John Courage
A pasteurised beer exported to America only.
3
330 reviews
Tadcaster, England
Community reviews
Bottled, 12oz??, pasteurised. At Mike’s, cheers. Amber with white bubbly head, carbonated. This was a well traveled bottle, thin watery caramel beer, hardly a bitter in character, although there is a boiled tea like character. Sweetish on the finish, quite poor.
Well since I haven’t had it in more than a year, I’ve read it isn’t distributed stateside anymore, I’ll rate it as I remember it! Amber to light brown color. Nice malt and hop aroma. Flavor is fairly malty for a bitter. Hints of toffee and I believe williamette hops. The mouthfeel is decent, just a bit on the light side. I’m not sure about why, but this was just a good solid beer for quite a while!
WHAT ONE WOULD EXPECT TO FIND FROM AN ENGLISH BITTER.mostly watery and bitter aftertaste,with a slick/creamy mouthfeel. low carbonation and slightly sweetish with a toffee flavor. recessed hop profile infused with a tea like quality. hey if you like it....
June 2005 - Blah. It looked pretty, but I like to drink ’em, not look at ’em. Poured nice rich red color, clear as day and left nice lacing on the glass. There wasn’t a lot of taste in this one, though, and what was there was bitter (not hop bitter, just...um...bitter). Oh well, at least I can say I tried.
Almost as good as Bass. Goes well with lots of foods, particularly pub foods that bring out its underlying spiciness.
I had this one on tap at the Beer Sellar in Newport, KY. It was a lot lighter than I expected, almost toffee in color. The smell and taste were both caramelly and rather spicy, I definitely detected cloves. The taste was surprising and Im pretty sure was a little off due to problems with the tap or something. I’ve never seen a beer look so cloudy before (besides an unfilterted hefeweizen of course). Overall, I did enjoy it but I know I’m going to resample this soon out of a bottle or a cleaner tap system. (Re-rated 3/10/09-) This time I got to try it bottled and I was definitely much more impressed. Wonderful session bitter with a nice sweetish malty taste and appetizing finish. Still not the best ever, but I am glad I gave this another chance, and have definitely decided not to rate anything from the Beer Sellar’s dirty drafts again. I realize now just how OFF those flavors were when I originally tryed it. (Overall: The Beer Sellar- View:10, Selection:9, Freshness: 1)
It looked more red than brown to me, which I didn’t expect. Not a lot of head. A sweet tasting brew but a little watered down for my liking in a bItter. Reasonably satisfying but nothing out of the ordinary.
Pours a medium slightly hazy amber with a small head. Moderate carbonation upon pour. Aroma is malts, corn, light roast. Flavor is full bitter malts, caramel, and some nuttiness. Bitter and dry finish.
Light malt aroma.Pours a medium copper with a medium off white head.Lots of malt in the flavor.Very thin mouthfeel with a bitter finish.
Light caramel malt aroma. Copper colored with a medium palate. Not a lot of flavor here at all. Caramel malts, and really no bitterness to speak of--could be an older bottle.
12oz bottle pours gold with creamy lasting off white head. The aroma is sweet sweet malts, a bit of spicy noble hops and minerals. The flavor reminds me of a Bass. This beer isn’t as malty sweet though. I like the better balance between the sweet and grainy malts and the spice-floral noble hops. Above average carbonation keeps the flavors bright and at the forefront.
Dark amber in color with small head. Nice light flavor. Decent beer, nothing bad about it.
Not much body. Filtered amber color, very boring. Not as hoppy as I wanted. Typical English swill.
Light body, easy to drink. Not a lot of head. Nothing special to note good or bad. Poured a clear amber.
Bottle. Amber, little head, thin, lightly hopped, no real evident characteristic other than bland and disappointing. This is sent to America only. Little mystery as to why. They think this is appealing to us. I usually find UK beers pretty appealing. Not this time. Smells cheap like Beck’s Oktoberfest. I expected more.
