Tesco/carlsberg lager, the same?

gallagc8

I've heard it repeated numerous times (admittedly by the same person) that the standard Tesco brand lager is the same as Carlsberg. I don't mean similar, I mean its the same beer in different cans. Has anyone else heard of this? Not really liking Carlsberg, I've never been arsed testing this assertion.

dave101

im a drinker of the calsberg fine brew lol. il pop by after work and get a few , just for testing of course. watch this space for the report.
i know tuborg is brewed by carlberg and in the uk tuborg is recanned as burget label brands

The Sweeper

I used to know someone who swore blind that Bier D'Alsace was Stella in an own-brand bottle.

I think it's unlikely that these are quintessentially 'the same beers' - but the composition and taste could well be similar. Perhaps we should have a beers 'separated at birth' thread, for people who want the flavour at a lower price...

Blub2k4

Minesajackdaniels wrote:

I used to know someone who swore blind that Bier D'Alsace was Stella in an own-brand bottle.

I think it's unlikely that these are quintessentially 'the same beers' - but the composition and taste could well be similar. Perhaps we should have a beers 'separated at birth' thread, for people who want the flavour at a lower price...

There's no way the beer d'alsace is stella, it's heartburn in a bottle and I normally drink Stella.

I doubt that it's Carlsberg original but I do think that they maybe do a second beer for mass yellow label type stuff as other breweries do, just a slightly different recipe, although noby or Kenmc would probably be good ones to answer this accurately.

bigears

Blub2k4 wrote:

There's no way the beer d'alsace is stella, it's heartburn in a bottle and I normally drink Stella.

You would imagine Bier d'Alsace would be cloning an 'Alsace beer' style. I haven't tasted any local Alsace beers but the well known example would be Kronenbourg - which tastes quite different to Stella.

The Sweeper

anybody else got any tastealikes?

kenmc

Bud and water
Used to think that guinness sent spoilt batches down to beamish to be rebadged!
Can't think of any other tastealikes offhand - but it's not really difficult to make beers in the style of others - there are only so many sorts of grains and yeasts around really

bigears

kenmc wrote:

Used to think that guinness sent spoilt batches down to beamish to be rebadged!

Poor ol' Beamish gets a bad rap. I've become quite fond of it and will often order it ahead of Guinness - if I'm in an aul' fella's bar where the flow is good. Maybe it's my imagination but Guinness seems to be getting more bland as the years go by...

Victor

Minesajackdaniels wrote:

anybody else got any tastealikes?

Most wines and vinegar.

Neat vodka and formaldehyde.

The Sweeper

Victor, read the charter. If you've nothing helpful to add, don't bother posting.

Thomas_S_Hunterson

Victor wrote:

Most wines and vinegar.

You probably left them exposed to air and bacteria. The ethanol is converted to vinegar.

Victor

Apologies, I was being sarcastic about he wine, but the vodka thing is a genuinely held belief, albeit its the smell of formaldehyde as opposed to the taste.

westtip

Minesajackdaniels wrote:

I used to know someone who swore blind that Bier D'Alsace was Stella in an own-brand bottle.

I think it's unlikely that these are quintessentially 'the same beers' - but the composition and taste could well be similar. Perhaps we should have a beers 'separated at birth' thread, for people who want the flavour at a lower price...

I can assure you they are not the same beers, not even the same country. Stella Artois, despite an advertising campaign which seems to give it French provenance (thinking of the Jean de Floret inspired ad), it's original place of birth is Leuven in Belgium. The brand is owned by Interbrew, the dominant brewing company of Belgium which cam out of the merger of the two largest brewing companies in Belgium in the 1980s. This was until recent years a privately owned company, but has I believe gone public, to raise funds for their international acquisitions and expansion. The company has expanded through international acquisition; in the UK they bought Whitbread in the late 90s and also half of the brewing interests of Bass Brewers, when that fine brewing company was broken up following the poor leadership of Ian Prosser, the CEO who turned the company into an international hotel group and disposed of the brewing interests after 200 years in the business; many working in the brewing industry still consider this man a criminal for what he did to Bass, but that is another story. The purchase of Whitbread came out of a long standing relationship between Stella Artois and Whitbread; Whitbread brewed Stella on license in the UK since it was first launched in the UK market as a premium draught product back in the late 70s or early 80s. It was brewed on licence at one of he Whitbread breweries in the South East of England and held the prominent position in the premium draught lager sector through the 80s and 90s. Much of the Stella we get now is brewed in the UK, although the 25cl stubby bottles I think originate from Belgium.

Bier D'Alsace is brewed by one of brewers in the East of France and I think may be owned by BSN. The brewery churns out french style lager in cheap 25 cl bottles for the off premise market through out Europe, they do a lot of own label for the UK supermarket trade, Tescos French lager type rubbish.

If you want to see the difference in taste and flavour delivery put them in the fridge pour the beers when cold into blue glasses (blue glass is used by brewers tasting beer to disguise the color). Sniff each beer, you should be able to discern the difference just from smell and do a taste test like you would for wine (ie one mouthful swilled around and spat out). I can assure you they are quite different animals.

The Sweeper

Might I just make a note that I was quoting someone else's observation, and don't actually believe they're the same drink myself?

The second half of my original post referred to generic "these are the same drink" comments, as opposed to saying all beers taste the same.

westtip

fair point MJD I was just passing on what I knew of the situation