Long term readers of Freakytrigger will remember me mentioning on the Publog about a year and a half ago, that Carling were dipping their toes in the weak as piss lager market (currently territory of Tesco’s own Lager). Those who don’t remember the story can read it here : THEN COME RIGHT BACK.
Back then I was led to believe it was called Carling 2 0, this appears to now have been changed to Carling C2. I saw the first billboard ad for it this morning on the Caledonian Road. Apparently the lager has been tested in the Midlands and has been a minor hit. Though I am kind of relying on the Coors website for these details. Of course the website puffs it up, I will be particularly bearing in mind this quote when I get round to tasting it:
“After 8 years, 786 recipes and the development of a new brewing technique, C2 is a product we are proud to put the Carling name to.”
Which begs the questions, what with the taste of Carling Black Label, their pride comes cheap. Not to mention wondering if Recipe One was a Half of Carling Black Label, and a Half of Perrier. That said, on the whole I am for this development, pushing for lower alcohol lager does do many of the things the company suggests, including giving you “More Pub Time”. The whole push of this campaign seems to be “Spend more time in the pub”. As a booster of the pub experience I can only applaud this. It stands in stark contrast to those who would probably be the big enemies of Carling C2: namely CAMRA who are only starting to come round to realising that they have won the beer argument, and its the pub argument they have to win. The only downside is I don’t really trust the brewers (chemists) at Coors/Carling to make this weak lager taste in any way pleasant.
The ad I saw this morning had the strap-line “The swift one at lunch beer”. Other strap-lines for the campaign will include:
-The swift one on the way home pint
-The big meeting tomorrow pint
-The 19th Hole Pint
-The pint after training (Bad JPG nicked from the Coors site of the last one).
So Publoggers, keep your eyes out and I want reports of how the Carling C2 experience is for you. And then get wasted on wifebeater like normal…