Coopers Brewery
Coopers Clear
Low-carb lager
355ml 4.5% ABV

You have to love the Coopers Brewery, even when they bring out a beer like this. There is no attempt to sell you on the idea that they have revolutionised the brewing world, there is no claiming that they are doing something original or ‘innovating’, or that you will be blown away by a flavour experience. The only claim that they make is that if they are entering this market, they will do it as well as they can.

So far as it goes, if you strip away the marketing adjectives, the low-carb market that Coopers has entered isn’t one that lends itself to descriptive flavour adjectives. Once ‘sessional’ and ‘refreshing’ have been used, there isn’t much to say about these beers. But then, that is the point of them and Coopers make no pretence otherwise.

Coopers Clear pours a very pale yellow under a very white head. There is a sweetness to the aroma that is matched, surprisingly–given it is a “dry” beer—by the taste. At 14 IBUs it is ever so slightly more bitter than some in this category. It is all that it claims to be, whether explicity or implied through its bottle and branding…crisp, easy-drinking and refreshing, perfect if that’s how you like your beers.

This is a pragmatic beer that says more about the current beer market than it does about Coopers. It certainly hold its own amongst its competitors, and your choice of summer beers is more likely to be determined by brand perceptions than anything else, and here Coopers’ name carries considerable weight. It won’t cannibalise any of Coopers’ current market, but may bring a few more to the Coopers fold.

You’ll probably like this if: You liked Steve Martin in ‘The Pink Panther’ and don’t know who Peter Sellars is.