Haywards 5000 Super Premium Beer - Shaw Wallace & Company Ltd.

jneiswender

Massachusetts

1.15/5  rDev -56.3%
look: 2 | smell: 1 | taste: 1 | feel: 2 | overall: 1

Poured out of a 500ml bottle into a hotel water glass (best I could do).

A-Light yellow body and a very weak, white head.

S-metallic, sugary malt flavor

T-if there is hops in here than my taste buds must be fried from all of the chilies I had eaten in India. No hop flavor to mention. Strong alcohol and a somewhat metallic flavor.

M-light

D-If one was to drink only Indian beer while in India, you can do a lot better than this. I know everyone seems to hate on Kingfisher but I would make Kingfisher my session for a week than touch this again. I felt dirty after drinking it.

Serving type: bottle

08-25-2008 14:26:01 | More by jneiswender

Tresha

1.18/5  rDev -55.1%
look: 1.5 | smell: 1 | taste: 1 | feel: 1.5 | overall: 1.5

I found this beer to be very very strong. Of course, it is 5000 and the stronger version but it was very bitter. The aftertaste is strong. The colour is like any lager, but a little darker yellow compared to other Indian beers. Very strong and can get you very very drunk. Have only one and share with friends. You won't know what hit you!

Serving type: bottle

06-18-2012 11:55:43 | More by Tresha

drpimento

Wisconsin

1.35/5  rDev -48.7%
look: 2 | smell: 2 | taste: 1 | feel: 1 | overall: 1.5

Oh dear, I'm in a fix; only one more chilled beer and there's this: Poured cold from the fridge with a small to medium foamy, frothy, off-white head, that quickly settled to an island and ring, with no lace. Color is a clear, pale yellow with lots of large and small bubble trails. Aroma is the best thing about this beer - sweet with a little beery, malt, hop. Flavor isn't so good; mainly neutral sweet, carbonic tang, hint of bitter. Body is there, but not pleasant and carbonation is too strong and clashes- heck, everything clashes in this brew. Finish is like flavor and of medium length, which is way too long. Bleh.

Serving type: bottle

05-15-2012 02:14:30 | More by drpimento

crossovert

Wisconsin

1.48/5  rDev -43.7%
look: 2 | smell: 1.5 | taste: 1.5 | feel: 1 | overall: 1.5

Super Premium beer *rollseyes*. 650ml brown gold foiled bottle.

It pouts a bpss yellow with not much visible carbonation bubbles and a quickly dissipating white head with no lacing.

No smell really, maybe hint of corn and lemon.

Tastes like walnuts, almond extract, alcohol, lemon, and corn.

Mouthfeel is super watery.

It is not good.

Serving type: bottle

08-26-2010 03:26:10 | More by crossovert

hungryghost

District of Columbia

1.63/5  rDev -38%
look: 3 | smell: 2 | taste: 1.5 | feel: 2 | overall: 1

1 Pint, 6oz. bottle
Yellow with a white foamy head
Smells like alcohol and maybe wet corn...
Taste is just plain awful and difficult to describe. Here goes; a bit of bitterness, no idea if it could be hops, malt liquor alcohol hints, the overwhelming taste is metalic, tinny. Bad tasting stuff.
Mouthfeel is watery and hard to swallow cuz it taste so bad.
Drinkable only as a last resort. Very last.

Serving type: bottle

06-10-2005 02:11:22 | More by hungryghost

daliandragon

North Carolina

1.7/5  rDev -35.4%
look: 2.5 | smell: 2 | taste: 1.5 | feel: 2 | overall: 1.5

Interesting label. Claims to be the "crown jewel of Indian beers" the sentence after it uses the phrase "bottled in India under SABMiller supervision". Is it just me or is that in itself a devaluation of Indian beer?

Strangely bright tan/yellow color with a thin cap of head and a sharp sourness in the nose that is mostly malt. Taste is strong sour malt and not a whole lot else. Finish is fairly clean but not good at all. The alcohol is an intimidating enforcer behind the sour assault. Wow, this is pretty bad. If you want a brew to drink with Indian food, go with Kingfisher or Cobra, this is barely drinkable at all.

Serving type: bottle

11-08-2006 04:10:58 | More by daliandragon

TMoney2591

Illinois

1.75/5  rDev -33.5%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 1 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 1.5

Served in a Walter Payton shaker pint glass.

