Newcastle Brown Ale
Lagunitas Brewing Company

Leave it up to lagunitas to ruin one of my favorite beers. Turned an English brown into an American clown

Its is a bock now that they changed the recipe. I used to only drink this beer before the change. Its junk now

 

Bitter. Very bitter. They need to change the name. This is NOT the original "The One and Only" Newcastle, even though the label clearly rips it off. This could be a decent beer if they didn't try to mislead people. Outside of the deceptive label, the beer lingers with a bitter hoppy flavor, and is super sticky.

Just change the label. Stop misleading people. Please.

i dont think this went well, but it should have, because this brought a whole lot of life back into this beer, and actually made it a brown ale again, how far newcastle really has fallen im not sure anyone knows, but its watery, cheap, thin, and not even brown, so it was cool that this came about, and despite expectations for lagunitas, they actually managed to respect the original, not hop it into oblivion as i thought they might. its richer than it was, fuller feeling, still with some trademark sweetness, but not less metallic, chemical, and cheap, instead it has notes of bran and dark bread, molasses and toffee, and some european ale yeast coming through too, even if somewhat subtle there, its more beery, more brown, and has a certain uniqueness that the original always had even as it got worse over the years, like some integral part of this has been retained, even restored, although im sure still quite different than this was when it became a global phenomenon. i like that this happened, way more crafty, heck just way more beery, than what it had become. its cool that this exists, perhaps one of the few good things made possible by the sale of lagunitas. still not an elite level brown, but id happily put these away any time. neat notes of leather and cocoa as it warms. a worthwhile endeavor.

 

This isn't bad. I remembered all the bad reviews, but this is pretty good. The English original better be magical.

I'm leaving this here since I don't actually know how different this "version" is from the original, seeing as Heineken owns Lagunitas AND New Castle.

Undated 12oz bottle

On the pour a surprising 2-3 finger tan, foamy but dense head formed then slowly faded to a thin cap that leaves lacing. Body is a dark brown, but is crystal clear.

Aroma brings a sweet, slightly roasty, smooth caramel malt. Maybe a touch of coffee going on? Hops are detectable, but don't impart any "American Brown" flavors in my opinion.

Flavor is again very malt forward and has a very "brown" vibe to it up front slightly nutty and roasty with a light coffee note hiding in the back, as well as a hop bitterness that slowly grows, but again I'm getting low hop flavor, although some does build as you drink. Could be yeastier.

Feel I will be honest is a bit light, but I went into Newcastle expecting it. Perhaps it's lighter than it's across the pond counterpart? There is a dry attenuation that you can feel. Very drinkable, with a medium long, smooth finish. Similar to Guinness Draught.

Overall I'd need to taste this side by side with its clear bottled breathers to see just how different it really is, but for my first time drinking this beer, I enjoyed this as a malt forward brown quite a lot. Not as good as Sam Smith obviously.

I really wonder if we should just merge all the Newcastle Brown listings, as there are currently 3 variations listed, all of which are sold by heineken as the standard Newkie.

Poured from a 12 ounce bottle into a 14 ounce glass. The head quickly faded. Not much aroma on the nose.
The taste was not half bad. Some chocolate and malt. It was imo a little peppery at the back of the throat but not overpowering at all.
This was the American version brewed in Petaluma and chicago from Lagunitas. $8.00 for a six-pack isn't too bad imho. I do think however they should update/change the name. I don't think they should to continue to call it Newcastle. Maybe just Lagunitas Brown Ale or something similar. It was in no way a bad beer however.

This beer is a imposter to the original. It an an Americanized, cheap, mass-produced, incorrect hop selected, fake-ass beer compared to the original. Tastes like the bottle was washed with Dawn dish detergent. Total garbage.

It's awful now since it was remade by Lagunitas. It's nothing like the original we all used to know and love. It's super thin, giving it an off-putting soapy mouthfeel, has bad hop flavor and a bad aftertaste, probably from using high alpha-acid hops to save money (edit: yep Centennial and Chinook). It has none of the caramely sweetness that the old one had and that you'd expect from an English brown ale. In my opinion it doesn't even fit the style of an English brown ale anymore - it's too bitter, doesn't use the traditional smooth english hops, and doesn't taste like it uses english ale yeast either. The only logical change was using a brown bottle - the old clear bottle used to leave the beer skunked by the time it got to the US, but now it's just plain bad so it doesn't even matter. It's sad because I love brown ales and this one is one of the few that are widely available in the US.

Edit: Reading other reviews, notice that half of the ones with higher ratings actually say the beer was terrible in the body of the review. The other half with higher ratings fairly accurately describe the non-US version (caramel, sweetness etc with no mention of the skunk hops), which is still in production for the rest of the world. If your label doesn't look like the photo on this page, you're on the wrong page. This page is for the US version, which is actually a Lagunitas brown-in-color ale deceptively labeled "Newcastle Brown Ale" though it's not even an English-style Brown Ale much less is it anything resembling the famous one from Newcastle.

 

L - Poured from a 12 oz. bottle into a Sam Adams Perfect Glass. Pours dark reddish brown. Two finger tan head on aggressive pour. Good lacing.

S - Heavy bready malt. Nutty. Not much else. Straightforward.

T - Smokiness and nutty and…not much. The taste fades after warming up a bit, which is opposite of most beers. Toward the end of the beer, the flavors were very faint.

F - Thinner than expected. Almost watery. Thin carbonation. As you drink it, it feels more and more watered down.

O - The look and the scent had me excited to try this. The taste and the mouthfeel were lackluster. It tastes so thin and watered down. After tasting, I’m finding out from other reviews that this isn’t the “real” Newcastle Brown Ale, but rather some random “re-imagining.” Oh well, I got duped. I would not try or buy this again. Not recommended.

 

12oz bottle. This doesn’t pretend to be the original Newkie Brown so I’m going to review it on its own merits.

L: Clear, dark russet with one finger of beige head.
S: Sweet & nutty aroma.
T: Sweet, almost syrupy dark malt. No depth, no real character. Saved by some gentle smokiness.
F: Thin mouthfeel with gentle carbonation and a drying finish.
O: Not dreadful, not particularly good. I wanted to try this out of interest. Not going to return.

PS. I’ve not drunk a Newkie Brown since Manchester Uni in the ‘80s. It was horrible back then, renowned for giving you the trots. This version isn’t great but it’s better than that ‘80s version brewed in Newcastle.

Two fingers of thick cream froth developed over the translucent burgundy brown brew. A short burst of slightly sour scent gave way to something closer to cooling, brown-sugared oatmeal. Hints of a sourness still pervaded on the tongue, mixed with with coffee and a little malt. The more I drank, the more the sourness came to the fore and the astringency to the throat.. and the less I felt like finishing. Started off promising, but ended up failing to deliver.

They absolutely ruined the brown ale and turned it into something so far removed from what a brown ale is supposed to be that they should be sued for even calling it such.

I grew up with Newcastle. So it's comfort food. My assessment is likely biased. What is equally biased is my dislike of the new labeling. This is a historic brand, while not quite old enough to be immortalized by Edouard Manet (Bass) it's still disconcerting to to see wannabe sodapop graphics on my bloody beer. Luckily I can close my eyes and imagine the PROPER label.

Not Newcastle. Bring back the delicious original Newcastle. The new beer tastes like garbage