# Haagen Lager Beer By Independant Brewers



## die sudhausanlage (21/3/05)

I Just bought a 6er of Haagen Lager. The brewers claim it is a german style lager. 

Unfortunately it left me a little cold. I found it lacked such things as body and unfortunately taste.

Two key ingredients I look for in a beer. 

Plus it set me back close to $14. 

Is This beer another attempt to woo us back to the fold?

Is this beer over priced MegaSwill in Sheeps Clothing.

What are your thoughts on this beer.

Cheers.

DS


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## Dunkel_Boy (21/3/05)

Hmmm, that's a bit expensive for a 6er, they are around $10 here.
I've found it varies a bit between extreme cereal tastes/skunkiness and even some diacetyl, to actually fairly drinkable... it's a lucky dip though I think.
I saw a guy on a train with a Haagen shirt once, he said he got it from Germany and it's a German beer... so I guess Independant Breweries are just making it on behalf of Haagen, like we do with Guiness at CUB at Yatala.


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## vlbaby (21/3/05)

I've tried Haagen before, I thought it wasn't too bad. Better than vb and the like. But i gotta admit I'm not that fussy when a beer is handed to me for free.


vlbaby.


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## redbeard (21/3/05)

workmate found cartons of haagen at hurstville area bottlos for $30 or so. he does k&k and says they are a cut above vb & brewed in syd or melb - cant rememeber which. bit like the $30 blue cartons of imported mariner? (cant think of name) made by heiniken at 1st estate etc.


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## barfridge (22/3/05)

redbeard: you mean amsterdam mariner. I shared a carton over the weekend, and it's not a bad drop, I'd even go as far as saying its possibly the best beer you can buy for under $30 a carton.

Anyone care to disagree? Of course to settle any arguments you will have to send the beers to me for impartial taste testing. :glug:


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## Backlane Brewery (22/3/05)

Can't comment on Mariner (though my brew comes in at less than $30 a case BF!)
but AFAIK Haagen is yet another "batch beer" like Blowfly, Stockade, Chopper etc that are made in commercial breweries that don't have an in-house or flagship brand of their own & will brew anything they are asked to.
Haagen being an OS brand, maybe someone has got the recipe & rights to make up something called Haagen for the Australian market, and just gets it made up? When I have seen it, it is being sold on price alone, not quality or anything else.

that'll be .02c thanks.


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## sluggerdog (22/3/05)

I didn't mind it, only had the gold but it was the cheapest beer in my bottle - o when I tried it, was selling the gold for around $20 a carton. When your poor that's liquid gold IMO.

Cheaper the XXXX, VB, etc etc and better.


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## THE DRUNK ARAB (22/3/05)

barfridge said:


> redbeard: you mean amsterdam mariner. I shared a carton over the weekend, and it's not a bad drop, I'd even go as far as saying its possibly the best beer you can buy for under $30 a carton.
> 
> Anyone care to disagree? Of course to settle any arguments you will have to send the beers to me for impartial taste testing. :glug:
> [post="50094"][/post]​




I agree with barfridge on the Mariner, really good value for the price!

C&B
TDA


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## Jim - Perth (22/3/05)

For a commercial beer under $30, the Mariner is hard to beat. I've been told, but haven't verified, that it's made by Grolsch.


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## Dunkel_Boy (22/3/05)

I imagine Haagen would be better in Germany, where they stick by the Reinheitsgeboht, however you spell it. I imagine they pack the Haagen full of Nutri Grain over here... Mariner isn't bad, but very Dutch... I'm not a fan of the Dutch, or their beer.


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## redbeard (22/3/05)

Jim - Perth said:


> For a commercial beer under $30, the Mariner is hard to beat. I've been told, but haven't verified, that it's made by Grolsch.
> [post="50143"][/post]​



your right. its grolsch. i just did a google. i was in the right part of the world


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## tonydav (3/7/05)

I really wish I'd read this thread *before* I bought a carton of this stuff. 

Needed some beer to take on hols and saw this stuff for a bit over $30. Well it certainly reads better on the pack than it tastes. Really just another Tooheys/VB to my thinking. Alright by itself but as I'd bought a mixed bag of brews it tasted particularly crap after the Grolsh and Lowenbrau (I particularly liked this), and also average after the various Monteiths I'd bought to try as well.


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## Kai (3/7/05)

I've tried it. It's rubbish.


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## kook (4/7/05)

Generic bland lager.


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## tdh (4/7/05)

Found this on the independent Distillers website - the wanky German spelling (chuck a couple of dots on top of a vowel trick), getting an award in FHM and some plonker who can't spell lager all add up to making me suspicious.

tdh

quote from their website "Our beer, Haagen Lager, is a premium beer naturally brewed from the finest ingredients under the German beer purity law (Reinheitsgebot) here in Australia. Haagen Larger is a medium bodied malt lager, which has a slight bitterness on the palate, finishing with a clean mild malt flavor and a slight dryness. Manufacturing of Haagen in Australia means we can offer it at a very affordable price point to both retailers and consumers. Haagen Lager is available in three strengths Full strength, Mid strength and Premium light. Haagen Lager recently has received an award in the top five imported beers for Australia by FHM Magazine. "


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## tonydav (4/7/05)

Well it certainly tastes like no beer that I've drunk that's been made under the Reinheitsgebot law. And funnily enough there's no mention of it on the bottle.

I suspect it's as Backlane Brewery suggested and maybe a good OS beer made to the usual shitty Australian standards.

