Flying Horse Royal Lager - United Breweries - UB Group

gfreed

Massachusetts

1.78/5  rDev -40.7%
look: 2.5 | smell: 1.5 | taste: 2 | feel: 1.5 | overall: 1.5

Split a bottle of this with a friend over a meal of spicy Indian food. Undistinguished pale yellow with a thin bubbly head and all kinds of carbonation. The latter is probably the best thing about this beer, as the fizz helps cut the spice in the food, just like seltzer water does. In fact, the body is akin to seltzer water, and the taste isn't far from that, either. I detected a bit of lemon and hay, plus some green vegetables in both the taste and the aroma. Not much else of interest in this one. I imagine this is best taken with food, as it doesn't have much flavor on its own and is suitable for rinsing before taking the next bite.

Serving type: bottle

09-25-2008 11:53:11 | More by gfreed

lacqueredmouse

Australia

1.45/5  rDev -51.7%
look: 1.5 | smell: 1 | taste: 1.5 | feel: 2 | overall: 1.5

Tried in what I thought was a suitable environment, an Indian restaurant in Chelsea.

Pours a pale yellow watery colour, with a fizzy and insipid initial head of bubbling sputum for a head, which merely disappears as soon as its blown its load. It leaves the beer looking like pale yellow, flat water. If it were body-temperature I would consider it indistinguishable from piss.

Nose is redolent with chlorinated water, with a faint honey grain adjunct sweetness behind it. These characters individually would be unpleasant, but together, they make a clanging synergy that makes them worse than the sum of their parts. Just terrible.

Taste is quite similar. Some light phenols on the front palate, before some more (perhaps evaporated) chlorine characters. Back is weak and insipid, and disappears like drinking water. Feel at least can be said to be clean, but that's being charitable.

No, this is a blatantly appalling lager. Devoid of all but the most unpleasant characters. Everything is just wrong with this beer, and despite the fact it cost $9 for the bottle (!), I chose not to finish it.

Not even the suitable environment could save it.

Serving type: bottle

12-05-2009 14:11:31 | More by lacqueredmouse