Boddingtons Pub Ale

From the nitro-can, started as a full glass of thick, creamy foam. Slowly the foam turned over from bottom to top revealing a deep yellow beer with a steady half-inch foamy white cap. After that, everything went down hill. Grassy aromas with stale biscuit. Despite the dramatic pour, there was no carbonation to speak of. Light, stale malty flavors with a very light hint of pear and a stale bread aftertaste.

Serving type: nitro-can

Reviewed on: 09-07-2010 12:51:16 | id: 1257605

Poured from a nitro can into a pint glass (yay for cascades)

Appearance is pretty average, nothing fancy. Only cool thing is the rich, thick creamy 3/4" of head. The type that sticks to your finger like frosting.

The smell of this beer is that of a light beer. Really nothing interesting or noteworthy.

The taste is absolutely smooth, creamy, soft and delicate on the palette. Slightly sweet. There's a nice balance between malt and simple hop note flavors. Nothing really stands out in the taste of this beer. The overly nitrogen rich body and creamy texture take out any room for noticeable characteristics.

You could sit and drink this beer all night long. I really do enjoy this beer, but put it up against a fine craft brew and it falls a bit short on character.

Serving type: nitro-can

Reviewed on: 08-31-2010 18:23:36 | id: 1252221

Appearance: Pours to a clear golden brown with a typically huge nitro-head.

Smell: Smells mildly of yeast and sweet malt, but mostly just nitro.

Taste: Again here there is simply nothing happening. Mild yeast and very mild sweet malt. Nothing tastes bad, in fact there's nothing to taste bad. Almost no hops.

Mouthfeel: Very light-bodied with little carbonation.

Drinkability: It's water, it'll get down.

Serving type: nitro-can

Reviewed on: 08-31-2010 05:38:57 | id: 1252059

Pours a hazy light orange colour with thick white head that doesn't dissipate and leaves a lot of lacing. Smells of mild floral hops with some fruity malt. Very dry flavour with a small amount of bitterness from the hops. Creamy mouthfeel. I used to drink this a lot a few years ago as I started to move to more flavourful beer. Still good enough to drink now, but it's just ok.

Serving type: nitro-tap

Reviewed on: 08-30-2010 02:53:09 | id: 1251152

A: I think it's beautiful in a pilsner glass when poured from the nitro can. Amber gold with tiny bubbles and a tight and dense white, 1 cm head. Looking at it made me thirsty!

S: While cold in the glass, I can hardly smell anything from this beer apart from mild yeastiness. 15 minutes and 15 degrees F later, still not much of a discernible smell...

T: Not a whole lot going on here. It is almost too smooth tasting, like alcoholic vanilla cream soda but without the sweetness. In a way, it's even bland. Almost no aftertaste and a very slight bitterness. My non beer drinker girlfriend might even like this. Tastes like a crowd pleaser though, nothing necessarily negative about it, and just a few positives. I can't give it a 3.5...it's like a 3.7, if that makes any sense. EDIT: I had to edit the score down to a 3.5. This beer doesn't really deserve a B+ to me because there is so much else out there that beats it.

M: Creamy and smooth, just like advertised. I can see the carbonation, but I can't detect it in my mouth. Similar mouthfeel to skim milk. It's a plus for this beer, I think it gives it a nice little boost above and beyond the simple flavor.

D: I think it's very drinkable. It is the definition of a beer that would be nice to drink at a party and goes well with food and snacks. Low ABV means it will fill you up long before you feel the effects. It's not really a beer that I would have a craving for, but I could probably drink ten of them.

Serving type: nitro-can

Reviewed on: 08-21-2010 22:46:42 | id: 1244149

Had this on tap last night.

A: An awesome white 2 1/2 finger head lasted 4 minutes, this is one if it's best features. After that a 1 finger head remained just about until I was at the bottom of the glass. The beer is a nice golden yellow.
S: Some English hops come through but not much else.
T: Creamy at first that fades to a crisp, dry, slight bitter and grainy finish.
B:Medium body with slighty higher carbonation than I'd like.
D: I could tolerate a few of these, but not my session pick.

Serving type: on-tap

Reviewed on: 08-20-2010 20:53:16 | id: 1243200

Poured into a pilsner glass

Pours clear and a little darker than straw yellow with the thick foam head you have come to expect from a widget, and therefore laces heavily. I know some people hate nitro, but the cascade is beautiful... Aroma is hard to detect at first (I always find nitro head does that), but comes through as a crisp and almost honey-like. Taste is nice, though nothing special, honey, apple and a bit of bitterness. Finishes clean and smooth, but is almost bland as there isn't enough carbonation left in the beer.

Serving type: nitro-can

Reviewed on: 08-18-2010 02:06:28 | id: 1241008

Note: To be fair, I'd like to mention that this is one of the few beers I'm reviewing from notes I made shortly after trying it. I tried this beer just a few weeks ago.

A - I give the highest score for this beer to the appearance, simply because it was fun to watch the head settle from the three layers (the bottom clear gold layer, the top foamy head layer, and the middle grainy mixture that eventually resettled to the head and body of the beer). The beer was a pale gold color and very clear.

S - A standard bitter beer smell, with a bitter herb scent.

T - The can boasted of Boddington's great heads, and I couldn't agree more. This beer provided one of the creamiest, sweetest heads I have ever tasted. The can's device did a good job, but I suspect that at a pub the flavor is even better (after all, Guinness bottles have a widget and still taste almost nothing like the beer on-tap!). Unfortunately, the rest of the beer left me unimpressed. I wrote on my notes that great beers follow a Gestalt principle, where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Great beers are more than just water that has passed through some grains and hops. Boddington's Pub Ale, to me, was just the sum of its parts. Still, the head was awesome. If I ever see this beer on-tap, I will try it to see if it's better than the canned version.

M - Kind of watery and thin, which fits in with my assessment of the body's flavor.

D - Bitter without much flavor means I only finished this beer because I paid for it.

Serving type: nitro-can

Reviewed on: 08-15-2010 06:37:26 | id: 1238744

Poured into a pint glass.

Pours a massive, cascading head that settles down pretty quickly, leaving a dense cream-like white one finger thick head. The brew is a deep golden orange color. Descent head retention with a good lacing.

Smells of floral hops and sweet, mild malted grains and fresh bread - reminds me a bit of fresh brewed tea.

Tastes of floral hops, bready yeasts, mild caramel malt sweetness with a slightly bittered hop finish. Not too big in terms of flavor, but it definitely has a nice taste.

Mouthfeel is incredibly smooth and slick. Very creamy from the nitro.

This is a highly drinkable/sessionable brew that will go down very easily. I wish the flavors were a bit more pronounced, but overall, this is a pretty nice English Pale Ale.

Serving type: nitro-can

Reviewed on: 08-13-2010 00:09:52 | id: 1236908

appearance: pours a clear, light golden yellow with rapid effervescence that dissipates quickly; finger-thick foamy head.

smell: scent of caramel with malty undertone yielding a faintly sweet smell with a faint trace of hops.

taste: beginning provides no discernable taste, progressing into a caramel bittersweet sensation, finishing with a very slightly hoppy, but more bitter finish.

drinkability: not unpleasant, but nothing to keep you coming back for more, may be bitter enough to deter some expecting a more hearty or hoppy ale.

Serving type: nitro-can

Reviewed on: 08-05-2010 00:16:39 | id: 1230743