Taken from the BBC news website.

A new Beer.


It's being marketed as the pint for new men - not lager louts - and has half the alcohol content of normal beer. Is it a good thing?

He takes care over his appearance and moisturises daily. He knows about art, literature and food, as well as football and beer. Isn't it about time metrosexual man had his own lager?

"Lite" lager is brewed with a lower alcohol content but all the taste of the full-strength stuff, according to the breweries. It's pitched at the less laddish new man who still wants a "proper pint" with his mates.


Will it help stop drunkenness?
Until now the trend has been for stronger drinks and larger measures. In recent years standard lager has risen in strength from 3.5% to 4.5% alcohol content and wine from 10% to 13%. But breweries believe if the beauty industry can get men moisturising, they can get them into mid-strength lager.

If sales figures from other countries are anything to go by they're right. In "bloke-ish" Australia such lager now makes up 13% of the beer market.

Brands include Beck's Vier and Guinness Mid-Strength and on Monday Britain's biggest beer brand, Carling, is officially launching a 2% lager - C2.

"We've finally cracked the mixture of art and science to brew a mid-strength lager that tastes just as good as a regular pint," says Andy Cray, brand director for Carling.

Credibility

But "alcohol-free" lager - remember Barbican? - has never taken off. So what chance does the mid-strength stuff have?

"With lower-strength beer you have got to give the drinker some alcohol so they feel the product is genuine," says brand forensic expert Jonathan Gabay.

"Alcohol-free beers never took off because it was never seen as authentic. If the alcohol content of C2 was too low it would just be paying lip service to the proper stuff, but 2% could be just enough to give the product credibility.

"Carling understand it needs to be marketed as a genuine product, that's why they call it a 'proper pint'."


It is also being targeted at women
According to the breweries, it's all about making our lives easier. They understand people are busy and therefore need to fit socialising in with other activities. Full-strength alcohol is not always appropriate, so they have come up with an alternative.

How thoughtful.

The right occasions for such mid-strength lager? According to the breweries it's perfect for a swift one-at-lunch pint, a cheeky on-the-way-home pint, a rewarding after-football-training pint or a responsible big-meeting-tomorrow pint.

But it doesn't take a genius to work out the benefits of launching such brands. Carling already sells 1.5 billion pints a year. If it can persuade drinkers to buy twice as much lager without getting twice as drunk, it will be laughing. Even better if they can get people to drink beer on occasions when they usually wouldn't have.

Imitation

And not everyone is toasting this new dawn in drinking. Carling has been criticised for its marketing pitch, particularly C2's "More Time In the Pub" slogan. While Alcohol Concern welcomes the trend, promoting mid-strength beers as a way to spend more time in the pub is not positive.

"Simply drinking lower-strength products does not solve much," says a spokesman. "Especially if you are using it as a reason to stay in the pub longer. You could end up drinking just the same amount."

ALCOHOL FACTS
Estimated 5.9 million people drink to get drunk
Men should have 3-4 units daily
Women should have 2-3 units daily
One pint of beer can be 2.8 units
One glass of wine can be 2.3 units

Death rates due to chronic liver disease have gone up eightfold since the 1970s and there are 13,000 violent incidents outside pubs and clubs every week, according to the charity. If low-alcohol beers encourages people to drink on occasions when they wouldn't have usually, such problems could increase.

Carling says it takes alcohol responsibility seriously and carefully followed advertising regulations to ensure responsible marketing and promotion of C2.

And heavily-girthed drinkers who might be looking to the mid-strength trend for a healthier option could be disappointed, says one expert.


"Just because something has the word low or lite on the label does not necessarily mean it is better for you," says a spokeswoman for the British Nutrition Foundation.

"Take some low-fat products, there might be less fat but often there is more sugar and the calorific content is higher than the full-fat alternative."

But ultimately its success all comes down to the traditional lager drinker, so what do they think of the concept?

"To me it's like skimmed milk," says Tom Daley, 31. "It's just a pale imitation of the real stuff. What's the point?"

WHO DOES THIS, He takes care over his appearance and moisturises daily.

You don't mean,you don't, DO YOU

They don't mean the part you 'moisten'...!

why the frig would you want less alcohol in yer drink?
frigging poncy weirdo's

That rules most of this board out!

Metrosexual man has got his own label...Smugweiser....or ... Darling-not-a-Black Label...

5.9 MILLION PEOPLE DRINK TO GET DRUNK. IS THERE ANY OTHER REASON? WHAT'S THE POINT IN HAVING ONLY ONE OR TWO?
sorry about the bastard caps there

What is so wrong with using moisturiser daily ? After I've had a shave I certainly rub a dab of the stuff in. My hand is up with no shame whatsoever.

THANK GOD (any version will do) I THOUGHT I WAS A METROSEXUAL FOR A MOMENT.

YER WUSS,I thought you ex army types still shaved with broken glass and went for the rugged look.

WHAT NEXT SCENTED BOG ROLL.

THE SCENTED BOG ROLL WAS BROUGHT IN YEARS AGO...

PUFF!!!!

It's probably the reason I still struggle to get served in some pubs.

No that's because you wander about with no trousers on.

Smelling of Nivea.

Like a girlie. stupid stupid

Nivea!! Naw.. Clinique.

That would explain the cloud of flies that follow you about......

No. This stuff.

http://www.clinique.com/templates/produ ... ID=PROD745

Ah....

Scruffing Lotion..........

Might have been invented for you.

Er, this here army you were in ....... was it the Land Army...?