Cobra - Cobra Beer Partnership Limited

rastaman

United Kingdom (England)

1.6/5  rDev -45.8%
look: 1.5 | smell: 1.5 | taste: 1.5 | feel: 1.5 | overall: 2

Not much flavour, extremely watery and the taste is quite hard to find, i suppose its refreshing, but only due to the fact that you might aswell be drinking water, boring, no, in fact, very boring.

Serving type: bottle

08-15-2002 17:43:20 | More by rastaman

thisismyname

British Columbia (Canada)

1.6/5  rDev -45.8%
look: 1.5 | smell: 1.5 | taste: 1.5 | feel: 1.5 | overall: 2

330mL bottle poured into a glass

The label reads "the world's most celebrated lager"... Hahaha. Funny.

Poured a clear piss yellow with no head or lacing whatsoever.

Despite being from the UK, it smells like a mass-produced North American lager; of corn and funky cereal grain.

It tastes pretty much how it smells. Blah. They threw some hops in there though, which was nice, I guess... The taste was a lot less than I would expect from an imported beer, even with a name like "Cobra".

Unlike your typical macro lager it is not cloyingly carbonated.

Bah. All in all a waste of money. And to all who "celebrate" this lager... Drink a damn Dab.

Serving type: bottle

12-07-2011 02:23:51 | More by thisismyname

mrmanning

Ontario (Canada)

2.03/5  rDev -31.2%
look: 2.5 | smell: 2 | taste: 2 | feel: 2 | overall: 2

Bottle- Pale pale yellow with a frothy but short lived white cap. The nose here is a blast of corn with wet paper, some grains, a bit of hay. Weak. Tastes of sweet grains, corn, some pale malts...quite watery, thin, over carbonated. Not for me really. Next!

Serving type: bottle

11-14-2009 16:56:32 | More by mrmanning

fullsweep

United Kingdom (England)

2.13/5  rDev -27.8%
look: 2.5 | smell: 2 | taste: 2 | feel: 3 | overall: 2

330 mL brown bottle poured into a pint glass.

A: Quick pour releases a 3-finger head that dissipates quickly. A little lacing at first, but this too disappears. Urine-yellow colored beer.

S: You can really smell the adjuncts in this, especially the corn (Cobra did us the honor of listing their ingredients: "malted barley, maize, rice, yeast and hops.")

T: You can taste them as well--not very pleasant.

M: For its downfalls, the mouthfeel is relatively pleasant. Goes down smooth and some heavy carbonation, I suppose typical of a lager.

D: Won't seek this out, but won't turn one down either.

Serving type: bottle

08-21-2009 22:36:27 | More by fullsweep

TheHammer

Ontario (Canada)

2.23/5  rDev -24.4%
look: 1.5 | smell: 2 | taste: 2 | feel: 1.5 | overall: 3.5

When I look at this bottle, I'm suddenly reminded of the theme from the GI-JOE movie. COOOBRAAA....coobraa! Anyways onto the review.

Appearance: It started with enough head to cover the top of the beer, but it disappeared in an instant. Slightly lighter then the standard lager gold. Clear, but carbonation in the body is nearly absent. Nothing to see here, that is for sure.

Smell: Not much here, as I'm only getting earthy hops with a slight herbal note. Warming just barely improves it, and a slight touch of bread comes out, but it's just not doing enough.

Taste: Bland, under-roasted almost salty bread taste the start out that turns to a bitter double team as a peat like taste with strange grass and herbal notes come forward, only to pause and then follow up with earthy hops with a woodsy kick.

Mouthfeel: The carbonation is absent, as is the head which hurts it's case a lot. It's not helped by poor transitioning near the end. The aftertaste does not linger which is thankfully good but it comes across as very watery.

Drinkability: It's refreshing, light and smooth with a taste you can get over. This is one of those rare beers that despite being poor in other categories, it doesn't effect it's drinkability too much. That being said, I can get over the taste of cheaper macros almost as much.

