Carlton LJ

Brewed by Carlton & United Breweries (CUB)
Style: Pale Lager
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Serve in Dimpled mug, English pint, Lager glass, Shaker

Thin head back to some lace cover,gold pour,good carbonation.Aroma mildest hop.Flavour bitter,watery still trying,now shallow malt taste.Not a winner but good for low joule drinkers,has something ,not for me.

Bottle. Amber colour. Another bland pale lager. Watery and boring. Just can’t think of anything good to say about this beer.

Yet another bland and tasteless pale lager not worth thinking up 75 characters for.

Aroma has the typical Aussie macro PoR pong. On tasting it basically disappears, I guess as a result of the "lower joules", however it tastes more hollow than a lot of low alcohol beers. There is a slight little tingle of bitterness on tasting, but it’s barely there. At least the fish won’t be putting on any weight from this drain pour...

When will this fad pass? All the fast food chains that adopted low-carb menu items are quietly dropping them from their line-ups, and I can only hope that brewers move in the same direction. These all taste the same-- watery, and with a more grainy/cereal taste than "normal carb" beers. Pass.

Pours a horrid flat brown piss weak muck. Taste is sweet and cheap. Sweet, sweet and awfully sweet. Bad.... I’d prefer to be fat than drink this tripe.

Lower in joules, eh? Hmmm... also lower in flavour, aroma, body and character. There was a waft of violets during the pour, but after that this pale gold lager with a skinny soapy head developed characteristic CUB metallic and sugary notes. Quite fruity at first sip, like a heavily watered fruit cordial with carbonation you can taste but not really feel. Something nagging and artificial in there - sweetener? No malt to speak of and very little hop presence. Very strange. Can’t finish this - drainpour. (355ml bottle)

The final thread of the ’gimmicky’ macro-lagers available from my friendly local. As far as I knew a joule was a metric measurement of energy, which means this one could help in depressing the mind rather than uplifting it. I am sure it wasn’t an angle the brewer was after. Poured into a tallboy glass, a thin lather of foam floated atop a clear medium gold body. Head became dense and left a lot of dried suds down the glass. Not much aroma to speak of, cordial-like and slightly tinny. Thinly watery in the mouth, lightly carbonated and as oxidised as a 20 year old Datsun. Had the presence of a flat soda and came across as completely artificial, but it was hard to tell as it was completely lifeless. Oddly it went down without too much of a fuss and seemed a little better than some of the more offensive of the CUB offerings.