two beers, especially the Just Braai Lager, is in itself an incredible beer that is so much better than the commercial lagers out there. Linked with the almost similar price, this has become my dad’s favourite beer when we light up a braai.

So, without further ado, let me share with you my drunken drinking notes, and rambles on the joys of a braai!

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Darling’s Just Beer Lager

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Lager | 5.7 % ABV | 18 IBUs

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The design of the beer’s logo is so unique and celebrates South Africa’s eleven official languages. Every language in South Africa, with their culture and peoples, enjoys and drinks beer; if it is a lager or a traditional sorghum beer, everyone enjoys these fermented drinks, and we have always celebrated this around the fire.

With these beers, Darling Brew hammered the nail on its head, as not only do they celebrate this tradition, and not only is the price point very good, but these beers are tremendously good as well!

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As I opened this beer, I first got a light and slight malt on the nose, but the 18 IBUs was not enough to bring anything significant to the beer’s first smell. Even though the ABV is a bit higher than the other beers, I did not get this on the nose.

The first taste was good, with a slight bitterness but not much. It was refreshing, smooth, and tasted just like a lager around the fire should taste like. It was, for the price, a very good and solid beer. It was on the way to be a full-bodied beer, not watery at all.

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Darling’s Just Braai Lager

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Lager | 4.2 % ABV | ?? IBUs

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As soon as I opened this beer, I was hit with hops on the nose. There were slight undertones of malt, but from the first notes on my nose it was not an average lager. It again reminded me of a lager brewed by an ale brewer, as it smelled more like an ale than a lager!

The taste was the same. This beer was not as full bodied as the previous one, but with the additional hops, it tasted more like an ale. The slight watery mouth feel reminded me that I was drinking a lager and not an ale! It almost tasted like they dry hopped this beer.

As I drank more of this beer, it tasted like a light ale, but it definitely smelled like a lager underneath all of the hops. As the beer warmed up slightly, I could appreciate the delicate balance between the malt and the hops even better. It had much less alcohol than the one above, but it was by far the better beer.

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Postscriptum, or So Another Lager is Drunk

Since buying these craft lagers, it really struck me how many there are. I am not sure I will be able to drink them all. But this is not because I do not want to or that I cannot find them, but because they are all so similar. From all of them so far, I only had one or two that really struck me as different. I also found my favourite Braai Lager, dethroning the commercial beer me and my dad always cracked open when we light a fire. But overall, there is so little difference between all of them that it seems like why bother drinking them all if they are all going to taste the same? But let us give them some chance and see what pops up on the radar.

For now, happy drinking, and keep well!