Strictly speaking, an ambassador is a diplomatic agent who represents his country of origin while posted abroad. But what happens when such an individual is far more colourful and chock full of character than the rather staid nation he or she is supposedly representing? Such a dilemma may be faced by loyal drinkers of Crown Lager when the imperious Crown Ambassador 2008 Reserve Lager is rolled out – in a limited edition comprising 5,000 bottles – later this month.

Crownie was first brewed back in 1919 when it was apparently reserved solely for ambassadors and diplomats, both here in Australia and overseas. In 1954 it was released to the general public to celebrate Queen Elisabeth’s first visit to this country and – many readers will be pleased to hear – Her Majesty has already received the very first bottle of Crown Ambassador 2008 Reserve Lager.

Just like Her Royal Highness, Crown Lager has struggled to maintain its relevance over such a lengthy reign as Australia’s biggest-selling premium lager. In recent years it has been under siege from a pair of Tasmanian upstarts and Foster’s marketeers have resorted to price-cutting to boost sales where Crownie was once above all that sort of unregal nonsense.

Over the past two years there have been attempts to extend the Crown Lager range, with the short-lived Crown Pilsener experiment, the mid-strength Crown Gold – which is still available - and a brief flirtation with Crownie on tap at a handful of Melbourne venues during the 2006 Commonwealth Games.

“We took the opportunity to consider rolling out [Crown Lager] Draught on a larger scale,” says Foster’s master brewer John Cozens, “but Crown drinkers gave us a pretty strong indication that they preferred drinking Crown Lager from the bottle rather than a pot.”

Quite a few beer drinkers believe Crown Lager is simply Foster’s dressed up in smart packaging but with a creamier mouthfeel due to a slightly longer maturation regime. At the Rockpool restaurant in Melbourne’s Crowne Casino recently, I had a Crown Lager served so cold it was virtually impossible to discern much in the way of flavour and – rather alarmingly – the fully-poured glass arrived at our table without any sighting of the actual bottle.

“Crown Lager, VB and Fosters are all classic Australian lagers and share some similarities in materials, brewing process and characteristics like low bitterness levels and mild hoppiness,” Cozens says. “However, the beers are brewed to different recipes and have their own process specifications. Crown, uniquely, undergoes a much longer cold conditioning and stabilization process.”

Cozens evidently had a lot of fun making the Crown Ambassador brew which including traveling to Myrtleford in north-east Victoria to select some Galaxy hop flowers which were used unkilned or “green”. “The beer is kettle-hopped with Pride of Ringwood for bitterness, with the green Galaxy hops added late in the boil, so as to capture their full aroma qualities,” Cozens said.

The beer also undergoes a “krausening process” during the extended fermentation, whereby freshly fermenting beer is added to the conditioning tanks to help promote its higher strength. While Cozens says they used the standard Crown Lager yeast, the resulting beer is positively Belgian in character and reminded me, vaguely, of something between the Trappist ale Orval and the sweetish Gouden Carolus.

Goodness knows what Her Majesty or any of the princes will make of it, should they ever uncork it.

TASTING NOTES

CROWN AMBASSADOR RESERVE (9.2% a/v)

Colour: cloudy copper-amber, thick head of foam

Aroma: fruity, yeasty, hints of toffee and spruce, faintly Belgian in character

Palate: complex jumble of flavours, featuring sweet caramel, tropical fruit, slightly coarse yeast and winey notes, culminating with a considerable bitterness and lingering, mouth-coating characters – particularly evident when the lager is allowed to warm up. Available from June 30; RRP: $55 per 750ml bottle.