Ballantine XXX Ale - Pabst Brewing Company

Todd

Massachusetts

3.48/5  rDev +14.9%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4

Presentation: Half quart lime green can. No freshness date.

Appearance: Clear gold in colour with a finger thick foamy white head and lots of carbonation activity.

Smell: Musty citrus rind, light grain and metallic aromas.

Taste: Upfront this brew strikes the palate with a lot of rind-like flavours, mild salty bitterness and fizzy carbonation. Grain, musty and metallic flavours follow along with an underlining fusel alcohol taste and a touch of medicinal flavour. Malt sweetness is thin and almost balances the rest of the brew, adding only some body. Finishes with lingering metallic flavours and a touch of dryness.

Notes: "America's Largest Selling Ale" ... hmm, I kind of doubt that? However, I'll be damned if this is not one helluva good beverage! This is one of those old school beers that your grandaddy used to drink (ask him). It's extremely refreshing and so easy to drink that the 6pak of cans is gone before you know it.

I've found my new "have in the fridge at all times" summer brew.

Serving type: can

07-01-2002 16:41:54 | More by Todd

Jason

Massachusetts

3.45/5  rDev +13.9%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.5

Very thing yet sticky white lace, clear pale yellowish golden hue. Faint flowery and citric aroma with hints of grain. Crispness gets lost a bit in the moderate body, citric rind flavour and ample bitterness shows that the hops are there and want to be noticed. Malt flavour is a little weak with some sweetness, some residual sweetness in the end with a lingering rind hop flavour clean the palate.

For $5.00 a six-pack of 16 oz cans this is not too bad. Come August when it is 99*F with 100% humidity this may be a beer I resort to.

Serving type: can

06-20-2002 13:38:32 | More by Jason

pjkelley82

New York

2.75/5  rDev -9.2%

06-18-2013 05:49:49 | More by pjkelley82

ale207

Maine

3.5/5  rDev +15.5%

05-20-2013 20:29:51 | More by ale207

mikeburd1128

New Jersey

2/5  rDev -34%

05-10-2013 22:07:39 | More by mikeburd1128

rderedin

Maine

2.75/5  rDev -9.2%

05-05-2013 18:36:51 | More by rderedin

kkmiller76

New Jersey

3.25/5  rDev +7.3%

05-04-2013 23:33:37 | More by kkmiller76

Celtics76

Rhode Island

2.75/5  rDev -9.2%

04-08-2013 13:27:06 | More by Celtics76

ummswimmin

New Jersey

3.25/5  rDev +7.3%

03-21-2013 17:36:07 | More by ummswimmin

wonothesane42

New Jersey

3.25/5  rDev +7.3%

03-06-2013 20:27:14 | More by wonothesane42

yankinoz

Australia

4.08/5  rDev +34.7%
look: 3 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

I'm working from memory of my go-to beer, back when Ballantine brewed in Newark and this really was America's most popular ale. A point to emphasize about xxx is that to my tastes it was far better on tap than in bottles, a bigger difference than I have found in any other beer. Not only was bottled xxx often skunky, it always seemed slightly cooked and a bit thin in comparison. Once I tasted the draft, I rarely went back to the bottles.

From the tap it poured with a good head, although retention was below average. The aroma was floral and fairly strong, though less than from opening a bottle. Lacing? I was too young to care.

Malt came out in in the aroma, mouthfeel and a trace of sweetness, though it finished dry like a pilsner, all qualities less evident in the bottled beer. It was noticeably more bitter than any of the domestic lagers then available, but less than the German lagers then coming in. Overall, a beer that taught me what balance was.

I spent a year in England about then. Obviously the English bitters were different, but I can't say I liked the run of the mill ones better, only certain ones like Abott Ale and just about everything brewed in Yorkshire.

Serving type: on-tap

02-12-2013 22:35:42 | More by yankinoz

milkbone_underwear

Massachusetts

3.75/5  rDev +23.8%

02-11-2013 02:00:58 | More by milkbone_underwear

rorjets

Connecticut

1.75/5  rDev -42.2%

02-10-2013 14:01:59 | More by rorjets

Segelstrom

Pennsylvania

2.5/5  rDev -17.5%

02-02-2013 00:04:57 | More by Segelstrom

DmanGTR

New York

2.25/5  rDev -25.7%

01-29-2013 20:17:08 | More by DmanGTR

TheBigBoy

Pennsylvania

3/5  rDev -1%

01-28-2013 04:02:24 | More by TheBigBoy

Peyton5410

New Jersey

2.5/5  rDev -17.5%

01-20-2013 00:00:40 | More by Peyton5410

spycow

Illinois

3/5  rDev -1%

01-17-2013 06:30:02 | More by spycow

tbeer40

New Jersey

3.25/5  rDev +7.3%

01-07-2013 18:52:40 | More by tbeer40

Hopheadjeffery

Illinois

3/5  rDev -1%

12-22-2012 16:34:26 | More by Hopheadjeffery

barczar

Kentucky

2.75/5  rDev -9.2%
look: 4 | smell: 2 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 2.5

Dated August 12, so about 4 months late.

Pours a slightly hazy golden straw with a solid one inch white head that slowly dissipates, leaving sticky lacing.

Skunk, grain, and corn adjunct form the aroma. Lightly sweet malt is secondary.

Flavor leaves the skunk behind. Grain, lightly sweet, cracker malt, and a hit of floral hops form the flavor profile. Metallic flavors emerge.

Body is on the light side, with moderate carbonation and a touch of astringency.

Can't believe this beer got the ratings it did. Flavor is neutral, aroma skunky.

Serving type: bottle

12-22-2012 07:18:16 | More by barczar

chucksim

Pennsylvania

3.5/5  rDev +15.5%

12-17-2012 04:55:07 | More by chucksim

Tucquan

Pennsylvania

3.28/5  rDev +8.3%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3

Had this on 2012-12-12 in Columbia, PA

A - Clear, bold yellow with a 1.25-finger white head and mild lacing.

S - Lemon, light hop floral, cracker. Not bad. Better than Bud or Miller for sure.

T - Tastes like a somewhat hoppy lager with corn sweetness, lemon and light bitterness. Perhaps leaning towards a Victory Prima Pils but nowhere as sophisticated, bitter, or, well, really not in the same league. Not upleasant though. The green bottle could have been badly skunked. I kept it out of the light and so perhaps did most of the rest of the supply chain since it's evident but barely.

M - Light-medium body and medium carbonation. More body than I expected.

O - It's not the piney / bitter brew I remember from the early 70's in North Jersey. I didn't know what hops were then but I knew I liked the flavor of Ballantine XXX , which I learned many decades later, used hop oil extract. This beer could use some of that but even so, I enjoyed this more than most adjunct brews.

Serving type: bottle

12-12-2012 23:22:57 | More by Tucquan

mwar

Kentucky

2.25/5  rDev -25.7%

11-26-2012 23:36:32 | More by mwar

SLeffler27

New York

3/5  rDev -1%

11-18-2012 05:38:21 | More by SLeffler27