Startin' the day off right with an Indian malt likkah. 'Cause why the fuck not!? This stuff pours a clear pale straw topped by a finger-and-a-half of white foam that dissipates rather quickly. The nose comprises bushels of corn atop a small pile of wheat and grass. It's not bad, but certainly nothing I can call "good". The taste is of perfume-y rubber (walk down the tire aisle some day...), diseased corn, and lead. Wow, I did not expect such a foul taste, especially given my sick predilection toward most malts. Damn, this is some intensely godawful shit right here. It physically hurts during and well after the stuff rampages across my tongue. Damn. The body is a lithe medium, with a light moderate carbonation and a slightly oily feel. Overall, this has got to be one of the worst beers I've had in a long time. I don't think I can properly put into words just how this makes my tastebuds want to flee the country for fear that their families' lives are at risk. Ouch! (I took another drink for some masochistic reason...)

Serving type: bottle

10-11-2012 12:49:14 | More by TMoney2591

RoyalT

Ohio

1.83/5  rDev -30.4%
look: 3 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 1.5 | feel: 2 | overall: 1.5

Appearance – Extremely light and pale yellow in color with a decent head and loads of carbonation.

Smell – Typical Americanized strong grain aroma. This one smells very dry.

Taste – Sticky rice meets creamed corn. This is one of the strangest (and nastiest) beers that I’ve ever had.

Mouthfeel – Dry and somewhat crisp with a very thin body.

Sinkability – I definitely can’t make myself finish this thing.

Serving type: bottle

04-15-2004 00:57:16 | More by RoyalT

beerthulhu

New Jersey

1.85/5  rDev -29.7%
look: 2 | smell: 2 | taste: 2 | feel: 1.5 | overall: 1.5

A: Brewed and bottled in India under SABmiller supervision. Pours a clear pale yellow color. Big skunky aroma with raw vegetables and hay for flavor.

S: Smell is raw, warm buttered vegetables.

T: Taste is buttery vegetables that finishes with off flavors, sour vegetables, sour malt, some sweetened buttery notes.

M: Mouthful is thin, harsh and coarse with some skunkiness and musky feel.

D: Just plain horrible flavors, a horrible lager bite and just bad brewing techniques, but then again what else would you expect from SAB. Undrinkable, couldn’t finish.

Serving type: bottle

01-22-2008 00:01:59 | More by beerthulhu

welldigger888

South Carolina

1.85/5  rDev -29.7%
look: 3.5 | smell: 2 | taste: 1.5 | feel: 2 | overall: 2

OK wow, it is an american malt liquor brewed in India under SABMiller. Descent pale gold with a pillowy white head that fades fast leaving good lace.

Malty, maybe. Corn is for sure in play here.Weak aromas at best. Corny , for sure. Minamal hop presence,but there.

Don't say beer....So this is what the most populous country drinks to get a load on.

Well, this drinks thin and delivers thinner.

Shipped all this way and $3 a bomber, there is your answer. It does the job if you can stomach over a year old malt liquor from far away.

Serving type: bottle

10-23-2011 01:51:39 | More by welldigger888

Mebuzzard

Colorado

2/5  rDev -24%
look: 2 | smell: 2 | taste: 2 | feel: 2 | overall: 2

Ok, so Kingfisher's "premium" beer was awful. I thought I'd try this one and see the difference, if any.
Pours a semi-haze pale yellow. Not quite straw color. Huge carbo-head, white and bubbly. Didn't last long. quickly settled to a film.
Aroma of stale bread, butterscotch, and alcohol. Not pleasant. Bad aftertaste. Thin, yet coating. A bit better than the aforementioned, but not my cup of 'tea'.

Serving type: bottle

07-21-2008 12:27:30 | More by Mebuzzard

laituegonflable

Australia

2.05/5  rDev -22.1%
look: 2 | smell: 2 | taste: 2 | feel: 1.5 | overall: 2.5

Pours a pale yellow with light carbonation. No head at all. Lagery, dull and not very interesting.

Nose has a distinct pride of ringwood edge to it, with very little else apart from a very slight fruit aroma, maybe apple, but I think that's being generous, or imaginative. Weak and again, not very impressive.

Palate is surprisingly fruity, but the first taste is that nasty pride of ringwood character again which appears on the front. Luckily this goes away by the mid palate leaving a nice apple character but one that is quite watery and insipid. Finish is actually quite sweet but not very nice. Overall the palate isn't actually badly constructed, frankly, it just doesn't taste good. Mouthfeel is a bit flat but also has a slight sticky note to it. It's not a pleasant beer, although one thing for it is it does go well with the spicy food.

Serving type: bottle

03-20-2009 00:24:51 | More by laituegonflable

Clockwork420

Missouri

2.1/5  rDev -20.2%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 2 | feel: 1.5 | overall: 1.5

Served from a large bomber into a glass stein.

