Pissweak lager just got pissier

[Gilps]

The new tipple of choice for all of Andy's favourite men

 

By Denise Winterman

BBC News Magazine

 

 

It's being marketed as the pint for new men - not lager louts - and has half the alcohol content of normal beer. Is this a good thing?

He takes care over his appearance and moisturises daily. He knows about art, literature and food, as well as football and beer. Isn't it about time metrosexual man had his own lager?

 

"Lite" lager is brewed with a lower alcohol content but all the taste of the full-strength stuff, according to the breweries. It's pitched at the less laddish new man who still wants a "proper pint" with his mates.

 

Until now the trend has been for stronger drinks and larger measures. In recent years standard lager has risen in strength from 3.5% to 4.5% alcohol content and wine from 10% to 13%. But breweries believe if the beauty industry can get men moisturising, they can get them into mid-strength lager.

 

If sales figures from other countries are anything to go by they're right. In "bloke-ish" Australia such lager now makes up 13% of the beer market.

 

Brands include Beck's Vier and Guinness Mid-Strength and on Monday Britain's biggest beer brand, Carling, is officially launching a 2% lager - C2.

 

"We've finally cracked the mixture of art and science to brew a mid-strength lager that tastes just as good as a regular pint," says Andy Cray, brand director for Carling.

 

Credibility

 

But "alcohol-free" lager - remember Barbican? - has never taken off. So what chance does the mid-strength stuff have?

 

"With lower-strength beer you have got to give the drinker some alcohol so they feel the product is genuine," says brand forensic expert Jonathan Gabay.

 

"Alcohol-free beers never took off because it was never seen as authentic. If the alcohol content of C2 was too low it would just be paying lip service to the proper stuff, but 2% could be just enough to give the product credibility.

 

"Carling understand it needs to be marketed as a genuine product, that's why they call it a 'proper pint'."

 

According to the breweries, it's all about making our lives easier. They understand people are busy and therefore need to fit socialising in with other activities. Full-strength alcohol is not always appropriate, so they have come up with an alternative.

 

How thoughtful.

 

The right occasions for such mid-strength lager? According to the breweries it's perfect for a swift one-at-lunch pint, a cheeky on-the-way-home pint, a rewarding after-football-training pint or a responsible big-meeting-tomorrow pint.

 

But it doesn't take a genius to work out the benefits of launching such brands. Carling already sells 1.5 billion pints a year. If it can persuade drinkers to buy twice as much lager without getting twice as drunk, it will be laughing. Even better if they can get people to drink beer on occasions when they usually wouldn't have.

 

Imitation

 

And not everyone is toasting this new dawn in drinking. Carling has been criticised for its marketing pitch, particularly C2's "More Time In the Pub" slogan. While Alcohol Concern welcomes the trend, promoting mid-strength beers as a way to spend more time in the pub is not positive.

 

"Simply drinking lower-strength products does not solve much," says a spokesman. "Especially if you are using it as a reason to stay in the pub longer. You could end up drinking just the same amount."

 

Carling says it takes alcohol responsibility seriously and carefully followed advertising regulations to ensure responsible marketing and promotion of C2.

 

And heavily-girthed drinkers who might be looking to the mid-strength trend for a healthier option could be disappointed, says one expert.

 

 

"Just because something has the word low or lite on the label does not necessarily mean it is better for you," says a spokeswoman for the British Nutrition Foundation.

 

"Take some low-fat products, there might be less fat but often there is more sugar and the calorific content is higher than the full-fat alternative."

 

But ultimately its success all comes down to the traditional lager drinker, so what do they think of the concept?

 

"To me it's like skimmed milk," says Tom Daley, 31. "It's just a pale imitation of the real stuff. What's the point?"

Edited November 9, 2006 by Gilps

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