Final Thoughts: I'll give it this, if I was in sweltering heat..and I mean that kind of heat that you'd almost be inclined to turn to fruity mixed drink instead of a beer, I might consider this. However, in any other circumstance, I would typically pass on this one.

Serving type: bottle

09-17-2010 02:26:03 | More by TheHammer

decimator

Ontario (Canada)

2.25/5  rDev -23.7%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 2 | feel: 2 | overall: 2

330ml bottle poured into a Pilsner glass.

A - Poured a clear gold with a thin cap and some lacing.

S - Some malts and some hops but quite mild overall.

T - Malts, adjuncts and an off tasting bitter finish. Had a very unimpressive macro taste.

M - Felt a bit watery.

D - Not the worst Lager available but I won't be buying this one again.

Serving type: bottle

06-23-2010 00:42:50 | More by decimator

bark

Sweden

2.3/5  rDev -22%
look: 2 | smell: 2 | taste: 2 | feel: 3 | overall: 3

Brewed under license by Browar Belgia, Poland.

The colour is clear yellow; the white foam forms uneven dissolving foam.

The smell is sweet with notes of both corn and rice. I found some dry sour notes of hay. It is stronger than the average lager, but not entirely pleasant.

The carbonation is quite light with very small bubbles.

The taste is filled with notes of lemon-lime, an orange squash-like sweetness, probably from the adjuncts. There is some body and a touch of dough. The aftertaste is quite thin and short with a mild, simple bitterness.

Probably a great beer when eating spicy food, but it is quite faint on it own.

Serving type: bottle

03-25-2005 22:29:47 | More by bark

SERENGETI

Tanzania

2.3/5  rDev -22%
look: 4 | smell: 3 | taste: 2 | feel: 2 | overall: 2

in fact the COBRA which I tasted was the one brewed under license in Poland by the BELGIA Browar in Kielce. The beer has a metallic after taste, a scratchy bitterness lingering in the throat for a long time unless you wash it down with a proper beer! When it is fresh and well chilled you can "manage" that snake in cases of serious dehydration. Once the beer is a few month old than an unpleasant smell of rancid maize comes to the surface! :-( Summary: SNAKE POISON

Serving type: bottle

10-01-2005 08:14:54 | More by SERENGETI

IronDjinn

Alberta (Canada)

2.48/5  rDev -15.9%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 2 | feel: 3 | overall: 2

Comes in a tall slender necked 330 ml brown bottle, embossed with all sorts of curious images (from scales, to elephants, crossed scimitars to a palm trees). Ingredients list includes both maize and rice, on top of the barley malt, hops and water. Pours out a bright clear highly carbonated light gold hue, capped by a finger`s width of tight spongy head. Nice retention. Concentric wedges of lacing.

Decent malt on the nose, along with a low lying corn presence in the background, but the sourness from the rice tends to cut through it much of the time. Faint grassy hops, I mean faint....

It all takes a dive with the flavour. Sour veggie taste predominates although some crisp malt does appear in the middle, but disappears before the finish. Becomes a bit buttery as it warms.

Mouthfeel is average for the style, nothing wrong here, but not a whole lot of body to it either.

The flavour kills this beer, it`s not bad in its other aspects otherwise.

Serving type: bottle

11-08-2008 03:24:40 | More by IronDjinn

spinrsx

Ontario (Canada)

2.48/5  rDev -15.9%
look: 3 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 2 | overall: 2.5

12oz Bottle

Appearance - The beer pours a clear gold/yellow colour with an average size frothy white coloured head. There is a low amount of carbonation showing and there is a faint amount of lacing on the sides of the glass. The head lasted for under a minute before it began to dissipate.

Smell - breads/grains, a skunkiness, hops

Taste & Mouth - The beer has a very low amount of carbonation and it feels flat on the tongue. The taste is made up of lots of breads/grains mixed with a skunkiness and a little bit of hops. It also had a corn syrup and metallic taste to it. It finishes with a corn syrup/skunky aftertaste.

