Carlton Mid

Brewed by Carlton & United Breweries (CUB)
Style: Pale Lager
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

There was good news recently: the arse is falling out of the Australian low-alcohol beer market; the bad news was that drinkers are moving on to mid-strength brews like this. Which presumably is why Carlton hs been throwing so many advertising dollars at that dimwitted Male Intelligence Division campaign. This has the standard CUB sugary sweet aroma - boiled lollies, grassy hops, plus a whiff of sulphur. It has that hard CUB mouthfeel and aggressive carbonation. It’s not big on flavour but to be fair, it’s not as actively nasty as most CUB brews. Citric hops, low bitterness and a dry finish. It has the sweetness of VB but avoids the wet dog and metallic hops. Better than expected. (375ml bottle; bb 4/9/06)

Brought back from Australia in the "Beers down under" six pack. This offering from Carlton pours a pale yellow with a highly carbonated body. The inital smell is lemon, somewhat herbal hop presence. The taste is dry, I’m finding that alot of Carlton’s beers are basically the same. The taste reminds me of dried lemon rind, merged with a simple syrup (sugar and water) sweetness. The finish is sour, gives your mouth a tart aftertaste for a bit.

Decent enough, and light years better than most of the other CUB stuff. Not quite as bitter as you might expect from the double hopped call, but it does have that little bit of metallic hop flavor. I also picked up something reminiscent of grape soda in the finish. Other than that, not much in the taste department. A beer to drink when you dont want to think about it.

Can. Another from the Uncle Don six pack brought over in his Autumn 05 return to the States. I hate to say this, but I like this damn beer. Another very low alcohol beer, but full of flavor. These Aussie lagers have a nice amount of hop and are just pretty good tasting. This one is golden colored and laces well... and the nose is blah, but the taste is a little bit sweet at first quaff, then a well handled hop bitterness and almost a roasted malt quality. I like it. Smooth and low carbonation really add to the drinking experience.

Not to bad for CUB or a mid strength. Doesn’t have the usual chemical aftertaste of most CUB products but thats probably because there is no taste. Is very dry.

Yellow/Pale Coloring. Bitter...Metallic..Carbonated. Not Very Flavorful but Not Skanky....Just a Lack of Flavor.

Yellow color with no head, no aroma, and no taste. Kind of a dry finish, but it’s hard to really rip on a beer that has absolutely no qualities about it.

Nice pale colored lager. Lacking in flavor and aroma but any beer at the footy game is good beer. Bonus points for being resonably priced.