Very thin beer with made with not a lot of flavor. Not a big fan on this beer.
a pretty bland beer, no wonder its only expoted to america. thin, watery with hardly any aroma and taste. very lightly hopped with almost no aftertaste. a beer made to satisfy the US palate.
Pours a clear amber with an off white head. Aroma has some maltiness and little hop. Flavor was somewhat bland with a mild finish.
Bottle: Not too crazy about this beer. Pours a nice dark orange color with a white head that dissapates quickly. I just couldn’t smell anything in this beer. And the tase to me was very bland, no real detection of anything, maybe a little hops.
on tap at a hotel bar in baltimore. mild malty aroma. clear amber. would have trouble telling this apart from yeungling without tasting it. flavor is classicly english: malty, with a decent balanced noble hop finish, on the malty side.
350 ml loose bottle from Sam’s Wines, Downers Grove. This may be an old bottle (I can only find a code on the neck: 3108N L220 07). But I don’t mean that in a bad way: When I popped the cap, I immediately got a nice whiff of mellowed, raisin and prune-y malts. I’m thinking that’s outside the range for either a bitter or an amber. Poured in a glass tumbler, it’s a fiery reddish golden, a little lighter in the narrower part of the glass, with a thin head atop. Taste does not quite match that buildup: At first, I find a nice sharp English bitterness, but malts are kind of grainy, with some fruity esters. A bit of Burton water hardness kind of keeps the interest down. Could all of the goodness have crowded into the head space, waiting to escape first? Well, it’s pretty standard f’r’all that. They need to prepare something else to import to the states.
Pours into a pint glass. Clear dark orange/brown color. No head. Aroma is metallic, very metallic. Strange. Maybe its those crazy English hops? Flavor is watery kind of boring with a little bit of malt as the main and boring charachter. Blah blah blah.
12 oz bottle. Aroma is metallic malty with DMS notes present. Boiled vegetables. transparent copperish color with a frothy off-white head and decent lacing. Sweet maltiness to start, turning grainy and caramelly with maltiness. Some milkiness in the finish. No hops present. Pretty dull and bland. No wonder they retired it.
Interesting beer, this one. Much lighter than expected from an England import. There were definite bitter notes that seemed to change somewhat about half way through. Some fruit is evident. Unique.
Pours a weak transparent amber color with a thin white head that disappears quickly and leave very little lacing. Not a good start for this beer that I’ve been wanting to try. The smell is faint malt, maybe some toffee? to it... Not much else. I don’t detect any hops smell to it. I’m searching for some malty taste but don’t find much, to my dismay. Still no hops present. It has a smooth taste/feel to it but not as much zip to it as I was looking for. Finally finding a little hoppiness in the palate but still not much. This drinkability is giving me problems... I don’t know too many situations where I would want this amber over any other I’ve ever tried. This is a pretty big let down for me. I guess it isn’t hard to drink but then again it isn’t fun to drink... I guess that’s all I have to say while staying constructive...
Smooth beer with noticeable but balanced hops. Beautiful amber color and an average head. Had it Flagstaff over a few games of pool and would take it over standard American macros, but it wasn’t all that.
what is this crap? what a chore to finish. such an artificial shitty english-style shit bitter.
Hmmm... can’t remember where I found this, should have written it down. Oh well, onto the beer. Gold body with a minimal white head. Aroma is minimal, light hops with some malt backbone. Decient body, very light fruit accents. Light hop ending.
May 11, 2006; 12 oz. bottle
Straw-amber pour w/ large head; aroma of day-old silage. Sour banana flavor falls short of the similar concept found in Anchor Steam Liberty Ale -- with a slightly metallic taste to boot. A Speckled Hen-ish creamy mouthfeel is a bonus here.
used to drink this all the time in college. when i was in my british beer mode. mostly malty pale with a bit of fruit hopping. although ist says retired i think i have seen it around lately. british macro.