Lager Top

[cardboard]

Can anyone explain to me what the point of lager top is please?

[sprogglin]

To aid the consumption of ale when in a dreadfully hungover state.  Or to mock whoever orders one at the bar, thus providing cheap entertainment for all.

[cardboard]

Yeah, I thought it was just to ridicule people who drank it

[Jenny Tools]

It's a way of adding flavour to a tasteless ice cold, gut aching beverage. 

[amarillis]

ummm what is a lager top? (I'm assuming it's a UK thing which is why i've not heard of it before, being an aussie)

[cardboard]

But surely about half a centimeter of lemonade isnt gonna add any flavour to a whole pint?

[trilobite]

It's supposed to take the edge off the bitter* taste of the lager, so that you're drinking the lager through a layer of lemonade. (Similar to drinking a liqueor coffee through a layer of floaty cream.)

 

 * - sorry, could have used a better word than 'bitter' so as to avoid confusion with the hopped ale 'bitter'.

[Jenny Tools]

I believe the idea behind adding a lemonade top is as you drink the pint, the top floats and you drink the lager through it. Much better idea is too drink a proper pint in the first place.    

[Jenny Tools]

Sorry trilobite, simultaneous posting.

[natalie_1982]

I worked in bars for yers when in college, etc and the top always went on th bottom which I couldn't understand.  but it stops the pint from going frothy.

 

Amarillis, a lager top is lager with a centimetre or so of lemonade in it.

[amarillis]

I want to try one now, but I reckon I'll be ridiculed now if I order one :-)

[natalie_1982]

You will :)

 

Probably more so than if you ordered a shandy. 

 

Maybe the only thing more embarrassing to order would be Babycham, if you were a 40 stone bearded biker with tattoos and long hair.

[Pinotage]

Three advantages:

For the person who doesn't like the sourness of lager, a bit of lemonade adds sugar to take away the taste (just like when they were kids and had a spoonful of sugar aftre nasty medicine.)

 

For the Landord who charges a rip off price for putting some dirt cheap lemonade in place of expensive lager.

 

For Essex girls who think they're being sophisticated by ordering a cocktail.

[FTVS]

I drink lager top - it does taste nicer. If I am hungover I drink Shandy (or Bloody Marys) 

[OBonio]

I drink lager tops on a hangover.  Usually the first 2 pints to go down.  What always gets me is the barperson (are the PC police about?) who put the lemonade at the bottom of the pint.  To me, that's a lager dash, not a lager top.  I stand to be corrected though.

[Starman 2112]

I find it strange that people ask for a top to be added to Kronenberg, Stella Artois or any other premium strength lager (5%). If you don't like the 'bite' order a Fosters, Carlsberg etc.

[brachiopod]

I used to be a pub manager many years ago. What confused me was you'd sometimes get people coming in and asking for the low-alcohol or alcohol free lagers. After asking for a number of specific brands without joy, they'd say -

'Oh, I'll have a pint of Tennants Extra then, please.'

So they went from a zero or 1% drink to 6% loony juice !I could never understand the logic there !!