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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UPDATED: NOV 27, 2006 Rubbish - Sweetish, amber in colour, weak and no taste. Would give Foster’s, Carling and Carlsberg a run for their money in the shitness stakes! Some people (rightly) refer to Australians as "cons"; I say the pretence that this substance is a lager is, in itself, a "con"! Australians can play cricket, but they should accept that their wines are horrible and they can’t make beer. In the advert for this dross, some con claims: "Australians wouldn’t give a XXXX for any other beer!". I think a more apt advert idea would be for some fat, blonde, sweaty old Aussie (i.e. Shane Warne) to pour some Castelmaine on the "barbie" (BBQ) and exclaim: "Even kangaroos/abos/koalas/poms [*delete as appropriate] wouldn’t drink this XXXX [shit]!" If this filth is what the convicts serve up in their pubs, old Steve (sting-ray) Irvine had a lucky escape! Crikey!!!!

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 Didn’t know it had been withdrawn from the UK market but won’t be missed.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.