Young's Christmas Pudding

by Nathaniel Tapley
(Beer Delegate, London, UK)

Young's Christmas Pudding ale

This gloops out of the bottle in long, lazy gulps. It looks as if you're going to have to bang the bottle on the bottom, like ketchup.

It's dark brown with a pinky tinge, and the smell... oh God, the smell... is of artificial cinnamon. And in a few seconds you're going to have to put it in your mouth.

This is the experience you will have if you buy a bottle of Young's Christmas Pudding ale with the intention of drinking it.

It boasts the flavour 'of dried fruits' on the bottle. This is all well and good if you prefer dried fruits to beer. And if by "dried fruits" you mean "unidentifiable but vaguely-familiar sweet chemical smells." It's like sticking your head into a child's pocket and drinking the contents. There might be a time and a place for the sort of thing, but my mouth and now are not it.

It may seem very jolly to entertain your guests at Christmas with novelty beers. If you are reduced to this for fun with your family, either kill them all or disown them and move to an island where Young's doesn't have a brewery.

What does it taste like? It tastes like someone has filled your mouth with robot cloves and punched you repeatedly until they became a fine paste. They then let you swill the remains into a bowl with battery acid.

I can't even bring myself to finish the bottle. Merry Christmas.