Archers Best

Formerly brewed at Archers (Evan Evans)
Style: Bitter
Swindon, England

Serve in English pint

send corrections   |   shelftag   |   edit barcodes   |   add pic

Cask Conditioned at Charlie’s Pub, Copenhagen
Beautiful amber color; thin persistent head. Despite the light color, I would label it a Bitter, with the minimum supporting malt profile and an evident hop character; solid bitterness and quite interesting English hops, both in the aroma and final, a bit earthy.

Cask. Amber coloured with a small tanhead. Refreshing with notes of fruit, pines, malt and hops. Somewhat bitter and dry finish.

[on draught at the Allied Arms, Reading] Now, all of us remember the actually-rather-good adverts for John Smiths, all based around the tagline "No Nonsense Beer". And a significant proportion of real ale enthusiasts immediately thought (and often vocalised) that the tagline for John Smiths should be "No Flavour Beer". Now the reason why I bring this particular ad up is that I’ve found the beer that it should have been used for - Archers Best. Pours a deep reddish-amber, with a small but lasting creamy head. There’s a hint of dusky red fruits there, and there’s a dry, bitter, but very well-balanced finish. But primarily this is just a great example of a traditional English bitter, and one that goes down a treat - it would make a great session beer. I have to say, after having tried a series of "complex" high strength British beers and trappist ales over the last couple of months, it made a refreshing change to have a "no nonsense" beer like this.

(Cask at Speaker, Westminster, London, 21 Nov 2008) Amber colour with frothy, beige head. Fruity, malty nose with biscuity malt, orange peel and earthy hops. Fruity, malty taste with notes of orange, biscuits ans earthy, citrussy hops in the finish. Doesn’t really shake my world, but its definitely well made, balanced and tasty. In short: biscuits and orange in nice harmony.

Cask at Charlies. Clear amber - white head. Abricot, light sweetness, light roasted, toasted, pine, grass, light wood, nice medium hoppy, fruity, smooth body, caramel, cactus. OK - pleasant.

Cask at the Red Lion or was it the White Lion? anyway it was in Lechlade Gloucestershire 09-06-07. Poured amber in colour, uncomplicated solid bitter that ticks all the right boxes, tased fine but hardly excites.

Oh dear! The 10th beer of the night and my notes are almost illegible. Perhaps I shouldn't have had that second half of Robinsons Old Tom before this. Anyway, from what I can remember and decipher, this was decent, if nondescript, bitter. Not as much residual sweetness as many Archers beers, which is a plus for me. Handpump, Head of Steam, Euston, London NW1.

UPDATED: APR 21, 2005 Very enjoyable. Malty, bitter, fruity, a very tasty session beer. For a beer with only 4% alc. in it, there is some very nice flavour. Re-rate, pretty average sort of bitter, i got a bit excited for some reason with my earlier rating. Pleasant, drinkable.

Cask conditioned. Amber bronze, moderate head and condition. Fruity hop aroma, fruity malt flavour and a hop bitter finish. Slightly more full bodied and fruitier than the Village Bitter.

Cask at Charlie’s Bar, Copenhagen. A hazy dark amber beer with a thin beige head. The aroma is sweet and very fruity combined with notes of red berries. The flavor is sweet malty with strong notes of berries and fruit - as well as some rhubarb notes, leading to a dry bitter finish.