Castlemaine XXXX Bitter
A traditional Australian lager with a clean, crisp taste and a satisfying after-bitterness. XXXX Bitter’s delicate aroma comes from the blending of two hop varieties and a sweeter, fruity tang from the yeast. High drinkability in warm climates.
2
205 reviews
Milton, Australia
Community reviews
Can 4.5% as XXXX Export Lager, said it was Brewed and Canned by South Australian Brewing Co. Picked up at Horiba, 240 yen. It pours your typical gold with a white head that is midway between fizz and foam. Some lacing and malty aroma with less sweetness in the aroma than I usually get from a macro-lager. Medium bodied and it has a somewhat slick mouthfeel. The taste is not so bad, malty, a bit sugary, some graininess but also a bit of soapiness. The sweetness grows as you drink it. Eh, more soda than beer like. Sub-par but not terrible.
Pours a clear golden color, topped with a decent white frothy head that quickly disappears.
The aroma is malty and grainy, mild but still easy to pick up.
There’s not much to the taste. Sweet beginning, balanced body and a bit more bitterness in the finish.
A decent lager.
Bottle from local Yamaya stoe. Slightly harsh grainy nose, honey, and crushed weeds. Pale straw color. Extract-like malty initial / thin stale sweetness in mid / final has sugary trickles and a light astringency (which does not belong there). Thin-medium body. A bit hard to drink.
Pours a pale yellow color. Aroma is light malts. Taste is slightly sweet followed by a mild bitterness.
Bland, tasteless, blah, I hope to never drink it again but sadly I know I’ll probably have too and that hurts.
Can, 0.375l. Clear golden color with rocky white head and average sparkling appearance. Aroma of grainy malt, grassy hops and some vegetable notes. Taste starts with light sweet grainy maltiness, follows by grassy and maybe really some fruity notes, but still with crisp and dry mouthfeel and a bit more bitter finish then Gold edition. Light body, thin texture and lively carbonation in palate. Slightly better thant Gold, but still far away from more than a thirst killer...
~This review was made some time ago via another application, and thus the specific details (beyond numerical scores) are no longer available~
It has been a while since I last tasted this, but I remember it being a very mild beer, good for drinking on hot days. It has some malt flavor with a little touch of hop. It is not much, but probably great in the Outback.
Pale yellow colour with a white head. Aroma of malt and some bitterness. Taste of malt, slight brown sugar/caramel and a light after-bitterness.
Fra fat og boks mange ganger under studietiden i England, da Aussie-bølgen slo inn. "Let’s suck a few tinneis, mate". Vi som trodde vi visste litt mer forlangte gjerne Castlemaine i stedet for Foster’s, men uten at det ble mer suksess av den grunn. Som alle andre lagere, døll.
#483
Gleich nach dem Einschenken verbreitet sich eine angenehme Hopfennote im Zimmer, toll. Das Bier sieht auch recht gut aus, wenngleich sich der Schaum schnell verflüchtigt. Im Geschmack kommt der Hopfen erst gegen Ende wieder. Ansonsten nicht so süß und etwas fruchtig im Geschmack. Der Abgang ist leider ein wenig wäßrig; dennoch gutes Lager aus DownUnder!
Test vom 4.9.2007, Gebinde: Glasflasche Noten: 10,12,10,9,9,10 - 10,10
375ML bottle from a supermarket in South Korea. Darker blond coloured beer with some average carbonation and a rather small white head. Sweet malty suggary hinted aroma. Medium sweet palatE. Finish is again sweet grainy with a sweet sticky malty background. Medium
A-- Poured a clear straw (yellow gold) color. One finger bright white head and lots of little bubbles on the side of the glass. Looks way carbonated. Head retention is good and leaves some lacing on the glass.
S-- Sweet/sour smelling but lacking any real distinguishing flavor. Not very impressive at all.
T-- Not a whole heck of a lot in the taste area. Watery with a bit more hop flavor to give it the bite. Has a little sweet malt taste to it as well.
M-- Very carbonated and unimpressive. The bitter taste gets a bit bigger as you drink on but it is a small bite and has a bit of a metallic taste to it. Hop taste is faint and quick disappearing. Watery is the only real thing I can say about this. Very bloated feeling in the end and that is not a good thing in drinking beer.
