A soothing surf lapping against a white sandy beach- the way wood planks on a dock splinter and crack because of the relentless combination of sunlight and saltwater- that sheer moment of joy when the tranquility of fishing is shattered by the struggle of man against…fish. Despite the years of near constant abuse, these captivating memories are ingrained in my fragile, yet surprisingly resilient brain. Maybe it is a sense of remembering the good times in life, or maybe it is because half of me feels like it is always at the beach. Either way, these wonderful times were seldom had without a freezing cold Corona Extra in my left hand.

There are some beers that just do not really stand up well unless they are combined with wonderful memories. There is a reason that Corona’s advertising centers around a state of mind, rather than the taste of their beer: the taste simply does not hold up on its own. Personally, after enough lazy Saturday beach excursions, the taste of Corona and the aforementioned memories are inseparable.

The relationship between Kingfisher Premium Lager and Corona Extra reminds me of another symbiotic relationship: gourmet macaroni and cheese. That old comfort food of mac and cheese brings back wonderful memories of childhood when you were not old enough to enjoy gastronomic flair. As you get older, regular old mac and cheese still brings back the great memories, but it might not knock your socks off like it used to. That is why many fine restaurants have taken to offering gourmet mac and cheese with ingredients like goat cheese, truffle oil, and black forest ham. The memories and the taste are finally combined in an exquisitely good meal.

If Corona is easy mac, then Kingfisher is the four star mac and cheese. One sip brings me back to a much happier place, but seriously, this stuff blows Corona out of the water. Kingfisher has that slightly metallic, sweet and sour taste of Corona. The carbonation is
Corona dead on. These similarities are just enough to make your brain register all those nice corona memories…but then this beer is really damn good. The strong lemon flavor of Kingfisher means that putting a lime in the bottom is probably not recommended, unless of course you are fighting off scurvy. The hops are near perfect with a slight bitterness that does not take away from a fairly clean finish. Overall, this is a much more satisfying beer. That said, I have personal reasons for liking this beer.

It’s strange to think that halfway around the world Kingfisher has attained fame and fortune that only one other beer in the world has managed to surpass. Complete with its own airline, this Indian staple is the Bollywood to Budweiser’s Hollywood. I’m not joking; Kingfisher is the flagship for the second largest brewer in the world (UPL). Luckily, they have a brewery in New York, which might be why this beer stands up better than its import competition, which no doubt is sent in from the slow boat to China. I realize that most of this review was spent talking about how I loved Corona, not for its taste, but because of all the great memories. That said, there was a reason for my admittedly rambling review of Kingfisher:

I urge everyone to try and find a beer that evokes deeply felt and firmly grasped memories…and if you have time left after that, see if you can’t find a beer that manages to one-up the traditional comfort beer by offering superior taste. For me it’s Kingfisher. What’s your gourmet comfort beer?