In defence of Dutch Gold

Harry Angstrom

Okay, I know that Dutch Gold has a certain reputation, perhaps perfectly exemplified by that towering Irish soap Fair City. For anybody not familiar with it, there's currently a very rough skanger family called "The Bishop's" in Fair City. Whenever they're drinking beer at home, it's almost always Dutch Gold. When any of the other more "respectable" characters are drinking beer at home, it tends to be Miller, Heineken etc.

I tend to drink Guinness when I'm out but at home I usually prefer a can of lager. A couple of months ago, I decided to try Dutch Gold and to my surprise it's actually not that bad. It's got a crisp taste, doesn't give me heartburn (which some lagers do) and at 4.2% ABV, it's only .1% off the premium and much more expensive brands. I'm wondering if there's anybody else out there who appreciates Dutch Gold? I think it's been given an unfair press by the so-called connoisseurs. I've tried other brands of cheap lagers (for research purposes only!) and most of them are like dishwater but I reckon you'd be hard pressed to distinguish Dutch Gold from the more well-known lagers in a blind taste test. In fact, I'd choose it over the likes of Heineken or Budweiser any day.

Am I alone or are there any other people out there who appreciate this most unfairly denigrated lager?

January

You can't defend Dutch Gold... it's mank and only skangers drink it.

I worked on an off license years ago. Only students and scum bags bought it. That was 95% of the customer base though :pac:

Technocentral

Harry Angstrom wrote: »

Okay, I know that Dutch Gold has a certain reputation, perhaps perfectly exemplified by that towering Irish soap Fair City. For anybody not familiar with it, there's currently a very rough skanger family called "The Bishop's" in Fair City. Whenever they're drinking beer at home, it's almost always Dutch Gold. When any of the other more "respectable" characters are drinking beer at home, it tends to be Miller, Heineken etc.

I tend to drink Guinness when I'm out but at home I usually prefer a can of lager. A couple of months ago, I decided to try Dutch Gold and to my surprise it's actually not that bad. It's got a crisp taste, doesn't give me heartburn (which some lagers do) and at 4.2% ABV, it's only .1% off the premium and much more expensive brands. I'm wondering if there's anybody else out there who appreciates Dutch Gold? I think it's been given an unfair press by the so-called connoisseurs. I've tried other brands of cheap lagers (for research purposes only!) and most of them are like dishwater but I reckon you'd be hard pressed to distinguish Dutch Gold from the more well-known lagers in a blind taste test. In fact, I'd choose it over the likes of Heineken or Budweiser any day.

Am I alone or are there any other people out there who appreciate this most unfairly denigrated lager?

Your posting on the wrong forum, try this one: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=22

Tea_Bag

Ive said it once, and ill say it again... Tuborg.

Honestly, it costs less than the mould in some offies, @€;6 for 6 cans, or even €20 for 24 cans, and its damn good. sometimes a little grainy, but good nonetheless.

Harry Angstrom

January wrote: »

You can't defend Dutch Gold... it's mank and only skangers drink it.

I remember a few years ago, a couple of so-called "wine experts" were challenged to tell the difference between cheap plonk and expensive stuff in a blind taste test. They got more of them wrong than right. I think that the brand and the perception of a product influences people in their attitudes far more than the actual taste of it. I'd still stand by my assertion that Dutch Gold isn't at all bad, despite its negative press.

slayerking

If you like your bland yellow fizz, theres very little difference in any of them so called 'premium' lagers vs the cheaper ones. There all BUL beers.

So best you could do is do a blind tasting of a mixture of 'premium' and cheapy ones and see which one you like the best that way.
Eliminates the influence that advertising and the image of the beer has on people!!

And it'll save you money in the long run.

Brockagh

Harry Angstrom wrote: »

I remember a few years ago, a couple of so-called "wine experts" were challenged to tell the difference between cheap plonk and expensive stuff in a blind taste test. They got more of them wrong than right. I think that the brand and the perception of a product influences people in their attitudes far more than the actual taste of it. I'd still stand by my assertion that Dutch Gold isn't at all bad, despite its negative press.

Same with "whisky experts". All giving marks out of 100, which is impossible to start with. If they tasted the same whisky blind 10 times, it would get 10 different scores.

I've never had Dutch Gold, but I'd give it a go.

Brockagh

It reminds me... A psychology student when I was in UCD did a blind taste test of several beers. When each subject picked out his or her favourite, they were told what it was an given a voucher for a free pint in the UCD bar.

I don't know what beers they were, but the one that came out tops was Harp. However, even after being told that preferred Harp, not one person ordered it with their voucher.

Sergeant

Brockagh wrote: »

It reminds me... A psychology student when I was in UCD did a blind taste test of several beers. When each subject picked out his or her favourite, they were told what it was an given a voucher for a free pint in the UCD bar.

I don't know what beers they were, but the one that came out tops was Harp. However, even after being told that preferred Harp, not one person ordered it with their voucher.

