Top Bombing! (John Smiths Extra Smooth)

Member Name: Boonoiy

Product:	John Smiths Extra Smooth
Date:	09/10/02 (1734 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great taste, Quite good price, A great session beer

Disadvantages: Many if you're a real ale buff, None if you're not one

You know you love 'em, the great Peter Kay adverts on the telly just now? "'Ave It" with the football and the great bomb into the pool after the posh dives have been done! Well I love them anyhow.

Onto the booze.

Let's see, I've read a couple of ops on this beer and was surprised at how many people were so unimpressed with it. The words "flavourless," "too cold," and "utter crap" have seemed to be the most prevalent of all so I'd like to step in with my tuppen'orth and set the record straight.

If you followed the category listing to get to this opinion then I apologise, you've been mislead, it's not an ale, it's a bitter (difference is quite simply that this is a nitrogenated beer and comes in a keg rather than a cask) so there's the first reason that a lot of people have been unimpressed I reckon: You should not go up to the bar for a pint of Smooth and expect it to be anything like the Spitfire/Abbott/Old Speckled Hen beers, it just is not a real ale at all. Any complaints can be made to CAMRA and you'll get a nice letter back with the dog hairs, pipe tobacco smell and dribble marks included gratis. That said, I love real ales but I have yet to apply for my 3 legged dog and beard set.

Let us begin. The beer is, quite simply, freezing cold (real ale buffs, I know..... I'll provide you with a hexi block heater if I ever go for a pint with you) and very, very creamy (sieves and anti froth spoons can also be provided). It's a good session beer in my experience, at a little over 4% ABV it won't get you well smashed in a hurry and the taste is just great. To drink the beer is to taste the class that comes out of Tadcaster, a lovely, creamy, easy going beer that will keep you upright for quite a while while adding a certain mellowness to the drinker. It's what I'd call a Rugby Club drink - after the game, a cool, creamy dri
nk that will allow you to keep going for a long session (you know rugby players) and still be able to order your kebab without slurring and remember the words to all the mucky songs.

As far as prices go, there's so much regional variation that it's very hard to pin down a specific price. You'll generally get a pint for about £2.00, I've seen it as low as £1.45 and as high as £3.00 but as a general rule you'll find that a couple of quid a pint is about average. The price quoted below is the price at my local.

All in all I can't praise this drink enough. The booze content is fine for the drinker of plenty, the taste is nice and creamy, slightly nutty/hoppy and very good to quaff. This beer is great. Buy it and smile :¬D

That was the Boon.

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