Scottish & Newcastle
UK, 3.8% ABV
 
There is an old football chant that was popular among the rougher elements of travelling Newcastle United fans back in the 1980s. These fans would turn up en mass at various away grounds – nowhere flash given Newcastle’s lack of success during that decade – and the chant would invariably rise up: ‘We drink Ex, we drink Brown, now we’re going to smash your town.’ Not the most endearing of ditties, certainly, and to be fair not many towns were smashed up, but plenty of Ex and Brown was undoubtedly supped; Brown being, of course, Newcastle Brown Ale, and Ex being Newcastle Exhibition. Both beers are brewed by Scottish & Newcastle, but while Newcastle Brown Ale has a mythology swirling around it and is sold all over the world, Newcastle Exhibition has always been something of a little brother (despite having an interesting history of its own, having first been brewed in 1887 to celebrate Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee). Exhibition was given quite a marketing push by S&N a few years back (via a series of TV ads that ended with a woman proclaiming, ‘Ex, Ex, Ex – that’s all you men think about!’) but these days the beer is mostly enjoyed by those who’ve stuck with it over a period of time through thick and thin. These stalwarts can now only enjoy the beer on draught (cans of Exhibition were discontinued a few years ago), and their loyalty is rewarded with a very decent ale which has a pleasant maple aroma and aftertaste. And hopefully it won’t make them want to smash up any towns. RM