Tusker – Kenya Breweries Ltd

Tusker is an African classic.  Like that song by Toto.  Epic, comforting, and makes you want to roll the windows down and sing at the top of your voice.

Poured from that classic 500ml bottle with “Beer Only” embossed on it. Manufactured/Best Before dates marked on the bottle. The beer is golden yellow, with a big fluffy head that shrinks but remains because of it’s hyper-active carbonation. Nice lacing left on the glass.

Smells of cereal gains with some brown sugar and green hops (kind of a leafy smell). The taste is quite sweet, a bit malty, with definite grains, but also a nearly sugary sweetness. The hop seems to have gone, perhaps just a little dry, but it’s mostly the malt. Actually as it’s warming-up a bit, more of the hops are coming through, same sort of leafy hop that was present in the aroma.

The body is pretty big for a lager, but it is also very carbonated, which helps cut some of the nearly cloying sweetness. Aside from burping a bunch from the active carbonation, it is very drinkable, a little sweeter then normal, but still quite tasty and enjoyable. Perhaps it’s the romantic imagery of Africa, but I love this beer on hot summer days. It’s still pretty nice on a cold February night.