The Shocking State Of John Smith's

[Chippy_Tea]

I found this amusing review while searching for something else I think its the first time i have heard him say "absolutely atrocious, massively massively atrocious" and "i would rather have a glass of water" about any beer so well done Heineken .



The Shocking State Of John Smith's Original Bitter & John Smith's Extra Smooth Under Heineken -

 

[SamBrewster]

Ha ha John Smith's rough in 94 was ok to a then lager drinker.
Is no taste better than the beer Green King are making now...

 

[Gunge]

Shame... I was brought up on John Smiths 70s/ 80s and thought it was ace, but had nothing to compare it to. But if this guy thinks Heineken have wrecked JS, he ought to try their take on Newcastle Brown. F*** me.

 

[marshbrewer]

John Smith's on cask is actually not to bad. Everything else John Smith's is truly sh1te.

Shame... I was brought up on John Smiths 70s/ 80s and thought it was ace, but had nothing to compare it to. But if this guy thinks Heineken have wrecked JS, he ought to try their take on Newcastle Brown. F*** me.

You're not wrong there Gunge - blimey it's awful now. Aldis knock off Newkie is miles better.

 

[Norfolk79]

I wonder if it was always rubbish, just everything else used to be too so nothing decent to compare it to unlike now.

 

[DavidHatton]

Didn't mind JS Magnet,

 

[Clint]

It is crap. It's all about cheap. I wonder how people can drink the stuff. They must have either dreadful taste or don't know anything else.

 

[marshbrewer]

Didn't mind JS Magnet,

 

[terrym]

I wonder if it was always rubbish, just everything else used to be too so nothing decent to compare it to unlike now.

Really? My 55 years of drinking beer suggest different. In that time there have always been crap beers, but conversely there have always been good beers, plus stuff in the middle. I'm sure it was like it before I started drinking, and I'm equally sure it will continue like that. The names change that's all, and just as new stuff comes along older beers fall by the wayside as tastes change. Like the man in the video said John Smiths may not be with us for much longer but years ago to many it was a decent pint, just like Boddingtons Bitter was, believe it or not

 

[Clint]

Arghhhh! Not the B word! It's true...even I can say I've had a truly great pint of B.....about 30 years ago! That too is now pish.

 

[Brewed_Force]

I recently had the misfortune recently to try draft Heineken, I didn't finish the pint......it was awful even by Carling standards, don't understand how it's such a big brand.

 

[An Ankoù]

I wonder if it was always rubbish, just everything else used to be too so nothing decent to compare it to unlike now.

Had to cut my teeth on Whitbread Trophy and Watney's Starlight in Southampton. No wonder I started brewing at age 16. Fortunately I paid attention during my science lessons. Made up for it in the others, though.
Newcastle brown was highly thought of in those days, by the way! It was considered really strong, which it was by comparison. Interestingly, even the Starlight and Trophy were preferable to the lagers of the day.

 

[AdeDunn]

John Smith's on cask is actually not to bad. Everything else John Smith's is truly sh1te.



You're not wrong there Gunge - blimey it's awful now. Aldis knock off Newkie is miles better.

My parents have always been a little dismissive of my home brewing, until my mum bought my dad a bottle of Newkie Brown a few weeks ago.... It WAS his fave beer (yeah, no accounting for some folks). He was horrified by it! I'd been trying to warn him that it was garbage now. So, long story short, they found out that I have recipes for Newkie Brown, and ended up with my mum offering to pay for the hops if I'll brew my dad a batch of Newkie Brown.... Oh, and my dad spent a good 15 minutes talking to me over the phone about my brewing hobby suddenly!!! Actually, of all time it was his second fave, however his first fave (Watney's Red Barrel) has thankfully not been available for many many years now... lmao

So, thank you Heineken, in ruining a very old and popular beer, you brought me a little closer to my father! (need that clap to go a little slower there... lmao)

As to John Smiths, ye gods no! It's always tasted like carbonated muddy water, even in the 90s....

 

[cushyno]

This general abusing of once great brands and beers does have some upside. It leaves a vacuum for other breweries to fill who are more caring of quality.

Sadly some friends of mine are more concerned with price than quality or variety, and that attitude plays right into the hands of big commercial brands. It's a race to the bottom again.

 

[DavidHatton]

A Pint of Magic might be pushing it, but compared to all the mishaps in the ad, it is a pleasant change. used to mix it with Merrydown cider for a snakebite, in the Wapentake in sheffield.

 

[terrym]

This general abusing of once great brands and beers does have some upside. It leaves a vacuum for other breweries to fill who are more caring of quality.

I mostly agree with that. It leaves a vacuum for other breweries to fill 'fullstop'. So due to the emergence of very small brewers one benefit of that is that there are many beers out there to try, far more perhaps than there were years ago. And those brewers that have emerged are not afraid to try new things and instead of two or three in their range they might produce four or five or even more. So the choice is even more diverse
However it's not all good. There are still rubbish beers about from the new wave. I went to the GBBF three or four years ago and came away very disappointed. My son and I sampled many beers between us and there were only a very small number that really hit the spot, the rest were average, and some were poor.

 

[An Ankoù]

A Pint of Magic might be pushing it, but compared to all the mishaps in the ad, it is a pleasant change. used to mix it with Merrydown cider for a snakebite, in the Wapentake in sheffield.

Ye gads, sir! What a waste of Merrydown. Thanks for the video clip, though.

 

[Slid]

I find it interesting that Greene King IPA is now much derided. Back in the late 1970's I remember it as being OK, especially at 25p a pint in the college bar.
After reluctantly returning to the "real world" in the early 1980's I drank Boddingtons in Glossop - it was a quite bitter drink, by the fashion of the time, but had something of a cult following. I think Robinsons bitter may have been marginally stronger, and Marstons Pedigree noticeably so (as in literally "falling over", noticeably), but the Bodd's houses (Drovers Arms, Station and the Grapes) were the usual haunts.

Nothing much wrong with the real ales of the era, but the keg beers were utter pants.

 

[marshbrewer]

I kinda miss the days when big (ish), local(ish) breweries were around producing good, solid ale. A lot of this micro brewery stuff is of mixed quality and consistency. There are gems out there, but there is a fair amount of rubbish as well. My fantasy world would be a UK full of lots of Sam Smith's / Bateman's / Hook Norton type breweries.

 

[terrym]

I drank Boddingtons in Glossop - it was a quite bitter drink, by the fashion of the time,

Like sucking on a lemon, only surpassed by Stones bitter before that too became a nothing beer.