Banks’s Mild / Original (Cask)

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

Serve in English pint

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The Market Vaults, Tamuff. Atypically bright, reddish and shining for a mild. Draped with lace all the way. Heady Everards-like aroma of apple strudel, sultana fruit and aniseedy spice. Malted milk sweetness, sulphur, caramel and raisiny dried fruit and spice in the mouth. Fresh and gentle malt loveliness. Soft and sulphury, with impressive complexity at the ABV. Unputdownable, and slightly delicious.

Cask Conditioned, at the Head of Steam, London.
Amber with a fine slowly settling beige head. Odd colour for a Mild but so it goes. Lovely and smooth flavour with a slight hint of aniseed notes. Part of the warm up session before meeting up with Yogi & Pivo and later on SilkTork.

Cask Conditioned
Amber color. Delicate: the malty aroma and the flowery taste; very light, absolutely drinkable.

Cask. Reddish amber colour with a small off-white head. Aroma is sweet malts, some toasted notes as well as dark fruits, wood and rather toffeeish. Flavour is quite much the same, but also has some raisins and mild riped fruits in it.

UPDATED: NOV 2, 2009 1. Cask Handpump at the Beer House, Manchester 20/07/2002 Mid brown coloured with some alcohol present. Smooth malt finish. 2. Cask Handpump at the Duke Of Portland, Lach Dennis 30/05/2009 Malt aroma. Amber coloured and smooth on the palate with some fruit flavour. A little dryness in a crisp full malt finish.

From cask. Pours clear and golden deep amber with a small, off-white and creamy head. Aroma is mild fruity and toasted malty. Bitter, malty and vague caramelish. Ends dry, bitter and mild fruity.

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.

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 at GBBF 2011. Clear orange coloured with a small off-white head. Fruity aroma of caramel, grass and hops. Fruity flavour of grass, hops and grape fruits. Dry hoppy finish.

June, 2004 Princess Louise, Croyden. Attracted to this pub because of the phrase "guest beers" in the current GBG, I find just the usual suspects. But I tuck into the pub regular, Banks Original, because the only previous time I had this was on keg, and now is a chance to try it from the cask. A dark amber colour, with some toffee on the nose. It’s soft and fruity with a medium palate leaning toward sweet in the finish, but light enough to give a dry impression. Served in excellent condition - I can see why some people fall in love with this. [3.2]
June, 2007 Mermaid, Welshpool Soft with gentle, lingering English earthy hops which grow and swell. Malt is thin with a touch of steel. An enjoyable drink of moderate character that could grow on one. Easy to confuse with Banks’s Bitter, especially as this one is marketed as a mild, but is slightly hoppier. I had to get another half of each because I thought I had got them mixed up. The Original is slightly darker, dryer and more bitter than the Bitter. [3.1]