D-- Passable cold and that is it
i drink this when i’m in australia. better than tooheys new or VB or carlton draught which are the other mainstream tap beers
The beer was depressingly poor, you can really see why its so cheap. It really got no signature, which differentiates it from a no-name cheap beer.
Made for getting students pissed.
Dont waste your time on it
A very good lager. My rating is low because lager isn’t one of my favorite styles of beer. But if I had to choose a lager, this would be in my top 10. Nothing special, but nothing offensive either.
Medium offwhite head. Clear amber body with light carbonation. Light grainy earthy aroma with peppery cardboard notes. Dry-sweetish nutty caramel taste with wooden notes. Mid-bodied. Mild, soft, smooth mouthfeel. Dryish sugary caramel aftertaste with cinnamon notes. Nice. Quite drinkable. Perhaps a tad sweet and bland. (0.33l bottle, Taste, Hang Hao, Hong Kong.)
grass, roasty, caramel, leather, clove, pale, clear, frothy, light sweetness, medium bitterness, lightly sour, thin feel, light body,
Crisp golden colour with a fluffy white head that sits and lingers on top of the beer. Smells a bit funky to be fair. It came out of a can and smells a bit tinny too. There’s malt on the nose but it isn’t terribly pleasant.
The taste is a bit nothing. At slightly above fridge temperature theres a hint of slightly sweet malt and little else. A good quaffer but very little merit otherwise. Tastes better than it smells.
0.375 l bottle, thanks Sampo! Golden color. Sweetish honeyish aroma with diesel. Sweetish honeyish and fruity flavor with caramel, corn and fruity bitterness in finish. Spritzy palate. Not interesting but not unpleasant either.
light straw color and good carbonation, but not lasting and little lacing, unpleasant bitter aftertaste in mouth and no malt balance.
Ein recht langweiliges Lager. Süffig ist es, das Aroma bleibt aber größtenteils auf der Strecke, erst im Nachgeschmack gefällt das Bier durch feinherbe, lang anhaltende und gut dosierte Herbe.
Test vom 10.11.2005, Gebinde: Glasflasche Noten: 9,6,10,12,12,9 - 9,30
(bottle) from a store in Hong Kong - clear golden colour, small white head; aroma is floral, corn, skunky; simple flavour with light, late mineral/bitter finish
Bottle. Pours an average glassy yellow with a nice white head and a lively body. Aroma is Outback corn, roasted malt, and a touch of rose. Flavor is corn, malt, and a hoppy floral essence. Average mouthfeel. Probably better after a long day in western Australia.
slightly better than XXXX:gold but only because the beer has a little more flavour and aroma and i mean a little. The finish is rather abrupt but still has some good lingering flavour
Bottle. In case anyone was wondering, this is probably the cheapest beer that you can buy in the Marshall Islands...and it certainly delivers like it. Light yellow copper hue. Maltier aroma with some cardboard and dark fruits. More of a hop presence than other pale lagers available in the arear. Denser, but still fairly light bodied. Pretty bad, but not the worst.
average frothy white head. good lacing. mostly diminishing. clear thin dark yellow body. aroma: light bread heavy hoppy honey. if: moderate sweet light bitter. ff: light sweet moderate bitter; average duration. palate: light medium body, watery texture, lively carbonation metallic finish. : leve amargor de lúpulo permeado por dulçor de mel, a La BP, alguns toques metalizados, mas nada muito perceptível, 7 s
Bottle purchased in Igls, Austria. Pale yellow with a touch of green. Nose: Cat pee, light hop, earthy notes, ripe yeast. Taste: woody, thin hops, slight vanilla, light bitter. Quite light and even a suprise the abv is 4.8. Easy to drink but by no means a tongue pleaser.
Pours golden with medium white head. Some malt and grass aromas, maybe some fruits ? Light body, lively carbonation. Short bitter finish. Good for student parties if served fresh. Decent industrial stuff.
Tried this again on the weekend, about the first time since 1983. Being a ’tradie’ this was all we drank. Chippies, Brickies, Plumbers, the Greengrocer, Chef and even the ’suits’ and ’desk jockeys’ all together in a no bullshit place called ’The Bar’. Well it wasn’t bad, and would say it has improved. Yeh that sweetness was there but the hop character has more bitterness, even drinkable. Extra point for the memories.