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Home > Food & Drink > Beverages > Beer > Bitter Beer > John Smith's Bitter
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User Reviews

for John Smith's Bitter

Rating Summary based on 8 reviews

  • 5 Stars
    		0
  • 4 Stars
    		6
  • 3 Stars
    		0
  • 2 Stars
    		2
  • 1 Star
    		0

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  • 47 of 47 Ciao users found the following review helpful
    Picture of JOHNV

    Level 8 JOHNV

    Member since 13/07/2000

    Reviews written: 670

    4 Stars Slake your thirst and take your pack 12/08/2002
    User recommends the product

    Advantages Advantages Refreshing, especially in hot weather

    Disadvantages Disadvantages Nothing exceptional

    'In the summertime, when the weather is high, you can stretch right up, and touch the sky' - or didn't somebody else pen those lines first? Well, PLEASE don't have a drink, have a drive. Even the great sideburned scribe Ray Dorset admitted in retrospect that he made a mistake. But get thirsty, by all means, and slake your thirst with a pint or a can of John Smiths Bitter. Sorry if I'm beginning to sound like a television ad, but there we go. You want the facts - well, I've got some of 'em. Here we go. John Smith's Bitter goes back over 250 years. It originates from Tadcaster, where it was ... more
  • 29 of 29 Ciao users found the following review helpful
    Picture of bonjo

    bonjo

    4 Stars Heaven comes in pints 17/06/2002
    User recommends the product

    Advantages Advantages Taste

    Disadvantages Disadvantages No disadvantages

    OK I couldn't wait, I have been thinking about what topic I could write about for my next op, food, travel, sport...I considered the lot, but as a drinker I thought to write about a more tasty Op, and then it cam to me...my favourite brew John Smiths , the can that always feels cool even in a heatwave.. I cast my mind back to those exotic holidays I've taken these past few years and the one thing that was missing was my beloved can of smoothflow, yes I know it doesn't look too cool in the Bahamas, or in Florida ( where you can buy some John Smith brands), however..... .....I drift off into my ... more
  • 41 of 41 Ciao users found the following review helpful
    Picture of robbo2000

    Level 4 robbo2000

    Member since 08/03/2005

    Reviews written: 14

    4 Stars John Smith's SMOOTH - not cask. Got it? SMOOTH. 10/02/2006
    User recommends the product

    Advantages Advantages Smooth, cold, consistent

    Disadvantages Disadvantages Not conducive to chats about beer

    JOHN SMITH'S SMOOTH - WHAT'S ALL THAT ABOUT? Picture the scene: Robbo2000 is sat in some old man's pub in some town that he is way too cool to be in, with two men who will be politely referred to as "Real Ale Aficionados" (because I'm not sure if I'm allowed to refer to them as "sad, beardy gimps"). The Real Ale Aficionados are each clutching a half pint of "Old Vicar's Country Badger" (or something equally nonsensical, which is really gone-off Tetley's with a different label stuck on the pump) in one hand, and a massive notepad full of scores for ales they have tasted the length and breadth ... more
  • 34 of 34 Ciao users found the following review helpful
    Picture of ashford

    ashford

    4 Stars No Longer Yorkshire's Own 12/02/2002
    User recommends the product

    Advantages Advantages Reliable Easy to Find Not Too Expensive

    Disadvantages Disadvantages Not the Best

    I did not know anything at all about John Smith's bitter until I moved to Yorkshire in 1969. It was there that I came across countless pubs,especially in East and South Yorkshire,that stocked this particular brew from Tadcaster. John Smith's Bitter has been brewed at Tadcaster since 1847 and the Smith's knew a thing or two about the science-or is it the art of brewing ?I was always told by Yorkshireman that value for money was important,neigh,very important and John Smith's,along with Hull Brewery beers and Teley's bitter,were all judged to be in that category. It most certainly was always an ... more
  • 27 of 27 Ciao users found the following review helpful
    Picture of Martinscholes

    Martinscholes

    4 Stars John Smith's Bitter 20/09/2004
    User recommends the product

    Advantages Advantages A good basic pint

    Disadvantages Disadvantages Perhaps a little too basic?

    There's nothing that is innately special about John Smith's Bitter. Don’t get me wrong. I am not being critical of this beer. Because I am not saying that there's anything wrong with it. Far from it, it is a perfectly acceptable pint, but if you are looking for a more complicated depth of flavour of –for example- Hobgoblin, or Timothy Taylor’s Landlord, then you might be disappointed. However, John Smith’s Bitter is a nice, clear pint with a good, acceptable colour. It has a faintly metallic taste, which is not unpleasant and adds to the refreshing quality of this simple but honest pint. But ... more
  • 11 of 11 Ciao users found the following review helpful
    Picture of bundook

    bundook

    2 Stars Joey knocks spots off John Smith 06/09/2005
    User doesn't recommend the product

    Advantages Advantages It ain't lager . . .

    Disadvantages Disadvantages . . . but it ain't proper bitter either

    I first encountered John Smith's bitter in the late Seventies, when it was a decent, middle of the road pint at a reasonable price. That same beer (or something reasonably similar to it) can still be found in some, more traditional, boozers where it is now sold as John Smith's Cask Bitter. Sadly more and more pubs seem to be dropping the cask version and promoting its illegitimate offspring, John Smith's Smooth Bitter. Don't get me wrong. I don't wear sandals and a high fibre cardigan, I'm clean-shaven, and if people want to drink imitation lager and alcopops they have a perfect right to do so ... more
  • 17 of 21 Ciao users found the following review helpful
    Picture of fujisan_uk

    fujisan_uk

    2 Stars There is far better 18/05/2002
    User doesn't recommend the product

    Advantages Advantages Cheap, consistant

    Disadvantages Disadvantages consistanly bland, super chilled, you get what you pay for

    What is it that draws people to John Smiths? I myself used to be a drinker; I put it down to the availablilty, price and marketing. There is nothing else that sells the beer. It is a nitrogen assisted keg beer, which means that after brewing the beer is pasturised, killing off all the yeast and stopping it from being a live product. The landlord benefits from lower wastage from off beer, the drinker suffers from loss of taste and mouth feel. The nitrogen that makes the beer flow from the tap wouldnt normally be found in the beer and so changes the balance of the ingredients. The beer is also ... more
  • 1 of 6 Ciao users found the following review helpful
    Picture of AndrewDalton

    AndrewDalton

    4 Stars Mmmm, beer.... 17/06/2000
    User recommends the product

    Advantages Advantages Funny ads, good beer, and far better than lager

    Disadvantages Disadvantages No great taste

    This'll focus more on the beer than the ads, I reckon. John Smith's is a pleasing drink. It is certainly very smooth, to the point of being sanitised, you might say. Compared to the likes of Marstons, Adnams, Theakstons, Banks, IPA and Flower it certainly is. However, for a mainstream beer, it ranks very highly, and has the advantage of being on sale in most pubs across the country. The taste is rather faded, with no fullness or aftertaste. It does slide down the throat with worrying ease, meaning that you can drink half a dozen pints and hardly notice you're drinking, which is not always a ... more
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