Boddingtons Pub Ale

I didn’t expect a whole lot from this beer initially, but I have to say I like it. I spotted it on the shelf in the import area and noticed it had the same packaging style at the Guiness draft cans, decided that I had completed enough research into it as a beer selection (i.e. none), and grabbed it. It’s sort of the beer equivalent of bar peanuts, being easy to drink along with a vague pub ambiance to it — pretty smooth, no overwhelming flavor, no complicated affectations to it. I also like the Guinness-can-style carbonation (or is it nitrogenation? Someone explained it to me once, and I forgot), where the fizz comes from some mysterious mechanism in the bottom of the can when you crack it open, producing this tasty fine-grained foam that’s pretty close to a draught-poured Guinness. Boddington’s got precisely the same setup, down to even the height of the can. It makes you feel a little closer to a 300-year-old pub in Salisbury, than you normally would drinking Bud Light with the same carbonated feel as your kid’s Sprite. Oops, wait, this Bud Light I’m drinking is my kid’s Sprite! What they hey? Where’s my beer? Walt Junior, put that down now!
Whew — that was a close one. The little Liquors are only allowed to drink imports. Here, try some of this Boddington’s in your sippy cup… Anyway, back to these tall yellow quasi-Guinness-fizzers. The taste is not spectacular, but is enough to stand on its own for good quaffing with some pub food (or your best homemade approximation, say for example bratwursts). As with bar peanuts, you might not be instantly impressed with the flavor, but you’ll find yourself taking more sips, cracking open a new one, and before you know it, you’ve quaffed the whole four-pack. Despite me setting up my beer selection criteria for this website to practically guarantee horrible beers, I’ve actually found a beer I’d drink again…

October 27th, 2008 at 9:46 pm
I drank Boddington’s once. Once.