I was in Spain recently and can confirm both estrella and san Miguel are both 5.4% and are totally different beers to the rubbish that we’re sold in the UK
@@robertturner2719 yep I believe you are correct, it's definitely a lower ABV. I haven't bought it for years but the bottles used to say it was brewed in Spain. Things do change though as I hadn't realised Singha is now brewed in the UK but I'm told it now is
To be honest, I'm at the end of my teather, with beer getting weaker just so the brewers can save a bit of tax, and fed up of decent foreign beer having its production moved to the UK again to make an inferior product. I've basically given up on just about anything in cans from the supermarkets, apart from Pilsner Urquell or Budvar now, if I cancy a refreshing lager rather than an ale. We have some great regional/craft beers (my own local brewer, Pilgrim in Reigate do *amazing* beers), but I can't even be bothered to go to a pub and pay a modest fortune, for poor, UK Burton brewed nasty lagers. I don't get why having the best possible porduct is so unimportant to these poeple! The giveaway is the Alcohol. Anyhting at 4.8% you know was a beer that got tinkered with for tax, not flavour reasons these days. And I'm not spending my money on them. Surely there must be others like me, who don't just view it as a "commodity", and are not buying anymore.
There’s more problems than that with beer in the uk, you can go from one pub to another, buy the same beer you had in the previous pub and it’s totally different! I just can’t understand. I’ve been living in the Netherlands for a few years, and pretty much every beer tastes identical to the equivalent in all pubs. Even the really crap beers here are also drinkable compared to the UK. It is rubbish how they treat us, must be the they’ll drink anything attitude they have to British consimers
Yep, year after year the alcohol content gets lower, 5.0& becomes 4.8%, 4.8% becomes 4.6% and so on. It comes to something when my eyebrows are raised whenever I see a lager with 5% or above ABV. And on that subject I'm now regularly buying ASDA's Champigneulles lager, 5.5%, just £1.10 per bottle and tastes great to my palate. Don't think there's a better value lager around at the moment.
100% these rubbish supermarket beers all tend to be 4.8%. Iv resorted to drinking Polish lager at least there genuine apart from Tyskie thats now been kindly watered for us.
You are spot on here Staropramen brewed in Prague, very good. Staropramen brewed in uk, shocking Moretti brewed in Italy, excellent Moretti brewed in uk, very poor And so on etc
Glad you've highlighted this Simon i tried it after been recommended it and its nothing more than glorified Carling at double the price. As with most "European lagers" sold in this country there watered down for the brits.
This beer isn't like Madri tho'. Madri is an invention of the 21st century and has nothing to do with Spain. Cruzcampo has been around in Spain for some time. San Miguel is a Phillipino beer adopted by the Spanish as their own. Carling is a Canadian beer adopted by the English as their own. Madri is from nowhere. A beer with no provenance.
Madrí is dirt. It's like the old Black Label Carling from South Africa. Cruzcampo in Spain is nice enough. I will drink extra cold litre bottles in The Canary Islands every few months when I visit and it goes down a treat. I know the Spanish don't really appreciate Cruzcampo, but it's better than San Miguel and Estrella Damm for my person taste.
Madri is known as an old 80s carling recipe they’ve brought back ..nothing to do with spain. The only way you can really review this beer and keep talking about out Spanish beer is to have a uk and a Spanish brewed side by side
The Cruzcampo on the Sub is the real deal at 5.6% it's a lovely beer for the summer. This stuff will be nothing like the original. They've just bought the name and brewed some swill. Best avoided. Cheers 🍻
I remember years ago that Wetherspoons sold Czech beer "Kozel" for £1 a bottle, it was the best lager I had ever tasted and have not drunk our Carling, Fosters drool etc ever since. I bought a bottle of Grolsh on a ferry to France which was brewed in Holland not the PISS poor brewed UK stuff, absolutely wonderful stuff. Always read the back of these Supermarket lagers guys, if it says brewed in the UK leave it there and buy a good German or Continental beer.. Sooner or later our so called "Brewers" will make a better lager...🍻
Very good review Simon and good your blowing the myths that these foreign beers are now and have been brewed in the UK,which is nothing like the original Spanish beers,having drank Spanish beers myself having lived in Spain 12 years,Estrella damn,San Miguel,cruzcampo,all nice beers in Spain!,sadly not brewed here!,especially Madri horrible stuff!
Yep, been telling this to people for sometime now, nothing like the Spanish Version. I imagine it's been released on the back of the success of 'Spanish Lager ', Madri , (brewed in England), that is everywhere in UK pubs and bars like Japanese knotweed. Best by far of the Spanish Lagers is Moritz, closely followed by 5 star red Mahou and Alhambra reserva 1925, which has a beautiful bottle design. Love the Channel mate. Superb.
