10 December: National Lager Day

Today is National Lager Day, so here are some facts about lager.

1. Ales have been brewed for over seven thousand years but lager is a relatively new drink, dating back to 16th century Bavaria. There, they'd often store their ales in ice caves over Winter, and discovered that it carried on fermenting, with the yeast eventually settling at the bottom of the tank, resulting in a clear, crisp tasting ale.
2. The word actually comes from the German word for a storeroom, and the verb "lagern" meaning to store.
3. In 1840 a brewer named John Wagner from Philadelphia visited a Bavarian brewery and brought lager yeast and the method of making it back to the USA. In the UK, Lager was first brewed in Scotland in 1884 by Hugh Tennent.
4. In 1961, lager only accounted for 1% of beer sales. It grew in popularity during the hot summers of 1975 and 1976, when Heineken marketed it as a refreshing drink.
5. 1970s lager ads have some of the most memorable catchphrases, examples being “I bet he drinks Carling Black Label” and “Australians wouldn’t give a Castlemaine XXXX for anything else”.
6. Carling is the UK's best selling lager, and is the sponsor of the Football Premier League.
7. Lagers have a long history of sponsoring things. Tennent’s Lager was the official beer supplier to Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show in 1892.
8. In the James Bond movie Skyfall, Bond was drinking Heineken rather than his usual shaken not stirred Martini. Heineken paid £28 million for that to happen.
9. The first lagers were darker in colour than most lagers today, although there is still a variety of colours and flavours depending on production methods and ingredients.
10. A pint of lager contains about 233 calories.

New!

Jack Ward, President of Innovia, owes his life twice over to the enigmatic superhero, dubbed Power Blaster by the press. No-one knows who Power Blaster is or where he comes from - and he wants it to stay that way.

Scientist Desi Troyes has developed a nuclear bomb to counter the ever present threat of an asteroid hitting the planet. When Ward signs the order giving the go ahead for a nuclear test on the remote Bird Island, he has no inkling of Troyes' real agenda, and that he has signed the death warrants of millions of people.

Although the island should have been evacuated, there are people still there: some from the distant continent of Classica; protesters opposed to the bomb test; and Innovians who will not, or cannot, use their communication devices.

Power Blaster knows he must stop the bomb from hitting the island. He also knows it may be the last thing he ever does.

Meanwhile in Innovia, Ward and his staff gather to watch the broadcast of the test. Nobody, not even Troyes himself, has any idea what is about to happen.

Part One of The Raiders Trilogy.

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