Drink - I can think of hundreds of beer I would rather drink than this one. I wouldn't purchase it again.

Serving type: bottle

02-28-2011 18:46:48 | More by spinrsx

RoyalT

Ohio

2.55/5  rDev -13.6%
look: 2 | smell: 2 | taste: 3 | feel: 2 | overall: 2.5

Appearance – This is yellowish-orange in color, mostly orange, with a meager, disappearing head.

Smell – I read other reports of skunk here, but I (thankfully) didn’t find any. This has a very light musty grain aroma with noticeable orange notes.

Taste – OK, I’ll try to be constructive here. The grain softened up a bit from the nose, which was nice, and the orange sweetness really took over at the tongue. Pale Lager sugars usually make me want to Ralph, but this actually wasn’t bad.

Mouthfeel – Not much here in this department. The carbonation was barely noticeable and this was light-bodied for sure, but I was able to pick up a speck of dryness that helped things along.

Drinkability – I wouldn’t say that this is a “good” beer by any stretch, but it is a little different than the run-of-the-mill Pale Lager examples. I can see how someone would want to “grenade throw” this bottle off a cliff, but I managed to get it down.

Serving type: bottle

03-05-2004 01:08:20 | More by RoyalT

Toddv29424

District of Columbia

2.68/5  rDev -9.2%
look: 3 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 3

This beer is available at every Indian food restaurant in London, and as PLAYMOBILEPIRATE pointed out it is easy to see why. It is an incredibly bland beer, perfect for quenching a scorching palette. Its smoothness is caused by the very little variation that it has in taste; its made like a mass-produced American lager. It is good for its intended purpose as stated above, but little else.

Serving type: bottle

03-09-2005 16:13:08 | More by Toddv29424

lacqueredmouse

Australia

2.83/5  rDev -4.1%
look: 2 | smell: 3 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.5

I saw a fascinating documentary about the English guy who was trying to export this "Indian style beer" to India, marketing it as a "premium beer", and having to contend with issues like the fact that beer advertising is prohibited in India. Anyway, when I saw this on the shelf, I thought I had to give it a go.

Pours a very clear golden yellow colour. Lots of big-bubbled carbonation, leading up to a very light head, which fizzles for a bit and then disappears. Not a great looking beer.

Light and grainy on the nose. Subdued, but not unpleasant. A little too sweet for my tastes, but reasonable.

Taste is very flat. A little hint of coppery bitterness paired with a persistent rice sweetness, but not much else. It's clean and crisp, it just doesn't have a lot of character, so you end up wondering what it's really got going for it.

It's a pretty clean, but ultimately pretty flavourless lager. Better than some, that's for sure, but I even think the Indians would be doing better with a Kingfisher.

Serving type: bottle

08-31-2007 22:13:23 | More by lacqueredmouse

rowey77

Australia

2.85/5  rDev -3.4%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 3.5

Appearance - Poured a light golden colour. Little carbonation and a somewhat modest head. No lace.

Smell - grains & malt

Taste - A dry taste with hints of citrus. The finish is malty with an aftertaste of bitterness.

Mouthfeel - Very light and watery.

Drinkability - Goes down very easy.

Notes - A fairly average beer, nothing too stand-outish. This beer was clearly meant to be had with spicy (Indian) food as it would make a refreshing contrast.

Serving type: bottle

07-14-2010 23:24:16 | More by rowey77

IPA35

Netherlands

2.93/5  rDev -0.7%
look: 2.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 3

First from a gift box of 5 Asian lagers.

A golden beer with an instantly dissapearing head.

Doesn't smell very strong, this smells better than most lagers. Still that typical grainy scent but I think it has more of a hoppy smell. Could be some slight skunk but I don't know how that really smells like. Not unpleasant though.

Taste is not strong either, it starts weak and watery with a grainy but ok flavour, then the other flavours kick in, some hop bitterness and some citrus zest.

