Haywards 5000
Anheuser Busch InBev India Limited

 

The pour is straw colored with an copious amount of carbonation. The taste is baked biscuit, grains, caramel, & faint hops. Cheers! B-

Bottled 2025/05/28
Pours a foamy fizzy 1/2 finger head with moderate retention, fair lacing, very clear tan color

Nose is very adjunct macro lager, unhappy lager yeast, a bit of maize corn like or weird cereal, cooked vegetables DMS, a bit of hop note,

Taste brings more of the cooked vegetables and corn DMS with macro adjunct messy lager as well, light herbal hops, cereal grains, a bit of a stronger malt base, decent hop character with fair bitterness

Mouth is med bod, med carb

Overall about what I expected, maybe a little better but I had very low expectations.

 

 

 

I purchased this one at Chas Cole Cellarbrations in Geelong in May 2025, and drank it in July of that year.

L: The beer is crystal clear, with a golden straw colour. The head is initially large but subsides quickly to a small rim of bright white foam. Copious amounts of bubbles rush up the glass.

S: The nose is very clean, with a hint of sweet, clean malt. There's perhaps the slightest whiff of alcohol in there, too.

T: The taste is dominated by the booze, and with only a sweet biscuity malt body sitting under that, it quickly becomes out of balance and almost spirit-like, with a harsh spirit note lingering after the swallow. A warming in the gullet and gut eventually kicks in. There's not a lot to recommend here.

B: The body is a little thin for the booze, and that doesn't help with the balance. Carbonation and carbonic prickle are medium.

O: This reminds me a lot of Carlsberg Elephant, which similarly tries to marry a sweet malt body with higher alcohol. I remember thinking that one was totally unbalanced, and this one trods almost the same path. It's hard to view this as anything other than an alcohol delivery device.

Cheers!
#725

Clear, golden body; lively and coarse carbonation; thick head, white and sudsy. Sweet, grainy nose; bright, mineral-like scent. Rather bland flavor amped up with a brash bitterness. Medium-light body; fairly dry overall.

I wasn't disappointed in this beer as I wasn't expecting much to begin with. The looks are the best aspect of the beer while the smell is so-so. The taste is just unbalanced with little enjoyable malt presence and a somewhat off-putting metallic bitterness.

ABV: 6.3%; pouring temperature: 47.7 ℉; bottling info: Mfg. Date 19/10/24 Batch No. 521
Source: local purchase (Weber St. Liquor

Label indicates this is manufactured by Anheuser Busch InBev India

Poured from a bottle into a pint glass
Appearance – The beer pours a clear golden color with a small head of white foam. The head has a light level of retention, fading over time and leaving a light level of lace on the sides of the glass.
Smell – The aroma is heaviest of a metallic and caramel smell mixed with lots of hay and must. Along with these smells comes notes of mustiness and lots of cardboard.
Taste – The taste begins with a stale maltiness mixed with flavors of cardboard and some caramel. As the taste advances more metallic flavors develop, along with some light grain and a bit of must, leaving one with a rather crisp but off taste to linger on the tongue.
Mouthfeel – The body of the brew is light with a moderate carbonation level. For the style and the tastes, the feel is decent making it a bit more palatable.
Overall – Nope. Pretty bad.

(650 ml bottle, MFG DATE: 25/11/22, batch 615; purchased single off shelf at Bottle Shop... poured and retopped into a teku)

L: crystal-clear, golden-amber liquid; relentlessly puts up foam with each top-off pour, and a persistent collar; ring at the top and splotches of lace below

S: classic Euro pale lager aromas: bready malt, doughy core nugget, mildly floral-peppery highlights... not quite like an AAL or AML, more European... surprisingly inviting

T: ahh, there it is... this is where the 'malt liquor'-ness reveals itself... malt and more malt with a barmy, subtly hay-like aftertaste... it's somewhat lacking in 'syrup' artefacts and spice intensity, though there's hints of both... during the final third, the taste does degrade, with pancake and carbonic acid flavors most apparent; almost a faint acetaldehyde undertone

F: relatively luscious malty body, long finish with a very subtle heat blooming at the back... with each sip, its notable cut dryness establishes itself... soft acidic tingle up front with each sip... face is flush, palate roused by the end

O: with the abundance of south-Asian owned liquor stores in my area, I've seen this brand countless times, and I'm a bit surprised I never tried it before; the bottles I found yesterday where possibly the newest looking ones I've seen; easy buy... kind of not surprised this was as good as it was (at 1.5 yrs); can't quite be mistaken for an American malt liquor, but it stands up well against the best of them (2320; malt liquor review #29)

 

 

Very bland and papery with a strange salted pretzel finish.

Clear golden pour with a white cap. Aromas of booze and base malt with slight euro eccentricities, sweet corn, peach and apple. Taste is actually not bad, especially for style: peach and sliced clementine, apple, malt liquor base malt and light booze, hint of key lime, big sweet corn. Feel is light and high in carbonation, has booziness but more refined than expected. Paired well with chicken 65. The wife loved it

L. Slightly murky golden yellow, fluffy white head that doesn't last and leaves little tracing. Looks appropriate. S. I have a limited sense of smell and get very little off this. Maybe a touch of sweet grain, others have noted a metallic hint and there is certainly something behind the up front sweetness. T. Sweetish grain, although not as strong as some members note. I could definitely taste the alcohol and it doesn't help adding a slightly pungent note. F. Feels okay while drinking, light, drinkable and a touch of carbonation. O. In good conscience I couldn't give it more than 2.5. Interesting to see and try but not much else to commend it.

 

 

In my ongoing quest for a not-sweet lager with ABV over 8%, I decided to slum it with this 7% swill out of curiosity. This is a shiddy, shiddy beer with nothing to offer. Color is off, like it was squeezed from a wet cardboard box. Smells like barfed up Frosted Flakes, and the flavor delivers on that promise. Sweet and reprehensible. The alcohol flavor and the cool label on the bottle are its only redeemable qualities. I rarely pour beer down the sink hole, but there this one went. Insert some nonsense here about time spent traveling in India, and watch the score for this bile water magically increase.