Ballantine XXX Ale

Pabst Brewing Company
Brewed at Miller Brewing Company (MillerCoors)
Style: Golden Ale/Blond Ale
Woodridge, Illinois USA

Astronaut...tang...orange and blah tang, nice clear look but thats is all she wrote very tang tang tang with a bad aftertaste

Bottle. Pours golden with a white head. Aroma of sweet malts, grain, corn and slight hoppy scent. Flavor is smooth, corn, sweet, grain, with a slight bitter finish. Nothing great, but drinkable.

Saw this and had to try it for old times sake. In my youth, it was beer like Ballantine, Schaefer, Piels, Knickerbocker, Schlitz, and Rheingold that was in abundance in the family’s social circles. So, a little bit of nostalgia. Poured clear amber with a big foamy head. Sweet corn aroma, some malt. Nothing special. Weak and watery. Almost without flavor. Martin Crane’s favorite beer.

We used to drink this from the gold cans back in college because it was $8.99 a case. That was the ONLY reason we would subject ourselves to this stuff. Whatever the big history was behind this stuff, we weren’t getting it. All we were getting were the runs and horrible hangovers. If that’s the big mythology behind this stuff, then I’d give it a 5, but somehow I doubt that is the case. Strictly for bums and college kids.

As a young/new beer drinker, I may be bending to the mythology of this beer, particularly that of Hunter S. Thompson. However, this seems to compare favorably with similarities to Bass Ale in the blonde ale category. I’ve enjoyed this when I can find it, and have been almost universally surprised that it falls into the category with some of the cheaper lagers. I know that quality shouldn’t be based upon price, but I’ll allow that as one of the faults in my rating.

Ok, it is mass produced and it has the character of a stinky bar style beer but that is what you expect and want from this beer.....I will l,ook forward to enjoying one of these on occasion!

The present Ballantine is a sad, sa shadow of what it was when I first tasted it 40 years ago...Ballantine was a great brewery whose products by and large outclass(ed) much of what is produced by a lot of micros today. Still, even though it lacks the beautiful hop character it had years ago, for the low price its usually found for it’s a decent quaffer. Mix it with about 10% Guinness and it wakes up a bit.

As far as I can tell, this may even be worse than some US macros...oh wait it is a US macro. Ill have to submit to claims that this used to be better because right now this is looking bad to me. Ultra metallic canned corn with hops that were swept up from the brewing room floor including dust and more corn. Honestly, im going to have to give Yueng Lord C a better rating now that Ive tried this. I wish I couldve tasted the older version, but for now, this is just going to be placed on the avoidance list.