Baadog describes itself as a “Mongolian craft beer”, brewed under licence (in Ireland, apparently) for the for the Mongolian Barbeque chain of restaurants. We weren’t expecting much — another slightly dull, fizzy “world lager”, perhaps, like British-brewed Asahi?
In fact, it’s pretty good and way exceeded our expectations. It’s almost brassy in colour, slightly cloudy and accented towards the malt. Ratebeer has it classified as a Vienna-style lager.
Whatever the origins, it’s nice to see restauranteurs coming up with an interesting beer to go with their food rather than just sticking with wine, or filling their fridges with Becks, Stella and the appalling San Bloody Miguel.
We picked this up from Paul’s Wines on Orford Road in Walthamstow.
Picture by Tiarescott at Flickr, under Creative Commons.
8 replies on “Pretend Mongolian beer better than expected”
Celtic Brew also made Shiva lager for a Nepalese-themed Irish restaurant group, and I think is also behind the house lager of the Mao chain. Sadly, they no longer produce their own Finian’s range, concentrating more on their import business.
That article is over ten years old, mind, so it’s quite possible they’re no longer brewing this either. I must check it out. Haven’t been to the Mongolian Barbeque in years. I did love the way you always end up with the same thing however you mix it…
Sounds like my kind of beer. I think the best Vienna style lager that is widely available is Brooklyn Lager. How does this beer compare to the Brooklyn?
It’s not as good as Brooklyn by a long chalk. Mmmm. Brooklyn.
re restaurateurs and brewing, I wonder if you have tried Mamma Mia Pizza Beer? I met a man in Chicago who claimed to be the brains behind this (I was buying Sam Smith’s Oatmeal Stout at the time…he was MOST complimentary about that!), but I never sampled it myself. He said it was THE thing to drink with Pizza – well he would, wouldn’t he?
Is that the one with oregano in it?
You can’t cuss down San Miguel! Did you never go on Club 18-30 holidays when you were younger? Did you never drink San Mig from cheap 1 litre bottles on the balcony before going out on the smash and grab in San Antonio town?
Yeah, I see it now. You tell the truth – you really are beer geeks!
We’ll drink all sorts on holiday — we’re not that fussy — but San Miguel is last resort territory. It’s really, really rank.
And, no, funnily enough, we’ve never been on Club 18-30 holidays. They look kind of… horrible?
You seem to miss the point. Of course they’re horrible, but you don’t know that when you book your first one to Ibiza while revising for the GCSEs, together with a group of about 20 lads, at least half of whom will succumb to minor STDs or moped-related injuries by the end of the first three days.
Me and three mates actually went on one of those holidays when we were about 25, as a sort of last hurrah. It was when Euro 2004 was on, so it was extra lairy. Absolutely brilliant. I put some photos up from that holiday on the blog about a year ago – us with one of those beer tower things filled with Lowenbrau.