I still think Amstel is my pick of $30 or so beer. Don't mind the Amsterdam Mariner but to my taste the Amstel is better. They are obviously doing something to it as Woolies liquor had the 6 packs at runout of about $7 or $8 a couple of weeks ago. Hope it's only a change in packaging and not a line being dropped.

tony


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## Sean (4/7/05)

> Haagen Lager is available in three strengths Full strength, Mid strength and Premium light.


"Premium Light" doesn't sound very German either.

This sentence translates as "Haagen Lager has been bastardised for the Australian market."



> Well it certainly tastes like no beer that I've drunk that's been made under the Reinheitsgebot law.


It's perfectly possible to brew crap beer within Reinheitsgebot rules (and good beer without) - in fact there are plenty of them out there. Generally they don't bother to mention it though.

The Reinheitsgebot isn't a magic formula for good beer.


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## petesbrew (3/7/06)

Bought some Haagen light yesterday for $20 a slab. I'm not complaining. 
It tastes better than Hahn Light.


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## wessmith (3/7/06)

The Haagen brand is owned by Independant Distillers and their parent NZ company. They produce the Haagen brand along with a couple of other brands of their own at their Laverton plant in Melbourne. AFAIK, they dont contract brew for anyone.

In any event, beer is a sideline for them - the main role of the (very large) brewery is producing the malt base for the RTD's like Woodstock etc.

Wes


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## mhan7073 (3/7/06)

Hi,

I know that both Haagen and Amsterdam Mariner have a deal running with Dan Murphy's. A mate of mine who works there said that there is (was) a signage system to indicate to staff what products have the biggest margin, and therefore which to recommend to customers if you don't have a recommendation. Both Haagen and Mariner are high margin beers.

But 14 dollars a six pack is ridiculous, I think I paid 8.99 for a six pack of haagen. As long as you don't think you're buying imported beer, just treat it as beer that costs the same as VB but tastes a bit better.

Did anyone see the cans of Heineken that are in from Holland? I think they were brewed for some football (soccer) event in Europe (not the world cup). Anyway I had a look and it clearly stated they were brewed in Holland, there was no this beer was brewed under liscence by whoever. I definately know the difference between dutch, australian and kiwi heineken (the latter is so cheap in NZ I always end up buying it and then remember its not the real deal). I was however a bit hesitant to buy canned beer, because breweries usually send dodgy batches to the canning line. The first three cans were fine (500ml), and I thought the 4th was a bit dodgy, but that could have been my palate retarding.

No affiliation blah but I know someone who works there (don't worry he can't get me a discount so whats the point)

Mic


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## barneyhanway (3/7/06)

Independent brew a few under licence in NZ, they got into it after seeing how popular locally brewed Heineken and Stella were here. They command imported beer prices but are often specialed.
They brew (in South Auckland) Carling, Grolsh, Carlsberg and Kingfisher I think, and maybe one or two more?
Haagen I don't think is in any way German. Its a kiwi wannabe as far as I know.

Independent Liqour started out as a family business trying to compete on the same commercial level as the two other big boys in NZ - Lion Nathan and Dominion Breweries.
It's the company responsible for alco-pops in New Zealand, and made a huge name for themselves exporting them to the UK and starting the RTD revolution.
The founder, Michael Erceg got really rich pretty damn quickly, apparantly an amazing feller to work for, a really super chap.
He died tragically in a helicopter accident late last year, unfortunately Lion Nathan is leading the tipping for a takeover bid.


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## Franko (3/7/06)

I dont mind swilling a case of the Haagen down every so often at $30 a case its good value


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## mongo (3/7/06)

I quite liked the Haagen when I tried it.


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## Millet Man (3/7/06)

Independant distillers also make the stuff for Aldi in Vic (MVP???) and it's only about $26 a case and less than $20 for the light. It's what visitors to my place get if they don't have any tastebuds.

Cheers, Andrew.


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## PistolPatch (3/7/06)

I drink light beers as swill beers after work. I get Haagen Premium Light for $21 a carton and it is my favourite light beer. I'd certainly pay more for it. It's not spectacular but I reckon that it is superior.

As Dunkel Boy mentioned, there can be a bit of variation. I've had several cases that are not quite right and one that I wouldn't drink. I'm prety sure that these case have been exposed to very high temperatures. The good cases (95% of them) have been great.

I remember that I didn't like their mid-strength much. Don't remember what the full-strength was like.

Cheers
PP


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## petesbrew (3/7/06)

Millet Man said:


> Independant distillers also make the stuff for Aldi in Vic (MVP???) and it's only about $26 a case and less than $20 for the light. It's what visitors to my place get if they don't have any tastebuds.
> 
> Cheers, Andrew.



Yeah, not worth wasting good homebrew on them folk...


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## jeremy (3/7/06)

I used to drink Haagen all the time. To echo sentiments already expressed, "great value for $30". As I was at uni for the past 3 years, this was a nice beer for a good price. 

Has anyone ever seen other beers made by Independant Breweries? I remember a couple years ago, for a short while, a local bottle shop used to sell "Regal Lager" and "Blacksmith Bitter". While these were not the nicest beers I had ever tried, they were on par with low quality beers such as West End and the like. Best thing about them was the fact that you could get a carton of 24 x 440ml cans for $26. Fantastic value, for poor quality beer!

Jeremy.


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## Jazman (3/7/06)

i had it in nz it ok for a swiller better than vb or west end dirt


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