The brewery, best known for its cask beer and famous brands such as Hophead and Revelation, is launching its own lager in 330m cans and keg formats.
Created in just over 18 months of development, the beer is brewed at Dark Star’s Partridge Green brewery situated just north of the South Downs. The lager is described as "a true Helles style" – clean tasting with some sweetness from the German pilsner malt, with an authentic noble hop aroma from the Hallertau Mittlefruh hops.
Alternative to 'big generic brands'
Dark Star Brewing managing director James Cuthbertson said the beer was born out of demand for craft lager as drinkers turn away from mainstream brands.
“There’s no doubt that the ‘craft lager’ sector is in steep growth and we’re seeing that demand coming through in our own pubs,” he said. “This, coupled with the amount of interest we’re seeing in our launch since we started talking to customers about it, makes us certain that this trend is set to continue.
“Consumers who are lager fans are just looking for something different from the the big generic brands.”
Great lager takes time
On the production process of the lager, Cuthbertson added: “We’ve been looking to introduce our own lager for almost two years now, but it was vital that we arrived at a product we are really proud of, and this Helles style lager is exactly that.
“As with cask beer, drinkers can tell if you take shortcuts on ingredients or process, after all, to be true to the lagering process, great lager takes time, so as with our cask beer, we’ve dedicated ourselves to creating a product that we think can be considered best in class.”
Earlier this month, Dark Star launched a new set of beer mats to remind pub customers that UK pubs raise more than £100m every year for charity.