Watery mouthfeel (suits the beer though) and below average carbonation.

Overall a nice drinkable lager that I wouldn't mind drinking again.

Serving type: bottle

07-12-2011 16:11:39 | More by IPA35

Suds

Pennsylvania

2.98/5  rDev +1%
look: 2.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3

Here's a fizzy yellow beer with an unremarkable white head. It has grain, grass, and some citric notes in the aroma. There's a distant hop smell as well. The taste is clean and straightforward. Grain is prominent, without much malt flavor. It has a slightly dry character, with a nice bitterness. Medium in body with a touch of bitterness. This isn't a great beer, but there's nothing wrong with it either...simple and unencumbered, it's a refreshing and unobjectionable lager.

Serving type: bottle

02-10-2008 14:18:14 | More by Suds

CAMRAhardliner

Ontario (Canada)

2.98/5  rDev +1%
look: 2.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3

Very nice, heavily embossed bottle, with all sorts of imagery from India.

Pours a pale, crystal clear straw color with a tiny film of a head. The aroma is sweet and grainy, pretty bland. The taste is malty and very lightly hopped. Grain husks and a good level of breadyness mingle with soft vegetal flavors and a restrained, herbal bitterness. I detect chocolate malt or some other dark malt in the mix. The mouthfeel is pretty full with a moderate level of carbonation. The finish is very short and more sweet then bitter.

This is an OK lager; better then I expected with an acceptable malt profile.

Serving type: bottle

12-09-2008 00:32:58 | More by CAMRAhardliner

allergictomacros

Ontario (Canada)

3/5  rDev +1.7%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3

A - Clear straw. Some white head. Nothing special.

S - A bit of a grassy hop. Not a whole lot going on here.

T - Some breadiness, grain, and a bit of hop. Not a whole lot going on here.

M - Light body. Not too fizzy, dry and astringent.

D - Not bad. easy drinking lager. Not much else going on here.

Serving type: bottle

12-23-2008 01:44:21 | More by allergictomacros

Graham5161986

British Columbia (Canada)

3/5  rDev +1.7%
look: 3 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 4 | overall: 3

Poured out of one of the ugliest bottles I've come across, this lager pours a pale orange yellow with a 1 finger, bubbly white head that dippipates to a whispy film but leaves some slight lacing on my glass.

Smell is very light and is predominantly of grassy hops and grainy malts with light hints of bread and a touch of caramel.

Taste is basically about the same as the smell - flavours of light grassy hops with a decent bready malt backbone with notes of caramel and, actually a nice honey flavour on the finish and on to the linger. There is that corn-y adjunct twang in there too, however, which puts me off a bit.

This beer has more body than one would expect on the palate actually with a decent creaminess to it as well. Its finish is crisp and clean like a good lager should be. Easily this beer's strongest suit.

Overall, this beer, while light in flavour and not overly interesting, has some decent redeeming qualities in terms of its mouthfeel and, thus, is not too bad. I could see it pairing very well with some spicy Indian food indeed. That said, I would likely only buy this beer again if I was planning on eating something spicy.

Serving type: bottle

06-06-2010 05:43:09 | More by Graham5161986

rec

Australia

3.05/5  rDev +3.4%
look: 2 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 4

The body pours a Crystal-clear golden yellow, and presents virtually no head, and no lace.

The smell is very plain, but there's a little grain and citrus which is notably pleasant.

The taste is far from unique - there's some malty bitterness, and not much more. You can perhaps taste the citrus that comes through in the aroma, but it's a stretch.

The mouthfeel is again typical of this style, watery and clean. It's not bad, it's just plain.

It's something you could drink lots of - a perfect session beer, and a refreshing option for those hot summer days.

It's not something I'd recommend, but I'd recommend it over Kingfisher and some other like brews.