A - Gold. Slightly hazy. Pretty patterned bubbles. All forming lines.

S - Smells deceiving. It smells flowery, and potent with alcohol. But its really smells sweet. Sugary, malty.

T - Smell was sort of what I tasted. It had a strong presence of alcohol. In the start its sweet citrus, middle is buttery and slick, really slippery, then finishes with a bite of strong alcohol taste.

M - As stated buttery. Slippery. Sweet and carbonation was okay. Could have had more to it and it would have been okay.

D - Nil. I wouldn't drink more than one or two.

The fact I got this from a little liquor store could be a factor in this review, and I state it in full. The Indian beer I have had I have not been impressed with. Strange. I didn't know that Illinois was in India?

I wouldn't drink this one again, unless served very cold, and for a great price at a restaurant. Factor in freshness also. If it was new I would try it again. This one sat in my fridge for a month or so. And the regions of where it came were shady. Theres my disclaimer.

Serving type: bottle

07-28-2010 21:54:01 | More by Clockwork420

BeardedBoffin

New Mexico

2.2/5  rDev -16.3%
look: 2.5 | smell: 1.5 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 2

This beer pours a nice golden color but the head, or lack thereof, leaves something to be desired. The aroma is high metallic (copper?) and sweet bread. Light on the palate and in the flavor department. The brew tries to come across clean but is thwarted by unpleasantness lurking the background, veggies with a twist of skunk, perhaps. Overall, not recommended but if it is the only thing on the beer list at favorite Indian joint, it may do.

Serving type: bottle

04-02-2009 22:58:47 | More by BeardedBoffin

ChainGangGuy

Georgia

2.2/5  rDev -16.3%
look: 3 | smell: 2 | taste: 2 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 2

650ml bottle - $2.99 at Total Wine & More in Kennesaw, Georgia.

Appearance: Pours out a crystal clear, yellow body with a sudsy, quickly deflating, white head.

Smell: Washed out malts tones with a sweet-scented corn-hinting element to it and whiff of astringent cleaner.

Taste: Mild, meager pale maltiness with a sweetness of corn sugar powder. Lightly fruity, like a dash of Martinelli's sparkling apple-grape juice that had subsequently gone a bit flat and tired. No real hop flavor or bitterness, instead you get a small pinch of chemically alcohol. Warming, sweet finish.

Mouthfeel: Medium-light body. Medium-light carbonation.

Overall: Unpleasant and coarse but not entirely undrinkable, it's like an India-born malt liquor.

Serving type: bottle

05-18-2011 20:17:39 | More by ChainGangGuy

barczar

Kentucky

2.2/5  rDev -16.3%
look: 3 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 2 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 2

Pours a brilliant golden color with a solid one inch ivory head that fades quickly into a layer of foam.

Aroma is dominated by corn and grain, slightly sweet and alcoholic, with perhaps a touch of herbal hop and diacetyl.

Flavor reveals more diacetyl, buttery, cloyingly sweet, with heavy grain and slightly bitter hop, ending fairly alcoholic and peppery. The malt backbone is fairly nutty, and a metallic note surfaces as it warms.

Body is on the heavy side, with moderate carbonation. There's an unpleasant slickness present. Some astringency lingers in the finish.

Overall, it's the typical profile for a malt liquor, but a bit fleeting in the malt department. One is more than enough...way to sweet.

Serving type: bottle

07-11-2012 05:14:16 | More by barczar

emerge077

Illinois

2.25/5  rDev -14.4%
look: 2.5 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 2 | overall: 1.5

Picked this up in a recent smash & grab for BYOB at a random Devon Ave. shop in Chicago.

Out of the four casual beer drinkers at our table, this was the only bottle to sit unfinished at the end of the night. It's only redeeming factor was a slight banana ester that surfaced at room temperature.

Poured fizzy yellow, some foam that rapidly dissipated.
Smelled like spent grain, noticeable alcohol, no hops.
Taste was bland, thin mouthfeel, no one wanted to drink it after a few sips.

After sitting for awhile, and warming to room temp. there was an out of place banana taste that was neither here nor there. Kingfisher paired much better with the spicy lamb curry.

Serving type: bottle

03-19-2007 21:27:59 | More by emerge077

packetknife

Idaho

2.28/5  rDev -13.3%
look: 2.5 | smell: 2 | taste: 2 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 3

This would be the last Indian beer I tried on my trip and it didn't help my impression of the business in that country. Light golden color, no discernable head. Smelled slightly skunky but that's about it. Lousy hoppiness, like it was watered down. Maltiness was negligable. Rather flat but drinkable for the ABV. I felt it after the oversized bottle but I wasn't ready to have another one, I'd rather Sprite.