I still have Cruzcampo beer mats which i got from the Barry Hotel's side bar when it was called Ziggys back in the 90's , was probably real Spanish beer then.
I reviewed this too hated it and everything it stands for! I'm really happy you did it too mate as a big channel to help spread the fakeness hopefully they sell less of it thanks to the likes of us! I've since tried it on tap also awful stuff all i could taste was syrup shame on Heineken. cheers bosh 🍻
I bought a ten can case of Cruzcampo from Tesco, had a completely different taste from the lovely malty lager I drink Regularly in Spain. In my opinion the best Cerveza to drink in Spain is El Aguila sin filtrar. 🍺🍺🍺🍺😋😋😋😋
Spot on Simon. The labels and adverts for these UK brewed beers are taking the piss. Moretti is another example. Look at the TV ad in Italian , even though its brewed in Tadcaster. And the New York ad for Brooklyn beer...
I've had Cruz Campo in Spain and enjoyed it. My local's just started serving it, and it's like water. The same happened to Samuel Adams Boston Lager. A beautiful beer on import then they started brewing it here and ruined it by removing all the taste.
@@jasonpratt927 yes, I agree. Franziskaner is often in Asda but Tesco don't usually have it and I get my deliveries from Tesco. No reason I can't alternate with Asda of course.
I was in Sevilla a few years ago staying with friends (locals). The people there weren't pleased that Heineken had bought CruzCampo - there were murmurings that they'd ruined it.
@@andrewsteer8860I am not sure what point you are trying to make. OP simply stated that they had been to Sevilla a few years ago and some locals they spoke to weren’t pleased that Heineken bought the brewery. It being 24 years doesn’t change any of those facts, you can still grumble about things that happened 24 years ago.
The thing that irks me most about Cruzcampo is that Heineken didn't even begin importing it before shifting the brewing to the UK. A lot of the other UK-brewed beers began their life in the UK through as a genuine import from the original brewing location; when the giant breweries see it doing well, they then buy the UK rights to it and start brewing it in the UK. Corona is one of the most-recent examples I can think of. I wouldn't have a problem with it if the beer was of good quality. This UK-brewed Cruzcampo is an embarrassment of a beer, and it is quite funny that the genuine Spanish Cruzcampo is poorly thought of in Spain. Madri, on the other hand, I actually don't mind, and I recall you being of the same opinion when you reviewed it on the channel. This is a quick move for Heineken to get a slice of the Madri pie without the marketing investment that Molson Coors made.
Its strange that food can get a regional protection status in the UK due to EU rules, but Beer cant, If Diageo set up a Guinness Brewery in Sheffield no one would bat an Eyelid, but Cornish pasties, pork Pies, Cheeses, French Champagne and wines and its off to court in Strasbourg if they are cloned. Wonder why a Spanish brand can be brewed in the UK and no one seems to care??? If a beer is going to be cloned, at least clone it...
Newcastle Brown Ale had EU protected status i.e it could only be brewed in Newcastle. But when S&N closed Tyne Brewery and moved production to the Federation brewery in Gateshead they had to remove the protected status. Now it's even brewed in Holland.
Thank you for this review, I had my doubts about this beer seeing this on the shelf and haven't touched it at all and you've confirmed my doubts were valid
I agree with you regarding the law on this, I don't know what to buy anymore in the supermarket so usually just buy something that I know is brewed where it is supposed to be and that is Guinness. This UK brewed stuff is nothing like the original and it all tastes the same in my opinion - cheap. I did try this Cruzcampo the other day and I just thought it tasted malty and that was it, the only reason I would go back to it is that it is made by Heineken and they don't tend to use as many adjuncts as others so I don't feel ill next day after just 2 or 3 which is 99% or UK brewed beers for me.
I still have some cans of cruzcampo I bought back from Spain earlier this year, and I didn’t think the taste between the British and Spanish versions was much different. Cruzcampo Especial is a much better beer with a abv of 5.6% This is the version you often find on draft in Spanish bars. It’s also available on the sub in the UK and it’s awesome on a hot summer’s day.
As soon as you say "an astringent bitterness on the back end...", that's my code phrase for drain pour. Ha ha Thanks for helping me to dodge a bullet. :)
So true nowadays for many imported beers. They usually say brewed under license and that they follow the same brewing tradition, but the alcohol content is often very different, and usually taste worse.
