Boddingtons Pub Ale (Can)

Brewed by Samlesbury (InBev UK)
Style: Bitter
Preston, England

Serve in English pint

mehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh waste your time

Decent beer. Pour in glass :).

On nitro at local restaurant, pours a dark amber with a creamy white head, aroma and flavor are caramel and malt with touches of hops, just not my favorite style.

Served in a pint glass. Pours a golden-copper color with a pretty big white head that leaves a fair amount of lacing, though not what I would expect from a hoppy style with nitro. Nose brings a bit of diacetyl along with some mild hops and a bit of bread crust. The taste is a bit of light bread and butter. Mouthfeel is low in carbonation on a low to medium body. Drinks fairly well. Goes down smooth though there’s nothing too memorable about it. Serving type: nitro-can Reviewed on: 02-20-2011

Pours clear and a little darker than straw yellow with the thick foam head you have come to expect from a widget, and therefore laces heavily. I know some people hate nitro, but the cascade is beautiful... Aroma is hard to detect at first (I always find nitro head does that), but comes through as much more vegetal than I expect, disgustingly so. Taste is cooked vegetal and canned corn along with a hint of honey, apple and a bit of earthy bitterness. Finishes clean and smooth, but is almost bland as there isn’t enough carbonation left in the beer.

Appearance: Dark gold/amber color, clear body. No carbonation bubbles, but the nitrogen widget forms a large, bright white, creamy head that retains forever and leaves plenty of whipped cream-like lacing all over the glass.

Smell: There isn’t much for the nose to detect here aside from a very generic English bitter ale scent of some grain and a subtle fruit aroma.

Taste: Boddingtons is not the kind of beer you drink for the taste, it’s the kind of beer you drink for it’s lack of taste. English bitters tend to have a deliberately mild palate and this beer is a great example of that. The head imparts a sweet creaminess and follows by a bland, generic ale palate. There’s nothing particularly off-putting about the taste here since it’s not very bitter, and there’s a very subtle malty sweetness as well. That being said, it’s the overt lack of taste that turns me away from this beer. I’ve had it on tap, cask and out of the can and all three times I’ve struggled to find enjoyable flavors, but more than that - I’ve struggled to find flavors at all. This beer is essentially the ale equivalent of a fizzy yellow macro lager in that its neutral taste is almost a compliment.

Drinkability: For a beer allegedly brewed in the traditional English bitter style, Boddingtons makes a point of saying to serve cold. This makes it quite refreshing, which isn’t surprising considering the bland, watery body and thin, cold, wet mouthfeel. It would be an ideal beer to have with pub fare, but not something I’d reach for on a hot day. At only 4.7% ABV (3.5% ABV in the UK) is it technically sessionable, but it’s such a boring beer to drink I’m not sure you would want more than one serving.

Overall, Boddingtons isn’t a bad beer, really. It’s definitely drinkable and its mildness would probably make it quite palatable to anyone. Still, I need more than a lack of badness to truly enjoy a beer.

NOTE: Watch the video version of this review at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MFl98rFPiw

on draft. poured a hazey amber/brownish color with an off white head. get a lot of carmel. Classic english ale. very smooth and drinkable, just not much too it.

Can from Corti Bros. Pours light amber with a rich off-white head and a fruity aroma. There is a modest caramel malt flavor with a dry bitter finish. Not much substance.