Back in the early eighties, in the early days of what I like to call my exbeerience, there was Newcastle Brown Ale. To be sure, there were other beers, but Newcastle was one of the most prominent brews available to those that wanted a bit more flavor in their beer. And as far as Newcastle beers went, there was the Brown Ale and not much else.

That maxim held true pretty much until the first decade of the 21^st century. That’s when parent company Scottish-Newcastle began to release a series of Newcastle spinoffs, if you will, beers in various styles sold under the Newcastle brand. Perhaps this had something to do with the fact that Scottish-Newcastle was acquired by Heineken in 2008; in any event, the first of these that I came across was Newcastle  Summer Ale in 2010. It was not that good, either, at least in my humble opinion.

Nor was Newcastle Bombshell Blonde Pale Ale, sort of the same beer as the Summer but released a few years later. Newcastle Winter IPA was a bit better, and Newcastle Founders Pale Ale and Newcastle Werewolf Blood Red Ale actually quite good. That begs the question: just where shall we peg the latest addition to the lineup, Newcastle Cabbie, a black ale? Thankfully, in the latter category of quite good beers.

A little background on the name can be had from the bottle label:

Newcastle Cabbie-hail this smooth dark ale

There are many ways to order a Newcastle Cabbie, but we chose “hail” because it sounds like a cabbie word. Newcastle Cabbie is brewed with dark malts and noble aroma hops to create a flavor with hints of chocolate, coffee and light fruit-because we think those words will make your mouth water. So if all those words don’t make you want to grab a Cabbie, the label guy obviously lied to us.

Download the Taxi Magic app to make hailing a taxi even easier.

No doubt you’ve noticed the London cab on the bottle label as well, and picked up on the theme here of drinking responsibly and, above all, not drinking and driving. When you’ve had too much to drive, hailing a cab is the right thing to do, even if you haven’t been drinking Newcastle Cabbie Black Ale.

Newcastle calls this a black ale, but stylistically it seems a brown porter to me. Newcastle Cabbie has an alcohol content of 4.2% by volume, making it easily sessionable. It will run you $8.99 a six-pack here in the Atlanta area.

Newcastle Cabbie Black Ale pours to a dark brownish color more than a black one, especially if you hold it up to the light. A sniff reveals a nose laced with delicate light roastiness, soft fruit, butter and vinous notes. Taking a sip, the body is light to medium with subtle notes of chocolate, coffee and licorice. A hint of the butter in the nose comes through, and the flinty, vinous character that goes on in the slightly grassy, balanced hop finish is quite noticeable.

I really like this beer. The flinty qualities are most delicious and make the finish quite dry and quenching, and work extremely well with the licorice notes. Newcastle Cabbie Black Ale is only around for a limited time, though, so what are you waiting for? Best get out there and hail one today.



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