Castlemaine XXXX (UK)

Formerly brewed at Samlesbury (InBev UK)
Style: Pale Lager
Preston, England

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

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440ml Can. Gold with a trace of white head; chemicla aroma, with traces of artificial sweeteners; tastes like Irn-Bru (a carbonated beverage popular in Scotland). Apparently this is "brewed using imported...hops from Australia" - so I guess they must have been mixed with some pretty crappy hops from somewhere else - for alternatively Australian hops aren’t very good.

I thought I’d never say this but "I’d rather have a Fosters".

What the four X’s stand for might sum this lager up, pretty poor bog-standard stuff.

(Sampled in 2004). Íåêðåïêèé ëàãåð, ñâàðåííûé ïî àâñòðàëèéñêîé ëèöåíçèè.  àâñòðàëèéñêîé âåðñèè èñïîëüçóþòñÿ äâà òèïà ìåñòíîãî õìåëÿ – Pride Of Ringwood è Tasmanian Cluster. Íå óâåðåí íàñ÷åò õìåëÿ â ëèöåíçèîííîé âåðñèè, íî åãî ïðèâêóñ î÷åíü ñëàáûé, õîòÿ è íåîáû÷íûé.

Old rate. On tap in Lincolnshire, England. Pours a pale gold with a small white head. Aroma was stock macro lager and served too cold which might be a blessing in this case. Aroma was slightly adjuncty, grainy and a hoppy, medium dry finish. Not the worst pale lager I´ve had, but barely passable.

(canned) This actually was never that offensive . Its TV comercials relied on the sterotypical unsophsticated Australian life-style that some people in the UK like , and it made this popular for a time. A grainy ,creamy -sweet and lightly hopped beer is what you’ll get with XXXX.

This stuff was frighteningly poor. Weak as anything, too carbonated by far and the only real taste is its brutal aftertaste. Didn’t know it had been withdrawn from the UK market but won’t be missed. Horrible.

UPDATED: OCT 4, 2009 Had four cans of this some while back. Yellow with little head to speak of. Only alcoholic and slightly malty taste. Finish was very poor. An offensive lager. Why did I have four cans? It was cheap! I won’t be getting any cans of this again though. But fear not Queenslanders for I have yet to try XXXX in a bottle or better yet on tap and will hopefully be able to do this soon. For now though this was quite horrible.

Draught. Pours clear yellow, with quickly dissipating white head. Not much on either the nose or the palate, and insubstantial mouthfeel. Typical of bulk-produced fare.

This is just about drinkable if there is nothing else available, I use to love this beer when I was a teenager which shows how my taste has matured

very light and not malty at all, its very fizzy with not much taste anywhere.

Piss coloured pour with transient head. Grainy water with alcoholic finish. Monotonous.