Pale and lightly golden in appearance, with a medium, foamy head when poured, Breeze is an inviting looking lager with a moreish balance of flavours. Refreshingly effervescent to drink, the contrasting Jester and Boadicea hops used in its production give the beer subtle hints of spice and mild fruitiness that pair well with its sparkling character. Thanks to these juxtaposing flavours, as well as Breeze’s clean aftertaste, each sip of this easy-drinking lager seems to beget another, and another, and another…

As of this last year, the new highest ABV beer in the world is Scottish Beithir Fire. It begins life as a high-ABV Scottish-type barley ale that takes around two months to brew. A 75% liquid is then created by blending the beer with the purest Scottish spirit. The beer is purified three times after fermentation to remove any contaminants. Blond Belgian ale called The End of History was produced utilising deep freezing technology. It emits aromas of nettles, mead, and juniper berries. Originating in Northern Europe, lagers are a type of beer brewed using bottom fermenting yeasts. Able to operate at cooler temperatures, bottom fermenting yeasts work more slowly and less vigorously than yeasts used to produce other beers, and are named for how they tend to sink to the bottom of the fermentation vessel once finished. Once brewed, lagers tend to be matured in cold storage. How are lagers different from ales? Pilsner: Originating in Czechia, and popular across central Europe, pilsners are lightly straw coloured lagers, tending to come in at around 4 to 5%. Pilsners, on the whole, are a tad hoppier and more aromatic than your typical lager, and are characterised by a mild, pleasant bitterness.Undeniably though, beers with an alcohol volume greater than 6% have a much more intense taste, which is partially determined by the percentage of alcohol. Typically, these beers are intended to be sipped slowly, similar to a fine wine. Tripels are no exception and are an excellent example of this, with an average alcohol content between 8% and 10%. Although the origin of the term is unknown, the accepted theory is that it denotes strength. Tripel was first used by the Trappist brewery, Westmalle, in the 50s when they used three Xs to label the strongest beer in their barrels. When we hear the word beer, the first thing that pops into most of our minds is a fresh pint of lager. Drinking one, it’s easy to see why, as the best lagers offer a classic balance of flavour, crispness and smooth drinkability that IPAs, stouts and sours can’t quite muster. Being the most popular style of beer in the UK, there are plenty of tasty, well-known lagers readily available on supermarket shelves. However, there are more interesting varieties of lager out there than you might give the style credit for, and that’s what our list aims to showcase. While many beers and breweries have long histories and prestigious places in their nation’s cultures, few can match up to Pilsner Urquell. First brewed in 1842 in the Czech city of Plzeň, Pilsner Urquell invented the pilsner style, making Czechia the founding home of what would go on to be one of the most popular and well-loved styles of lager ever brewed.

Indeed, if you want to put a bit of pizzazz into your pub pilsner, opting for a Czech classic such as Pilsner Urquell or German imports such as Jever or Veltins is a sensible way to start. But with summer and BBQ season fast approaching, what are your options in the supermarket – which lagers are not just cold and crisp but crafted with real character? We put the big retailers’ lagers to the test. Ocado, Fuller’s Frontier We all know beer contains alcohol, but how much?What do we mean by strong beer? What’s the strongest? How is alcohol created and where does it come from exactly?How do we get different levels of alcohol in beer? Do you know which are the strongest?Scotland is home to the highest alcohol-content beers in the world. These high ABV beers sit in first, second, and third place. The strongest beer in the UK is also the strongest beer in the world, the Scottish Beithir FireBrew weighing in at a whopping 75%. American Lager : A pale, thin-bodied style, American lagers have a much milder hop profile when compared to European lagers. Not subject to the strict brewing regulations in place in many European countries, American lagers can also incorporate adjuncts like rice or corn. Some of the best known examples of the style include the likes of Bud, Coors and Miller. Brewed for Tesco by Marston’s, this “hybrid lager” uses six hop varieties, and yet, despite that apparent surfeit of ingredients, this thin, fizzy drop tastes of very little. If you really concentrate, you might discern a slight marmalade note in there, but its main characteristic, a curious soured lemon flavour, is mostly reminiscent of Shandy Bass. It is reasonably bitter, which thankfully offsets its potentially cloying sweetness, but if you are offered a bottle of this at a barbecue, opt for wine. Next up we have the 8-10% ABV beers; strong Belgian beers, Tripels and strong Blondes. From 8.0% upwards, alcohol plays a fundamental role in taste and in the whole experience of beer tasting. These are beers that should be drunk in peace, it is mainly about tasting and not just drinking. Belgian beer is known for its intense taste and high percentage of alcohol.

Snake Venom is currently the strongest beer produced in the world, with no less than 67.5%. Rumours suggest that a distillate is added and for this reason there is debate to whether it can really be called a beer. The priming of the bottles takes some doing, but it's worth going the extra mile. This tastes lovely: malty and sweet with a pronounced bitterness, which offers a more than decent ‘pub-at-home’ experience. Definitely the most drinkable of them all. Another way to indicate the amount of alcohol is as a percentage of the total weight: Alcohol By Weight or ABW. Alcohol always has a lower density than water, which is why the percentage is always lower. Alcohol gets even stronger with most barley wines , Quadrupels and strong Belgian brown beers. These are sweet, warming and generally start at 8.0% ABV, going up to 12.0% (with some exceptions to ~ 15%). They are perfect to be enjoyed alone but also in company.So to speak, Armageddon and Snake Venom are cousins. In actuality, the same brewery makes both of them. Armageddon once claimed the top spot for being the strongest beer in the world. Of course, all the above would be moot if the lager itself didn’t come up to scratch in the taste department. Thankfully, Freestar’s trio of European hops (Saaz, Perle and Hallertau, to be specific) give the lager a classic beer taste, with a nice mix of floral flavours, light bitterness and mild maltiness on the palate. While many low ABV lagers have strange or unpleasant aftertastes, Freestar has a clean finish which doesn’t linger. Before testing any of the tasty lagers from our list below, we first pre-chill the bottles or cans in the fridge for a number of hours. Once the beers have reached their optimum temperature, we pour them into a standard pint glass. The first things we look for after pouring are the lager’s colour, opacity, aroma and the size and consistency of the foam head. Once poured and settled, we taste the lagers, noting down the initial flavour profile, level of effervescence and general drinkability.