It’s something I find a little hard to believe these days, but there was a time I thought Tooheys Extra Dry was a classy beer. And that time wasn’t all that long ago – six or seven years maybe.

Oh yes, I was familiar with the work of Matilda Bay and Little Creatures by this time, but there was something about that clear bottle that hooked me. It made me think it was clean and pure.

Nowadays, of course I know clear bottles are a sure sign of a beer with minimal taste. That’s because clear bottles let in heaps of light and that’s what degrades hops – the key flavour ingredient in a beer. So it follows that a beer in clear glass doesn’t have much in the way of hops. And therefore flavour.

That fact was immediately obvious when I tried an Extra Dry recently. On the nose, there is an incredibly light aroma of malt. And really, I can’t over-stress the phrase ‘‘incredibly light’’ – it’s barely there.

As for the taste, well, ‘‘incredibly light’’ also works here. There’s a smidge of sweet malt and really not much else – and that’s even doing the beer a favour and drinking it ‘‘ice cold’’ like you’re supposed to.

So yeah, I’m glad I don’t drink this stuff any more. Because it ain’t a classy beer.