Such is the case with Laid Back Lager. Even without the aid of BC Liquor store's oh-so-subtle subtle marketing strategy it's hard to miss the can anyway. It looks like what I suspect a Beach Boy's album cover looks like; lots of sunny pastel colours, surfboards and other generic summer-ish crap.
This of course totally out of sync with the real world - I'm browsing at 4:30pm it's pitch dark, raining, and I may have just seen a mammoth come rearing out of Waterfront station. But this beer is bringing back thoughts of summer; palm trees, sunshine, being able to feel my toes most of the time, loads of fucking wasps everywhere...I'm able to hold onto this nostalgia until I get my beers home and take a closer look at the can - Laid Back Lager is produced by 'Big Surf Brewing Company'. Where are they from, I hear you cry with rabid curiosity; California? Florida? Hawaii maybe?
They're from bloody Kelowna! As in, Kelowna, BC. As in down the road, and currently gripped (so says the CBC website) in slightly shittier weather than Vancouver itself is right now! And what the fuck is this 'Big Surf' nonsense? Kelowna is at least 4 hours from the sea!
I feel cheated - I thought I was getting a beer that had come from a hallowed land of swaying palm trees and coco-nut bikini clad- hotties. Instead I feel like I should be offering Laid Back lager a nice warm cocoa and some comfy slippers before he catches a nasty chill.
But, putting all these feelings aside, how does Laid Back Lager do as a beer?
It certainly pours like a lager. The white head is gone in a couple of seconds and literally nothing hangs around. It's a clear yellow colour with surprisingly little carbonation for a lager too. I can smell that it's beer, but there's not much else too it. Maybe some citrus lurking in the bottom but I'm really having to fight to get anything out of it.
The taste is a little weird though, but not necessarily bad. I'm getting a little hint of apples but aside from that it doesn't have much to it, even for a lager.
It goes down pretty easy so I guess if you were lying on a beach in California it wouldn't be terrible, but I have no idea why anyone would bother bringing this stuff all that way. In no way would it be worth it.
I could sort of understand this escapist beer mentality it if BC was some awful part of the world, but it isn't. Ok, it's cold right now but there's mountains, snow, forests, possibly bears or something - all that nature crap. Shame on you Big Surf - be proud of your province!
Verdict: 4/10
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