Newcastle Brown is my favourite drink. It is definitely my drink of choice, though I do like a lot of bitters and a couple of lagers.
I do think it is an aquired taste, but that is half the point, at least it has some taste. Unlike many American beers I have tried. It is important to drink it at the right temperature though.
OTOH, I think there are many beers which aren’t mainstream which take a while to get used to. It’s all a matter of taste.
I’d be interested to find out the origin of calling it Dog though. everton, is that something you read/heard? Do you have any links?
Nookey Broon doesn’t really do very much for me It just taste’s a little to ‘industrial’ for my refined and genteel Southern palate - it’s the heavy metal of boozing, IMHO. But I understand where RichQ is coming from and I am grateful to kferr – sounds like a very good chilli tip !
As for American beer: I did quite like Bud as a domestic option for a while but I’m now a Budvar armchair advocate. Despite considerabl effort, I haven’t come across any other American beers that quite hit the spot - it might be, as others mention, a question of what you grow up with.
Also the booze of heavy metal. My own taste for it was aquired because it seemed to be the in thing in music rags like kerrang when I was an impressionable yoof. Later, by this p(o)int a confirmed fan, a favourite boozing game was for all those involved to buy a bottle o’ newky and a shot of (also much favoured) Jack Daniels, pour the shot into the beer, bop the top of each others bottle with the the base of your own and then drink. Fast
RickQ
My quote came from a conversation I heard on television. I’m afraid I can’t remember much about which programme because it I just had it on in the background, but I suspect it may have been a cookery programme. Some southern poof (Gary Rhodes?) was being shown the sights and sounds of the North East. The bloke he was talking to was a genuine Geordie, who showed him the proper way to pour an inch of broon into his glass at a time, not the whole bottleful, and he explained the meaning of “dog”. So I don’t have a cite, but Google’s as much your friend as mine, so maybe that could help?
I don’t see much of my friends up that end of the country these days, although when I did I could always guarantee a lock-in at some place in Warkworth where there is excellent Theakstons and Marstons etc. Mmmm.
Weird, I always thought it had a really smooth agreeable taste, not too bitter, not too hoppy…I can drink Newcastle Brown like water, though I don’t (I try to actually taste anything that is $8 a six pack).
Weird, I always thought it had a really smooth agreeable taste, not too bitter, not too hoppy…I can drink Newcastle Brown like water, though I don’t (I try to actually taste anything that is $8 a six pack).
Probably because it is not about how strong the beer is - it is about how it tastes. If you REALLY want to get drunk there are much better alternatives that don’t leave you needing a piss every 30 minutes :o)
As a resident of Sweden, I’m having a lot of difficulty here. Let’s just say that when you have to live with it (and the other mainstream Swedish “beers” like Falcon and Pripps Blå) you end up with an ever-so-slightly different view!
Having lots more free time than RickQ these days, I did the google search. According to the official Newcastle Brown webpage, everton has a good memory. Apparently, in the 1980s, they used “dog” and “I’m going to walk the dog” in an ad campaign.
I love Newcastle…definite beer of choice unless it’s fall and Harpoon Winter Warmer is available…mmmm…pumpkin pie in a bottle…but…I used to hate Newcastle…I had only had it in bottles and it always tasted skunked…utterly skunked…then I had it on tap…and I’ve never gone back…it’s smooth…less carbonated…and best served slightly warmed…sigh…I would like one now please.
If you’ve had Newcastle Brown in the U.S. only from a bottle, chances are extremely good it was skunked. Beer is light and heat sensitive, and that six-pack you buy at the store has probably been sitting somewhere, maybe for weeks, in an environment where there was no light or temperature control. Even the flourescent lighting in a beer case can affect the taste of the beer, and Newcastle comes in a clear bottle, which makes the situation even worse.
My biggest gripe about some British and many German beers is they don’t use brown bottles - hell, they know a portion of their stuff is exported on a long trip, and they don’t put their product in a dark bottle to help protect it from light?
I used to think Heineken was supposed to taste like sh*t - I’d never had it on tap, just out of that stinkin’ green bottle. Then a friend of mine got hold of a keg and it was a whole other story - Heineken will never be my favorite beer, but at least it was drinkable out of the keg.
And FWIW, Newcastle is one of my very favorites, and I miss the bar where you used to be able to get it on tap for $1.50 a pint before 9 pm.
i like it! i find it smooth and tasty, with a pleasant aftertaste. it comes in clear, non-twist off bottles, so you can use em for other stuff, homebrew or for feeding the lambs on the farm (i use this as an excuse to buy it once in a while “well, honey, you need the bottles!”)
i don’t buy it much because i am a cheap bastard and only buy shit beer at shit prices.
I find it to be pretty good in bottles, It will be one of my first choices if served in a place without extensive beer selections, but I have never had it good on tap. I have tried it on tap in about a dozen different places in three different areas of the US (NE, NW, and the south) and it is not good. It tastes like it was diluted with dishwashing liquid or something – too smooth, almost slimey and the taste is just off.