March 22, 2009: Tiger Beer

I don't really remember my father as a drinker. He's been sober for almost twenty years now, but even before my Dad quit drinking he wasn't exactly an alcoholic. The details of my Dad's young adult life are pretty fuzzy for me, because my father never really talks about those days, not to mention that he's never really been much of a party animal. I like to imagine what my dad was like in his college days at Berkeley in the 70's. I can just see him sweeping back his fine, shoulder length hair and smoking a parliament or pall mall or something. Surely he had to have let down his guard and cut loose every now and then. His past is like a jigsaw puzzle, and I'm trying to put the pieces together and learn more about him every day.

One thing I remember my Dad talking about in his college days was a beer called Tiger. To this day, whenever my brothers and I talk about beer, my dad will inevitably mention Malaysian Tiger Beer, and how it was all he drank in college. For a long time I thought my Dad was just messing with me, until I finally found the fabled lager sitting on the shelves of my local shop. Tonight's beer is Tiger, and I've chosen it for obvious reasons.

One of the most interesting aspects of this beer is the strong flavor of corn that is present throughout. Corn isn't a really common flavor to find in a beer, but this beer was as corny as they get. Tiger is a pretty mellow lager with little to no head, that goes flat pretty quickly after being poured. I noticed a strong resemblance between Tiger Beer, and some of the Indian lagers that I had tried earlier in the 365brews project. Not the highest quality lager that I've tasted to come out of Asia, but definitely a solid choice if you want a light lager with character. I can see why my father liked the Malaysian Tiger Bee; It's just tasty enough to be drinkable and esoteric enough to feel exotic and unique. I'll definitely drink this beer again one day, I just wish that they made a non-alcoholic version so I could share it with my Dad and talk about the old days for a little while.

Minum!
Ian

http://www.tigerbeer.us/