Newcastle brown ale

  • Please bear with us on the new site integration and fixing any known bugs over the coming days. If you can not log in please try resetting your password and check your spam box. If you have tried these steps and are still struggling email [email protected] with your username/registered email address
  • Log in now to remove adverts - no adverts at all to registered members!
I liked it 50 years ago when it was proper brown ale
Drank it mainly in the early seventies when the electricity strike was on
Because the pumps were not working until 9 pm when the electricity came back on
Used to work in Newcastle in the sixties and we used to call it idiots broth, it was that strong for a young lad.
Never had one for donkeys years.
 
I drank NBA regularly in the late 70's & early 80's.
Went night clubbing in Bristol and got absolutely mortaled drinking NBA. I was saved by a taxi driver who found me passed out in the middle of the road.

Took me back to my B&B where I slept it off. Had the hangover from hell the next day and never touched it again.

I've been teetotal for 18 years now and don't miss alcohol one bit.
 
"Broon" ale. Aka lunatic soup, aka madman's broth aka wife beater
Used to drink it in the days it was referred to as idiots broth and journey into space. There is an art to drinking it, according to devotees. It’s in the the timing and the pouring method. I just took it as it came, until I found I was losing my memory, then stopped. Some of the drinkers of yore claim it has been “civilised” and is not the same.
 
Folklore has it there were several specialist 'broon ale' wards in NE hospitals.
I’ve been to away matches on the brown ale special
A bus from bishop auckland
Although only a couple of times
Some on the bus could not drink enough of the stuff I think it was a race to empty the crates
This was in the early 80s
Happy days
I think
 
Haven't had it for ages but I like it. I prefer Double Maxim though (genuinely not because of the Newcastle/Sunderland links)
Tried it years ago and couldn’t see what all the fuss was about, like yourself I much prefer a bottle of Double, has a far superior taste to it. Was out last week and was drinking Double and they ran out, but said they had NBA, reluctantly bought one and was very disappointed with it after drinking Double.

I was always led to believe that it was fighting man’s beer, but one thing I did notice is that the NBA was only 4.7 in strength. Has it always been like that or is now made weaker?
 
Tried it years ago and couldn’t see what all the fuss was about, like yourself I much prefer a bottle of Double, has a far superior taste to it. Was out last week and was drinking Double and they ran out, but said they had NBA, reluctantly bought one and was very disappointed with it after drinking Double.

I was always led to believe that it was fighting man’s beer, but one thing I did notice is that the NBA was only 4.7 in strength. Has it always been like that or is now made weaker?
Brown ale has never been the same since the early eighties
However double maxim hasn’t changed that much over the years and is a better drink
Well that’s my opinion anyway
 
Tried it years ago and couldn’t see what all the fuss was about, like yourself I much prefer a bottle of Double, has a far superior taste to it. Was out last week and was drinking Double and they ran out, but said they had NBA, reluctantly bought one and was very disappointed with it after drinking Double.

I was always led to believe that it was fighting man’s beer, but one thing I did notice is that the NBA was only 4.7 in strength. Has it always been like that or is now made weaker?
Think they did make it weaker. Can't remember where they brew it now tbh (Sheffield?). Wouldn't suprise suprise me if they have ****ed about with it. Everything else that isn't broke seems to get changed so it probably has been knocked down a % or so.
 
Think they did make it weaker. Can't remember where they brew it now tbh (Sheffield?). Wouldn't suprise suprise me if they have ****ed about with it. Everything else that isn't broke seems to get changed so it probably has been knocked down a % or so.
Just been doing a bit of digging around and apparently in the 1970’s it was 5% and was knocked down to 4.7% in 1984. It used to be around 6.7 but that was in the 1930’s. It’s now brewed in Holland and America, but the American version bears little resemblance to the original.
 
Just been doing a bit of digging around and apparently in the 1970’s it was 5% and was knocked down to 4.7% in 1984. It used to be around 6.7 but that was in the 1930’s. It’s now brewed in Holland and America, but the American version bears little resemblance to the original.
I had a feeling about that if you look at my post