So, my exploration of the beer styles of the world began last night with pale lager. It didn’t get off to the most auspicious of starts – after all, how many wonderful evenings begin with a bottle of Coors Light (well – given it’s one of the most popular beers in the world – hopefully quite a few!), but things picked up as we shot through the American styles and got stuck into the German.

Like all other interactions with beer, it can be seen through powerful lenses of gender and class. From the snobbishness around the use of rice and corn as adjuncts in some parts of the world, to the ‘lawnmower beer’ tag applied to some of biggest-selling beers on the planet; from the mineral-laden Helles Exportbier, now somewhat neglected like much of western European industry that attended its birth, to the American light lagers, originally marketed at women as ‘diet’ beers and now pushed to every red-blooded sports fan to quaff on match day. However bland some of the beer may seem to our lupulin-shifted tastes, there is always a tasty tale behind it.

The full list of beers tasted is:

American Light Lager – Coors Light

American Lager – Pabst Blue Ribbon & Budweiser

International Pale Lager – Red Stripe & Asahi Super Dry

Munich Helles – Augustinerbrau Munchen Lagerbier Hell & Hacker Pschorr Munich Gold

Festbier – Eku Festbier & Paulaner Oktoberfest Bier

German Leichtbier – Tergernseer Leicht

Helles Exportbier/Dortmunder – Flensburger Gold & 5,0 Original

Pale Kellerbier – Hohenthanner Schlossbrauerie Kellerbier Hell & Hacker Pschorr Kellerbier