Gold Bitter
Tooheys Brewing

Gold BitterGold Bitter
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From:
Tooheys Brewing
 
Australia
Style:
Light Lager
ABV:
3%
Score:
68
Avg:
2.02 | pDev: 39.6%
Reviews:
7
Ratings:
11
Status:
Active
Rated:
Aug 23, 2021
Added:
Jun 04, 2002
Wants:
  0
Gots:
  1
No description / notes.
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Photo of Nath91
Reviewed by Nath91 from Australia

2.25/5  rDev +11.4%
look: 2.5 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 2 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 2.25
Toohey's Gold, now known as 'Gold Bitter', is one of those relics from the past that you hear about, along with Tooheys Blue Bitter, and Tooheys Red Bitter; both of which were re-branded as Blue and Red Bitter respectively, but you never actually see. You might see one in an old TV commercial, or hear your uncle talk about them with a fondness around the table at Christmas time, but they're relics of the past. Pushed aside for their main brand, Tooheys New, Extra Dry, and the various other brands that Tooheys (Lion Nathan) now own. Up until the other day, this was my experience with Toohey's Bitter range (Red - strong, Gold - Mid, Blue - light). But now I've found a local bottle shop that appears to stock 2/3.

It's rebranded as Gold Bitter and there's no reference to Tooheys or the Brewery, aside from the obligatory tiny font down the side of the can, and the can is still a classic old school artwork design. The beers BB is 22/10/21, so it's been brewed in the last 12 months. Which means despite the fact the seem to have faded away into obscurity, people are still drinking them. Which means they're still being brewed - at least in small batches by Tooheys (Lion Nathan).

So enough of the long winded introduction to this (if you ask me, piece of history), and let's see if it's anything decent.

Look: A nice loud crack and hiss as the can is opened. Good start. Poured into my Arundel Brewery pint glass, It's a standard Australian adjunct lager. Golden like straw, heavily carbonated with lots of bubbles rushing to the top. Completely filtered, can see right through the glass out the other side. Head is frothy white, sop sudsy looking, and thinned out, but sticking around. Decent lacing on the glass. So far, it looks about as generic as an Aussie lager go
Smell: Light fruity hops, from clearly Pride of Ringwood assault the nose. White bread, and something adjunct-y. Not terrible, just standard Australian lager smell.

Taste: It's a mid-strength lager. So not expecting a punch in the mouth, A nice mellow bitterness that follows the sip through. Light tangy citrus notes. Back end of the sip has a slightly odd plastic & vegetable flavour, which I'm struggling to pick. It's not very sweet, and has a good bitter profile. It's not unpleasant, but it's quite bland, even for a mid-strength beer.

Feel: Highly Carbonated, thin and being 3% on the watery side. I can see it being somewhat refreshing after a long hard days work, or in the hot sun. As a mid-strength beer, you could knock a few back and still be functionable.

Overall: It was nice to find a piece of history that is still around, at least in limited form. I'm not going to rush out and buy slabs of it, but it was more enjoyable than Tooheys/Castlemaine's most popular mid-strength variety, XXXX Gold. I suspect this died in popularity when Tooheys took over the Castlemaine brand, and promoted XXXX Gold nationwide.

It's not a great beer, and it's certainly not something I'll probably have again, unless I find somebody who drinks this on the regular.

#️⃣0️⃣7️⃣
Aug 23, 2021
Photo of Andrewharemza
Reviewed by Andrewharemza from Australia

2.88/5  rDev +42.6%
look: 3 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3
375ml can. Clear amber colour with a thick white head and mild carbonation. Aroma of wet cardboard and straw. Unpleasant and inviting. Not a bad taste for a midstrength. Dry in the mouth with a good mouthfeel. More flavour than some midstrength beers.
Jul 25, 2015
Photo of Andrewziggy
Rated by Andrewziggy from Australia

3.25/5  rDev +60.9%
look: 2.75 | smell: 2.75 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3.5
Not bad middy 2nd to Carlton mid
Dec 18, 2014
 
Rated: 1.72 by mgi020 from New York

Dec 02, 2014
 
Rated: 3 by schoon from Iowa

Jan 16, 2014
 
Rated: 1 by magpieken from Australia

Apr 08, 2013
Photo of Macca
Reviewed by Macca from Australia

1.44/5  rDev -28.7%
look: 2.5 | smell: 1 | taste: 1.5 | feel: 1.5 | overall: 1.5
This pours a light golden colour with a big fluffy white head that disappears quickly.

Sweet & metallic mostly but there is a whiff of something like rotten egg in there too. Horrible.

On the palate it's the metallic sharpness that dominates for me. Not as sweet as I expected. Totally devoid of any flavour that you would like to find in beer.

Thin at best.

Horrible beer.
Aug 07, 2011
Photo of jarmby1711
Reviewed by jarmby1711 from Australia

2.73/5  rDev +35.1%
look: 3 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 2.5
Obviously I enjoyed this more than the previous reviewers.
It is dark gold in colour and looks faily standard , plain and ordinary.
The smell is minimal is watery and inoffensive.
The taste is what surprised me .It doesnt actually have a lot of flavour but what thee is seems principly hop in derivation.They add bitterness and some grassy root vegetable tones (albeit very much in the background)
The pleasing aspect is it gives this beer some individuality asthere is no maltiness that I could taste.
It is a pleasing difference.
The mouthfeel is watery and probably overcarbonated.
This beer has a position in beer drinking for me.
For a quick guzzle on a hot day when you still have more work to do it seems that this would be more than adequate
Jul 03, 2006
Photo of Kulrak
Reviewed by Kulrak from Australia

1.86/5  rDev -7.9%
look: 2.5 | smell: 1.5 | taste: 2 | feel: 1.5 | overall: 2
Pours a dark golden color with faint white head that seems to melt away in seconds. The smell is slightly metallic and slightly yeasty. The taste is a little better, a little sweetness, some bitterness, no real malt/hop flavor though. Mouthfeel is watery, very watery. As for drinkability, I suppose if you were looking for something that didn't taste much like anything, this would be your beer. That's not what I'm looking for, however.
Mar 24, 2006
Photo of Anonmatel
Reviewed by Anonmatel from Australia

1.03/5  rDev -49%
look: 1.5 | smell: 1 | taste: 1 | feel: 1 | overall: 1
I will have to give props to Tooheys for saying that they have really good quality control for making each and every beer taste exactly the same (with the exception of Tooheys Old). Chemical taste, plastic, etc etc. Once again please don't drink this.
Mar 03, 2003
Photo of rastaman
Reviewed by rastaman from England

1.1/5  rDev -45.5%
look: 1 | smell: 1 | taste: 1 | feel: 1 | overall: 1.5
I just don't get it, all tooheys beers taste the same, this is just really bland and once again really chemically, i won't be visiting the brewery anytime soon.
Jun 04, 2002
Gold Bitter from Tooheys Brewing
Beer rating: 68 out of 100 with 11 ratings