I was at a similar type of thing a number of years back. A selection of fizzy lagers chilled to close to zero. Miller, Heineken, Carlsberg, Tuborg and Harp. Again, most people couldn't really tell the difference between the beers (once packaging had been removed), and Harp came out on top in the taste score, despite it having a wretched reputation in the Republic.

davedfc

Bavarias not bad for the price of it.

Wolfe Tone

I drink Dutch gold, but I'm a student. All these lagers really taste the same to me.

Big Nasty

davedfc wrote: »

Bavarias not bad for the price of it.

Bavaria are putting a lot of effort in to 're-inventing' themselves.

thebullkf

Other than Guinness, I used to drink Carlsberg-religously...hated Heineken, got a 'smell' of it...

Now when i drink Lager in a pub, its Heineken... always.

going to an offie, i love to try the boutique beers, Bishops Finger, Boags, Bitter and Twisted, Budvar, Staroprammen et al... they all taste better than Dutch Gold,Orangeboum,or Bavaria.

I agree marketing is key,after taste, when i used to go Kancker drinking/cans before a gig years ago Cider was deemed the Madmans drink,and only for skinheads etc..look at it now.

And not forgetting peoples perceptions either, Gin was said to be a depressant,Babychams/Snowballs for 'gay' blokes only.
I cringe now to think of it:(

munchkin_utd

Back in the days I have to admit that I didnt find dutch gold all that bad.

The venom which some of my friends speak against the stuff is probably the same as most peoples attitude. But I think people hate the brand more than the beer itsself. Despite all the hate, its not undrinkable.
If you want to hate a beer for being crap, that "Bavaria" stuff is just nasty. It IS undrinkable muck.

And as for Harp!
I'm living in Munich 11 years, and have a plentiful supply of top notch lagers which i take full advantage of and I'd consider that my benchmark.
The odd time I've got Harp on draught in Ireland (or Italy!) I was pleasantly surprised that it wasnt much off the mark of the munich lager - not too watery nor bitter nor über bland.
Was there a change of recipe lately (in past five years like) or what happened there? I dont remember it being remotely drinkable as a student in Belfast.

Basher Ned

I used to work in off licence myself during my student days. Dutch Gold was incredible. Sales three times more than other beers. The Guinness sales reps (Harp, Bud, Tuborg etc) couldnt understand it. They used to call it Dutch Mould because mould grows and grows. Must have been these guys who started bad mouthing Dutch Gold. The product was always good i think it just has a bad reputation

guildofevil

We did a blind tasting about a year ago and the results were very interesting.

Article here.

While Dutch Gold was not in the running, there were two cheap lagers featured, as well as a heavily advertised big name brand, an import with a good beer geek reputation and an Irish micro brewed lager.

We did spot the import and the microbrewed one but there really wasn't any quality difference between the cheap and big name lagers.

bassey

Prazsky is easily the nicest cheap beer IMO, it's the main thing I go for if I'm drinking cans unless I want to splash out on a few bottles of Budvar

fonecrusher1

My opinion of dutch gold; I dont really like it to be honest. Its just barely drinkable if its very cold (the sign of a bad beer), I'd rate it alongside the likes of carling, Karpackie, tuborg...the sort of beers you drink at a party/bbq because theres nothing else left.

If i was going to recommend a super cheap alternative it would be St Etienne available at Aldi for a very decent 1 euro for 500ml or 9.99 for 12 440ml cans. Its a mild beer with a fairly neutral taste but i kinda like it & its 4.8% alc which isn't bad.

kkdela6

bassey wrote: »

Prazsky is easily the nicest cheap beer IMO, it's the main thing I go for if I'm drinking cans unless I want to splash out on a few bottles of Budvar

i find pratzky can be a bit foamy and gassy. would still drink it though if it was the cheapest on offer

dutch gold is no worse than any other cheap beers. its pretty much on par with tuborg and bavaria. The best value cheap beer is definitely galahad, 12 cans for 7.99 in aldi!

we've had a few blind beer tasting competitions before for the laugh at sessions, and the usual answer was 'fcuk it i'll drink it all!'.

rickyjb

Tuborg > Dutch Gold by about a mile.

Harry Angstrom

What is the % alcohol of Tuborg?

rickyjb

Google images tells me it's 4.5%, so slightly stronger than dutch gold.

tuborg available in Ireland (it's brewed at St.James' Gate) is 4.0%. It's decent stuff imo.

by the way - re Harp - it used to have 70% of the lager market in Ireland in the 80's but they had quality issues (bad tasting / nasty batches) and also they messed up the marketing and subsequently lost the market to Heineken, Bud and Carlsberg (which is awful stuff).

Wolfe Tone

In college we have this Beer called Olm, anyone know much about that?


Its 2:50 a pint and it doesn't taste that bad.

BeerNut

Wolfe Tone wrote: »

In college we have this Beer called Olm, anyone know much about that?

Saw that in The Czech Inn recently. It's Dutch. More here.