This beer always makes me chuckle. Don’t know if this is true or not, but I worked with a Spanish guy once and he told me it was a bit of a parody beer in Spain. I.E. if some asks ‘Do you want a beer?’, and you reply ‘Yes, I’ll have a Gruzcampo’… in turn they’ll reply ‘I asked if you wanted a beer’ lol. He didn’t seem to think it was a great beer 😂
To be fair estrella Galicia ( not estrella damm) is a very good beer from northern Spain , lovely on draft if you can find it , but decent in bottles Also ❤
Wish beers in UK would have some cigarette style warning with a union jack or something saying made here or a export flag. I bought a box of these and was really disappointed with how crappy they were also get headaches from the more glucose sucrose style ones.
I was talking to the Estrella guy in Barcelona a few months back and I asked him if it's genuine for the UK ,and he claimed it was brewed in Barcelona and bottled in the UK! Not sure if he was telling porkies.
Defo all brewed in Barca! - identical recipe - they just drop the ABV for the U.K. market…..and let’s be honest - it’s the booze that makes it delicious! 😂
Spot on. You completely echo what I often say. But there again I think most UK mass brewed lager is like fizzy pop. Just a variant of the disgusting Carling. For drinkers who just want to get drunk. Whereas if you want to savour the flavour you must seek it out. From craft breweries or drink genuine foreign beers. That is why German beer is still imported and not replicated in the UK. I hope the likes of Warsteiner, Krombacher, Bitburg and so on don't go down the route of Becks!! You are right though, perhaps they should be more transparent about the brewing origins. A big label on the front might do. I also acknowledge its freedom of choice too and there are plenty of good UK brewed Lagers and other beers.
Spot on, bought some on holiday in Cornwall in summer as it was on offer. Had a few in the garden, terrible nights sleep. Looked at the ingredients, Glucose Syrup. Its nasty stuff. That awful fake sweetness just hits you and removes any other chance the beer had to taste OK. Never buying it again.
Up until a few years ago a local shop used to still sell the German brewed Becks and the Belgium brewed Stella Artois, and they are world's apart from the domestic brewed counterparts. I can only assume they stopped selling due to difficulties (cost/rules/availability) due to the dreaded word Brexit. Whatever the reason its a shame we have difficulty getting original country brewed lagers
Judging by the comments, Unpopular opinion I know - I didn't think this lager was too bad, especially on a hot summers day or if your mid way through a weekend sesh and flagging a bit. Not tried the proper Spanish brewed Cruzcampo as of yet but I get what you mean about 'Nothing about it' in regards to taste. It is light and at 4.4% I wasn't expecting earth shattering flavour profiles or a quick route to a hangover, but compared to Fosters, Carling or Carlsburg it isn't THAT bad if you want something to share out at your garden BBQ.
love what you do and i agree with everything you say,unfortunately we are not in the majority when it comes to taste over label,for the record i still miss tetleys bitter as it was
The problem is in this day and age, shipping beer around the world isn't very P.C. The wine industry get away with it by shipping the liquid in massive bases then bottling it in the country its going to be drunk in. This doesn't work for beer.
I go to Adalucia on a regular basis because my father in law has an appartment there and its free. To be honest I dont think much of Cruzcampo even in Spain. Its usually cheaper than San Miquel....and dirt cheap in Lidl and Aldi. So there is noway its going to get any better brewed over here.
If you read the magazines circulated by the brewers, Cruz campo and Madri are nothing more than extra hopped Carling, sold as Mediterranean lager. As to your point about legal sell in the UK, if you think Yorkshire tea is made from tea grown in Yorkshire, then you will be disappointed but it has to say on adverts "brewed in the UK" in normally very small writing.
I suspect these "brewed under licence" lagers are so bad because they are made from cheap ingredients and don't get "lager'ed" for the same length of time they do in Spain, Italy or wherever, to cut the costs and the result is a crap product. I used to think it was because British water and conditions weren't compatible with decent lager, but Czech Mates by Thornbridge has proved that good quality lager can be made in the UK.
I worked in Sevilla for some time back in the 90’s and this was the beer of choice for me. A cracking lager hope this brewery hasn’t ruined this because I’m very tempted to try it anyway,but thanks for your review Simon…
Funnily enough the 660ml bottles of San Miguel you get in Tesco in Ireland and I guess in Barry are 5% and brewed in Malaga. I have always found Cruzcampo to be bland even the Spanish brewed version.
At this stage you have to wonder, are all these uk brewed Heineken beers the exact same beer with a different label? Also i think most Estrella is actually still brewed in barcelona, the glass bottles are anyway, tastes very different (bad) on tap in uk though
Surely almost everyone knows these types of beers are brewed in the UK? Instead of the small percentage you suggested Si... not hating I love the channel, long time viewer
The rot started 40 years ago. Its purely a business decision coupled with adhering to local markets tax policies. The pub at the end of my street sells the draught version at a premium price of £5.50. Its very popular as are the others. Occasionally a newbie will come in and ask for a Carling and the pub doesn't sell it and they get Fosters instead or a private label lager (think its from Carlisle), they always appear to be disappointed.
