Beer of the Week

Victory Brewing, Prima Pils – US, 5.3 per cent

There's that switch every beer lover makes - they go from thinking that all proper beer is brown, twiggy bitters or stout, to drinking almost exclusively micro-brewed and regional beers.

This is a wonderful thing – it's the equivalent of eating potatoes all your life, then walking into a greengrocer's, you should do it if you haven't already.

The only downside to it is that quite often we'll find a customer who'll refuse to return to lager, even a fine Czech pilsner, having made the leap, assuming the swill they used to drink is actually representative of the style. It isn't, and Victory's Prima Pils proves that lagers can be just as exciting as any other style, in the right hands.

Pouring a hazy lemon yellow with a short-lived, loose head, the aroma is quince jelly, sweet and nutty, with a touch of cracked black pepper and cut grass in there for good measure.

The flavour is slightly sweet, with light toffee notes, giving way to a precise, robust bitterness; crisp and clean, lemon zest and grapefruit vie with cedar and petrichor for the palate's attention.

The finish is dry, refreshing, and clean, backed by lemon pith bitterness. All this coming exclusively from German and Czech hops.

Victory have done it by the book, and done it exceedingly well. So give lager another shot, provided it's the right sort of course.

Recommended by Michael Bates, Trembling Madness, 48 Stonegate, York

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