Serving type: bottle

02-15-2004 14:59:46 | More by packetknife

tone77

Pennsylvania

2.28/5  rDev -13.3%
look: 2.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 2 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 2

Poured from a brown 22 oz. bottle. Has a pale yellow color with a 1/2 inch head. Smell is of grains, corn. Taste is not very good, something metallic and medicinal is present, a bit of malt and grain. Feels light in the mouth and overall is a subpar beer, most American made malt liquors are better.

Serving type: bottle

08-03-2012 04:08:24 | More by tone77

Derranged

New York

2.33/5  rDev -11.4%
look: 2.5 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 2 | feel: 3 | overall: 2.5

Poured from a 24 ounce into a large mug.

A- Clear golden color with a thick white bubbly head

S- Floral notes and booze

T- Sweet, skunky, boozy and metallic with a strange chemical almost rocket fuel taste. Not good.

M- Very carbonated and thin.

O- Not good. It was worth a try since Indian beer is not widely available where I'm from. But I doubt I'll have this again, unless I'm at an Indian restaurant and I plan on getting wasted. Or in India.

Serving type: bottle

04-04-2011 03:48:45 | More by Derranged

Groucho75

Georgia

2.33/5  rDev -11.4%
look: 3 | smell: 2 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 2

Was looking forward to this after going through a few more Indian beers from the store; my friendly neighborhood liquor man said he preferred this to the domestic Kingfisher and the Indian-made Taj Mahal.

Usually the words "650 ml", "7 % ABV" and "$3.09" make me a happy boy, but this one is pretty disappointing.

Big, undated bottle, ice cold and poured into a fluted pils glass. Loads of carbonation with a white foamy head that stuck around for a few moments and then evaporated. Strong gold color.

Aroma is where things start going south; sickly grass and a sweetness that wouldn't be out of place with some lower-market AALs.

The taste gets a little better, but not by much. Strong alcohol taste that suggests more than 7%. Some malt, but the adjunct-y taste is just too overwhelming.

Mouthfeel isn't terrible. It isn't great either.

All in all, I'd actually go for Budweiser before this unless I was enjoying a curry. For that matter I'd opt for a Molson's XXX if I wanted something strong with lots of body but not overwhelming in alcohol.

Serving type: bottle

10-06-2011 23:56:52 | More by Groucho75

jmdrpi

Pennsylvania

2.45/5  rDev -6.8%
look: 3 | smell: 2.75 | taste: 2 | feel: 3 | overall: 2.75

22 oz bottle, no date.

super clear pale straw color. soapy bone-white head. smells of pale malt, grain, cracked corn, mild and clean. to style. taste is actually okay when cold. clean, but lingering off-putting after taste. but as it warm, it takes a turn to pretty bad. thin body and fizzy carbonation. appropriate.

bought this just to see what this beer was all about with the goofy name. weird that this Indian beer is basically and American Malt Liquor.

Serving type: bottle

03-22-2013 03:28:01 | More by jmdrpi

ybnorml

Rhode Island

2.48/5  rDev -5.7%
look: 2 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 2.5

Has a very light yellow colored body with a big white head that disappears immeadiately. The aroma is lightly grainy with a hint of alcohol. Kind of a sweet grassy taste, no hop bitterness evident. Mostly a strong alcohol presence in the flavor not much else. This remineded me of some "biere forte" that I purchased in Canada a few years ago. Mostly alcohol rush and no real beer flavor.

Serving type: bottle

04-15-2004 01:54:01 | More by ybnorml

Freshie

Massachusetts

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

Pours a clear golden color with small soda-like head.

Smell was hard to read, because it was served to me o so cold. Light grain, faint sweet malt.

Tastes like a normal American Lager with more kick (7% ABV). The stale grain flavour gives way to a more spiced aftertaste, where the hops becomes present. Smooth, but carbonation adds some bite.

Nothing special. It might Work well with some cuisine, but I think other beers of the same genre probably surpass it.

Serving type: bottle

05-28-2006 05:42:18 | More by Freshie

BeerSingh

India

2.63/5  rDev 0%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 2.5

Haywards 5000 is a sought after strong lager available in India, and probably the best known brand after Kingfisher.

Poured into a Beer Mug from a 22 oz bottle. Darkish yellow in colour with a big head. Smells of typical adjuncted beer - metallic. Tastes of distinct alcohol and grain separately. Mouthfeel is thin and fizzy.

I have stopped drinking this beer post my tryst with Belgians

Serving type: bottle

07-31-2009 07:37:42 | More by BeerSingh