In its defence, the bottle of McEwan's Champion had been sitting around for a few months longer than recommended on the label. I'm putting the slight staleness down to that. For the rest there's no excuse other than execrable beer-making.It looks fine: a very dark, almost opaque, red with a fairly loose fluffy head. The aroma is fairly sweet but is nothing compared to the taste: like mainlining golden syrup. At 7.3% ABV I knew I was in for something hefty, but I wasn't expecting such a foghorn blast of sugar. Mostly, it's the sticky, sickly and slightly musty syrup flavour I most associate with German bock. But there's a fruitiness to it as well, a sort of cherry liqueur / cough mixture thing. Not pleasant and very much at the tramp juice end of the beer spectrum, despite the colour.
They probably thought that some aggressive hopping would add balance, but they've just made it acrid and harder to drink. The finish is metallic which, when combined with the intense sweetness, makes it taste like an artificial sugar substitute.
A couple of times I felt like pouring it down the sink, but the thought that it might suddenly improve kept me going. It didn't happen. And at the end I found it had stuck my lips together.
Mmmmm...lovely. I did used to drink a few of those when it was four for a fiver in Morrisons but it's not good stuff.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you necked it. All this pouring it away nonsense if you don't like it, is not on.
ReplyDeleteI've been trying a few of the old keg and packaged Tennent's and McEwan's/Younger's beers recently. Remarkably, the Tennent's one of whichever sort, taste of nothing whatsoever. The M-Y ones are actively nasty.
ReplyDeleteGiven the lack of taste in Tennent's, that may explain its rating over here as a "premium lager".
ReplyDeleteI consider McEwans Champion as my "emergency beer" because I know what to expect and it gives me an immediate lift with its sweetness.
ReplyDeleteThis may be a bit harsh but could it be to ales what Carlsberg Special Brew was to lagers?
Wired Beer
"The finish is metallic" - this is a very common fault in stale Burton Ale/Scotch Ale beers such as Champion, and a clear sign something has gone wrong: I fear you've had a bad one, BN. Personally this is one of my favourite winter drinks, when fresh I find it excellent, and I'm sorry they stopped brewing the companion beer, Newcastle Star, which was almost eqully as good.
ReplyDeleteHmm. This had been rotting on the shelves of a Northern Ireland Sainsbury's forever, so I'm sure anything that could go wrong with it did. But it's far from the first strong and highly-hopped British beer from which I've got that metallic clang.
ReplyDelete