Banks’s Bitter (Cask)

Brewed by Banks’s (Marstons plc)
Style: Bitter
Wolverhampton, England

Serve in English pint

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June, 2007 Mermaid, Welshpool. Lighter in colour, sweeter and less hoppy than Banks’s Original - but otherwise pretty much the same. It has a pleasant enough tang, but is otherwise fairly ordinary. The Original has a touch more character. [2.9]

Aug 2006: This beer is mass produced and sold all over the Midlands, I just don’t understand why people drink it in such quantities. There are so many other fine beers brewed in the area. I have tried it many times, in plenty of pubs and clubs, but just can’t get to really enjoy it. I have even mixed it with Mild, but still it will not excite me. It looks OK, light brown with a loose white head, which clings to the glass, and sometimes stays to the end. Smells fine, hops and barley in equal amounts. The taste lets it down badly, very weak, almost insipid, watery and uninviting in my opinion. Sorry I couldn’t bring the scores up any, it is just a poor product from a very successful brewery. Update October 2011: had a blind tasting of a bottle and a can, both seemed to mirror the cask version, if a little more carbonated, OK but no world beater.

Hand pulled cask in Crows Nest, Seaham. Lager-like amber with decent white head and lacing. Hoppy nose and malty and mild on the tongue. Nothing special, but drinkable. Finish peters out as quickly as it came.

UPDATED: FEB 1, 2012 Cask at Chaplins pub, Liverpool. West Brom fans should not drink this :-) But it was a decent and fine bitter. Deep golden colour with a white head. Light caramel aroma with some fresh hoppy notes. Caramel, toffee and moderate hoppy flavour

First tasted this in the Hogshead, Paisley in September 1999. Cask, hanpump dispense. Clear orange amber in colour with a thin white head. slight hint of sweet malt in the short aroma. Thin mouthfeel and good lacing. Pale malts give a surprising note of wood smoke with the redcurrant fruit? Bitter resins give a metallic tang to the long aftertaste. Bitter sweet finish. Nothing spectacular here.

Cask at The Kingsbridge, Bourton-on-the-Water. Pours a clear golden-orange with an average size creamy off-white head. Aroma of light floral hops first followed by caramel malt. Flavour: Same old, same old -- another mediocre UK Bitter. Finish is actually bitter at least. Average bodied. Basically an average Bitter with a hint of extra hops, just O.K.

Cask. Amber colour with a small slightly off-white head. Aroma is bready and grainy malts along with some floral and grassy notes. Flavour is bready and grainy malts, some slight toffee as well as some floral and grassy hops. Stereotype bitter.

On tap at The Wych Elm. Pours golden amber. Aroma of biscuit and caramel. Mild flavour, not too distinctive. Easily forgettable.

On tap at The Wych Elm in Burntwood, pours golden. Aroma of biscuity malts and floral hops. Flavour of bland, character-less toasted malt and bittering hops. Not good.

Cask @ 3 Judges. Amber colour, tan head. Aroma of caramel malts, little toastiness and fruits. Flavour is light toasted malts, fruits and caramel.

Cask at the Bridge, Kingswinford. Pours amber with a medium head. Aroma is caramel malt, bread and some faint fruit. Taste is bready to start. Slightly yeasty. Medium bitter finish.