Cusqueña Roja
Brewed by Backus y Johnston (AB InBev)
Style: Red Lager
Cusco, Peru
In the ancient ruins of Macchu Picchu, Peru, thousands go every year to experience the spiritual lands of the ancients in the hope they to can drink some special beer from the brewery Backus y Johnston, at the the seat of the Inca empire. Using pure mountain water sourced from the nearby Andes this beer was founded in 1911. Ok not quite way back in time, but good enough for me and for the general masses who have made it Peru’s number one beer.
On October 1, 1908, Ernesto Günther, and a group of investors, founded the Cervecera Alemana in the ancient city of Cusco. Their bottled brew proved a hit. Over time they changed their name to reflect local traditions, increased production and grew in popularity. By 2000, Backus and Johnston, the largest brewery in Peru, came a calling and took over the company.
Backus and Johnston, the big daddy of brewing in the country, with its headquarters in the capital Lima, is the largest brewery in Peru, and also produce bottled water, soft drinks and other alcoholic beverages. They have taken over many smaller breweries in the country, and run what some have called a monopoly in the beer market with complete ownership of all the most popular brands in the land.
Cusqueña beer comes in four main varieties that are sold throughout Peru: Cusqueña Dorada, a regular lager and the most popular beer in the land, a Cusqueña Roja, a red Lager, a Cusqueña Trigo, a typical Wheat Beer, and a black lager a Cusqueña Negra.
Review: 33cl reddish Bottle of Cusqueña Roja: ABV: 5 %
Coming in a narrow reddish bottle, with the image of the ruins of Machu Picchu in yellow on a label around the head of the bottle. Not a stand out look though it has to be said, would easily pass by it on the supermarket shelf.
On pour I get a dark orange colour with a reddish hue, with no real head to speak off. All fairly flat and not great. Dead in appearance.
The smell is malty and faint, not much to smell. Got a whiff of caramel.
On taste, oh its not great, tasteless, I am not getting anything substantial at all. A slight taste of the barely and caramel, on the initial taste, but that’s basically it, flavourless and has no bite to it with only the slightest bit of an aftertaste. Very dry in the mouth too.
Got the malts and the grains alright, and it certainly is very easy to drink, but not one I will be buying again in the future.
Ok for a light beer, drinkable, but not anything brilliant, quite the opposite in fact!. Perhaps it didn’t travel very well.
On the second bottle things picked up a bit for the beer.
The white head decided to stick around that bit longer, and its appearance wasn’t as flat looking as the first beer I had.
Ok got generally the same tastes, but this one was a little better to sip at, more to savor, and over the time it became a bit more manageable. The caramel and the malts came more to the fore. Still though, won’t be searching for it in the beer shop anytime soon!
“Fosters, the Australian for lager” or so they say, but is it really? I am sure we all have heard the stories at this stage that Aussies dont actually drink Fosters. Its like a funny weird game the company play with the public, the more people cotton onto this “fact” the more they flex their “Australian credentials” via advertisements and sponsorship of all things Australian. 
With this initial success, the brothers sold the company to make a quick buck and the company eventually ended up in the hands of the Carlton & United Breweries company. These days it is owned by the international brewing giant AB InBev, and its biggest market is in the UK (second only to Carling), distributed by Heineken International who own the European rights to the brand (SABMiller for the US and Molson in Canada) 
If I was surprised about the look, then I was shocked with the smell. There was none, NONE! Completely odorless. Pretty neat trick I think.
I’d expect them to canter in their group. Switzerland and Serbia are muck and Brazil will play some samba football putting them to the sword. Costa Rica might give them some game, but also wont have a chance of an upset. Nine points and lots of goals should see them ease into the second round where they might get to probably play Mexico. Belgium or even England in the last eight might be interesting but you would imagine that Brazil would edge them to make the semis. Might get France/Portugal/Spain in the semis to set up a possible final with Germany and a chance to really set the record straight. Now wouldn’t that be some final?
All eyes will be on Neymar, coming into the World Cup at 26 and in peak physical fitness, this really can his World Cup. I am also looking forward to seeing Liverpool ace, Roberto Firmino, and also Gabriel Jesus of Man City. Both players having great seasons in the EPL. Both the whole squad looks decent and although my heart skipped a beat when I saw the name Fred, rest assured it is a new younger Fred who plays in Ukraine with Shakhtar Donetsk, phew!
Messi they wouldn’t have even made it out of their group. Getting hammered 6-1 recently by Spain and only just about getting qualification (once again thanks to Messi in the last game) doesn’t bode well for this years games. They already lost to group rivals Nigeria recently as well. 
But you can never discount Messi. The 5 time World Player of the year will surely once again drag his team kicking and screaming over the line. I expect them to get out of the group, just about. With a tough second round game against either Denmark or France that might cause issues to them, and if they get trough that they have Spain or Portugal in the last eight. It wont be easy and it seems every game is a challenge. I don’t think they can do it as Sergio Aguero is carrying a niggly injury and Gonzalo Higuain is a crock of shit.
A pretty good Denmark team could seriously cause them problems in the group stage, but otherwise they should dispatch of a poor Australian team and a Peru team who are probably still in shock of actual qualifying. The Denmark game is last of the three, and it really could go either way. To early to call for me. The difference in winning is avoiding a possible Argentinian team in the second round. Or play Iceland/Nigeria/Croatia? A possible semi’s with Germany or Brazil lie in the long grass depending on results. 
Didier Deschamps has surprised me in how well he has done with the French national team, he has got them far considering the mess he had taken over from Blanc and Domenech before him. They play generally good football under him and we dont tend to see any strife that has rocked previous French teams. But it is France and they are hard to predict. Could get to the last eight, but I dont think they have just enough to get past Germany or Brazil.
Nice talk with Seth Burkett, an ex professional footballer in Brazil and author of the well received book “The Boy in Brazil”