I'm guessing Cruzcampo was introduced here in the UK to compete with Madri, to be honest I actually enjoy them both but I think Madri is the better beer
There's a hard and fast rule I stick to with supermarket beer. If it's British brewed but is marketed as european / foreign beer - avoid it. Why do they need to make such an effort to market it that way if it was any good? You're right. Slap a Spanish label on any old rubbish and people buy it. If it's genuine import beer, it's almost always worth a go.
Most Italian and Spanish and even Czech lagers/pilsners are brewed in UK these days. A few that are still the real are pilsner Urquell, Budvar and Peroni and I believe bottled Tyskie.
in fact, so many beers and ales are being buggered about with. Leffe is now only 6% instead of 6.6, even Bishops Finger has been reduced to 5.2% barely deserves the "Kentish strong ale" branding....
I’ve had a few cans of this on special offer…. I’d rather drink fosters and that’s saying something, definitely not buying again….. I know madri IS a UK beer plain and simple but I do actually like it and I definitely prefer it to this, shocked that it was only 4.4% too, probably a sign of the times 🙁
It doesnt surprise me it isnt the same . I believe it is mainly down to the water and ingredients being different ( not better or worse ) An interesting story ( true ) that occurred here in Spain some years ago is that San Miguel in Malaga acquired the licence to brew Carling ( now owned by Molson Coors ) in the Malaga brewery. It was a disaster . It was darker and much stronger in flavour than the UK Carling . The ABV was right though ( at least on the kegs ) Never saw it in cans or bottles though , just in the kegs . Many people were convinced it was not Carling , in fact you would imagine it was San Miguel with less ABV ! Lasted about 12 months , then it got cancelled .
A note on the Cruzcampo in Spain . I think it has a distinct character to it . Some say it isnt good but Ive had it in bottles , cans and draught and it is a dry , very hoppy aroma and taste. Not particularly sweet . Judging by your review I can tell its not the real deal . I would certainly avoid it if I were back in UK
I’ve moved to Helles Lager in my local, it’s bottled, miles more £ but it’s that or Madhri which seems to have taken off massively round where I live. All 🇬🇧 brewed stuff is toilet 🚽
This guy has his head screwed on when it comes to beer. The facebook groups of Perfect Draft are now up in arms over UK Brewed stella making its way to the PD. Many saying it doesn't matter where it's brewed. Well, it does unfortunately. Would love to see you review the new Stella on the PD
Had this in Spain and was good! Had this in the pub, and it was aright. I have not had the supermarket version yet. As of most uk brewed lager its got that kinda artifical sweetness.
Breweries should be banned from putting misleading labelling on their beers. If it's brewed in the UK it should be clearly identified as such and not hidden in some tiny print amongst all the Spanish/Italian.
When I lived in Spain years ago, this was my go to beer, along with San Miguel. This muck they're trying to palm off on us over here is real nasty stuff. Sooner just buy the Aldi and Lidl one's. At least their cheap and decent tasting
Try adding the peroni beers and a number of others “brewed in a bath in Walthamstow or wherever” and sold as traditional beers of origin Deceit in the extreme
Simon, I am a bit upset because my local Aldi has run out of Steinhausser over the last 3 days. It is in my opinion the best German beer. It is hoppy but not too hoppy. It is in my opinion a seriously underrated beer. It is Great
Totally agree Simon. Of the more common beers where I've been to in Spain, my preference was always Cruzcampo over the expat's favourite which was Mahou. I thought the UK brewed Cruzcampo was honestly awful. So disappointing 🍻
As an American, I'm fascinated by British pronunciations of various Spanish words. One of the most common food items in North America is a taco, but Brits somehow manage to pronounce this as "tack-oh." There are too many bizarre pronunciations to list, but I find it fascinating that despite all this, Brits will also say "Ibitha" with that Spanish lispy sound.
Any so called continental beer brewed in the U.K. with a lower alcohol content than the original should be rated a big fat zero ! It’s a fake and usually a crap one.
Want a proper Spanish beer victoria malaga or Estrella Damm this cruzcampo is heineken trying to get into the Spanish beer market in the uk now in Spain this is the worst selling beer no one buys it unless its a really hot day and you need a cold beer and anything will do
Tried this myself over the weekend. Tastes like a fosters or Brewdog larger, such a shame using the 'Spanish' name when there are great beers from Spain like Mahou
