Review: Newcastle Brown Ale
One look at old standby Newcastle and you feel like you’re in for a treat. A nice medium brown but not too dark, frothy head, looks like it can’t miss, right?
My latest encounter with Newcastle (reportedly the #2 imported beer in the U.S.) was hardly the experience I was hoping for. In lieu of a rich brew I found it to be thin and watery. Lightly bitter, but hardly rich. Kind of oily, and not much more pleasant than drinking Budweiser.
Could it have something to do with the fact that Newcastle closed its historic brewery in 2005 and moved to the city of Dunston? (That’s right, Newcastle is no longer made in Newcastle.) The company also tried to modernize the beer’s look in 2000, a failed attempt that temporarily removed the “ale” from the label for a few years. (It returned in 2004.) I don’t know if all the meddling did something to what’s inside the bottle, but this isn’t the Newcastle I’m familiar with.
4.7% abv.
B- / $8 per six-pack
Newcastle Brown Ale
$8
I was a die hard “Newkie Brown” drinker till about 2004ish. Then I stopped liking it. I thought it was cause my taste had changed but I guess it may be because they changed the beer, I think it is sweeter. The funny thing was that in the UK in 05 I couldn’t find a single pub that had it on tap… Now I’m into Smithwyck’s and even convinced my local pub to put it on tap.
“Could it have something to do with the fact that Newcastle closed its historic brewery in 2005 and moved to the city of Dunston”
Dunston’s about a mile away from the old brewery, in Gateshead.
Tastes the same to me, maybe it didn’t travel well?
i think it always tastes same to me but then i have a aquired taste.dunstan is a district of gateshead and on the other side of the river tyne from newcastle
“Kind of oily, and not much more pleasant than drinking Budweiser.”
I don’t mean to be rude, but…
How would you expect people to take you serious with a comment like that?
Budweiser?
Well, I don’t know. Do you understand what an analogy is?