Serving type: bottle

11-02-2008 13:41:22 | More by rec

SmokinSmyth

Belgium

3.08/5  rDev +4.4%
look: 3.5 | smell: 2 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4

I drank this with a curry dinner in Southampton. It has a nice golden color, but not much of a head. The flavor allows it a high drinkability rating since it is very mild. It was a great accompaniment for a nice curry, but would only see drinking this with a spicy meal or in hot weather.

Serving type: on-tap

10-15-2010 16:53:52 | More by SmokinSmyth

jazzyjeff13

United Kingdom (England)

3.08/5  rDev +4.4%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3

A 330ml bottle with a BB of Jan 2013. The bottle is embossed with a variety of stereotypical Indian imagery.

Poured into a tulip pint glass. A pale straw colour with low carbonation. Forms a decent head of creamy white foam that hangs around for a minute or two. Aroma of light, grainy malt with a faint hint of stewed hops and a mild solventy background note.

Tastes of light malt with a slight stewed hop bitterness and a whisper of citrus. Crisp and fairly dry. Mouthfeel is smooth and pleasingly tingly. Aftertaste of stewed leaves; a little harsh.

A relatively hum-drum lager - probably it's best feature is the low carbonation level. Fairly bland and characterless, though OK when paired with a curry. Don't all rush out to grab one.

Serving type: bottle

03-09-2012 23:09:54 | More by jazzyjeff13

wordemupg

Alberta (Canada)

3.1/5  rDev +5.1%
look: 4 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3

330ml bottle poured into pint glass 29/7/11

A clear golden yellow with a thick soapy film that covers the liquid for a few minuets leaving spots of lace

S grainy honey with some faint lemon

T faint grassy hop to go with what I smell and a little cracker

M light and crisp, thin but fairly smooth

O basic but that's more then I expected, easy enough to drink but boring

I thought this would be pretty bad but nothing offended me just not too much going on, love the bottle though thanks Sarvesh, Jodie wouldn't drink it

Serving type: bottle

07-29-2011 16:46:12 | More by wordemupg

eduardolinhalis

Switzerland

3.1/5  rDev +5.1%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.5

330ml bottle served in an ordinary glass.

A: Pours a pale yellow color. Clear. Forms a medium creamy white head. Medium to low retention and few lacings formed and left

S: First impression is rice, followed by rice. Nothing special Euro Lager. Sweet malts and Lager yeasts. Citrus hops can be felt in the end. Cascade hops style hops I would dare to say

T: Pretty much like the nose. Sweet malts upfront. Strong notes of corn and rice. Lager yeasts. In overall, a dry and crispy taste which is finished by a medium citrus hops bitterness

M: Very light body and medium to high carbonation. A good stingy hoppy aftertaste

O: Good drinkability after all. A cheap but not "that bad" Euro Lager. Note: I though it was a Indian beer when I bought it. But it's British, right? :S

Serving type: bottle

09-25-2012 18:19:02 | More by eduardolinhalis

wl0307

United Kingdom (England)

3.13/5  rDev +6.1%
look: 3 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 3

Tasted it on tap in one of the local student pubs in East End London where one find nothing but alcopops, spirits, and lagers (bottled and on tap)... But it was the first time I saw Cobra on tap so why not give it a go? Yet I had never known that it's brewed under license by Charles Wells?!

The beer pours, a light-golden hue, with a thin, white beerhead which leaves uneven lace around the glass. The carbonation is kept to the medium level, which I welcome.
The nose contains very understated note of lime-like hops, and some hidden undertone of lager malts--on balance too restrained to be nice.
The taste is not too bad though; dry mouthfeel of very light citrusy and floral hops which gradually retreats to the back, followed by a dryish, water-biscuity and bready flavour of malts, leaving a soft, clean and mild-bitter finish at the back of the throat.
The mouthfeel tends to be both refreshing and creamy, but the bitterness is simply too timid...Overall it's an overly soft lager which is not exciting at all, but at least it comes without the kind of cheap taste of additives and sugary feel in the end.

Serving type: on-tap

06-20-2005 15:34:27 | More by wl0307