Banks’s Mild / Original (Cask)

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

Serve in English pint

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August 2006: This used to be a Black Country Classic (it was known as Banks’s Mild, in those days). I have drank it many times, tinned, bottled, Keg and Cask, this review is for Cask. Banks’s pubs often do not have hand pulls, you must look at the base of the identical dispensing font, which are lit up like Lager/keg fonts, if it says the beer is ’Brewery Conditioned’ it is Keg, if it says ’Cask Conditioned’ it is Cask. The beer is drawn up by electric in both cases. It looks good, not as dark as some milds, but not light either, a Tawny Owl Brown with an off white head. Poured correctly, the head will stay until the bottom of the glass. Banks’s have a policy of using oversized glasses, so you always get a full pint of beer! No great aroma, but you can tell it is a beer in your hand and a slight hint of burnt caramel can sometimes be detected. The taste is of burnt malt and an aftertaste of hops. The beer is not over full, or heavy in mouthfeel, a thirst quenching session beer more than a sitting around discussing the flavour type beer. Banks’s have a huge estate of pubs throughout the Midlands and the quality of this beer could well vary. Give it a try, in two different bars if you can. My scores are a combination of my last 6 pints of it, from 3 different inns.

Cask. Some pub in Sheffield. Thin white head. Bitter, yeast. Dry finish. Average to crap.

Clear redish amber with a thick creamy lasting off white head. Smell of malt ripe fruit (apple) wood and caramel. Med sweetness with a light bitter and slight sour aftertaste. Dark berries, sweet malt, light caramel and ripe fruit. Oily with a medium body.

cask @ GBBF 2011. Pours a clear dark amber color with a small off-white head. Has a slightly roasted malty caramel aroma with weak hoppy hints. Fruity malty caramel toffee flavor. Has a fruity malty caramel finish with some weak hoppy hints.

Half pint at the Twickenham Beer Festival 2011. Dark amber/brown, little or no head. Excellent sour grape aroma. Slightly sour, on a cereal/oatey base. Smells better than it tastes unfortunately. A bit dull really, but not particularly bad.

Cask/gravity at Twickenham beer festival. Black with a thin head, aroma of a little molasses and roast malt, quite a full body for such a lightish beer, roasty with port wine hints and a touch of dark xmas pudding, dry lightly bitter finish. Very nice mild.

Middle range mild, but still drinkable, with a decent body and texture to this ale.

Cask (handpump) @ GBBF 2011, Great British Beer Festival, Earls Court Exhibition Centre, London, England.

Clear dark amber colour with a average to large, creamy, good lacing, fully lasting, off-white head. Aroma is moderate malty, caramel, dusty grain, toffee. Flavor is moderate sweet and light to moderate bitter with a average duration. Body is medium, texture is oily and smooth, carbonation is soft to flat. [20110804]

Cask @ GBBF, 2011. Pours clear amber with a creamy white head and lacings. A bit watery. Grain, bread and caramel.

Cask at GBBF 2011, Wednesday. Clear brown - white head. Buttery, roasted, caramel, fatness, herbal, tobacco, light sweetness, grassy, light grape fruits.