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+Cass' clean and fresh slogan tastes like juice
+Ramsay paid mouthpiece
By Andrew Salmon
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Bad news: The product is hardly A-grade. In fact, it is bland, undifferentiated and ― bar the fact that it is manufactured here ― barely "Korean" at all.
In case you have been in hibernation or on the moon in recent weeks: Badass restaurateur and TV personality Gordon Ramsay is promoting Korea's popular Cass lager.
Fair enough. The Briton is a world-famed celeb specializing in cuisine, so his push may be worth whatever Cass is paying. (Word on the street has it that his recent three-day Seoul tour earned him KRW400 million+, daily. But that is rumor, not the gospel according to St. Mammon.) Ramsay is a free agent. Likewise, Cass is free to spend its marketing budget as it wishes.
And Cass is not a "bad" beer - any more than America's Budweiser, the UK's Carling Black Label or Australia's Fosters are "bad" beers. They are just dull, "paint-by-numbers" lagers that are well marketed and distributed.
However, I dispute what Ramsay (or Cass' scriptwriters) contend about the beer. The claim is that Cass tastes "clean and fresh" - adjectives better applied to water or juice - and that Cass is the perfect match for Korean food.
Actually, Cass makes a poor partner for Korea's pungent cuisine. To compliment spice, you need strong flavors. Hence -- as a general rule -- Gewurztraminer has long been the go-to wine for Asian spices: Its strong, dry, fruity, off-sweet flavor is not overpowered by Indian, Szechuan or Korean cuisine. This may explain why Hoegaarden -- brewed under license by the same company that produces Cass, Belgium's AB InBev -- has been so successful in Korea: Its dryness matches Korean fire.
Cass does not. It is a weakly-hopped, sweet lager best served ice-cold. Its key attraction is temperature ("refreshment"), not taste, which may be why Cass gets www. ratebeer.com's lowest rating.
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| Gordon Ramsay / Korea Times |
Meanwhile, premium quality, Korean-made beers are now available: Craft brewing has landed here with a vengeance. All such beers offer stronger, more complex flavors than Cass and its near-identical, mass-market competitors. Some feature Korea-specific ingredients, such as white ginseng and persimmon.
True, artisanal beers have barely penetrated the nation's restaurant and retail sectors so far. But they are leading trends: If you are drinking beer in a downtown, independent Seoul bar, chances are you are drinking craft. And if related regulations change, craft beers have an excellent chance of penetrating nationwide restaurant distribution chains, opening an exciting new universe of flavor matching for Korean cuisine.
Moreover, Ramsay described Cass as a "working-mans'" beer. In fact, mass-market lager manufacturing processes are heavily automated. Craft beers, on the other hand, are made by real, human brewers who oversee their products from nose to tail. Such beers are labor intensive ? ie true "working men's" beers.
If Ramsay had specified that Cass is ideal for working men due to low price and high availability, I would agree. But this has more to do with Korea's tax code and alcohol regulations, and with big brewers' distribution networks, than with product quality.
Plugging Cass seems unwise for Ramsay's personal brand. He is known for fiercely promoting quality products; Cass is not in this category. Perhaps he assumed that news of his commercial activities in Korea would not filter back home? Alas, the Internet knows no borders, and global media have gleefully put the boot in.
Still, Ramsay may be eying Korea for a restaurant opening -- which would be a fine thing. In that case, I would respectfully advise him to cast a broader eye over Korea's culinary landscape.
There are plenty of exciting ingredients, foods and beverages that are uniquely Korean. These include, but are not limited to: jang (fermented soy bean, red pepper and other pastes); jeotgal (salted. fermented seafood) and makgeolli (rice brew). These could win widespread acclaim if promoted by a figure with Ramsay's global visibility. These are Korea's potential national champions ? not a mass-market lager brewed by a company owned by a Belgian multinational.
Let me be frank. Cass is even less representative of quality Korean booze than McDonalds is representative of US fine dining. After all, hamburgers are American; lager is not Korean.
Andrew Salmon (andrewcsalmon@yahoo.co.uk) is a Seoul-based reporter and author.
