Bass No 1

Brewed by White Shield / Museum (MolsonCoors)
Style: Barley Wine
Burton-on-Trent, England

Serve in Snifter

send corrections   |   shelftag   |   edit barcodes   |   add pic

UPDATED: JAN 5, 2007 Dec, 2003 Gravity fresh @ Pig’s Ear Festival, East London. Very dark murky brown settles into a mahogany glow. Raisin aroma. Perfect mouthfeel. Staggering flavour. Dark malt - dates, plums, etc. A beautiful balance of sweet and bitter. Wondrous. Long lingering gentle but assertive bitter finish. Everything is here - the sweet dark malt fruit up front, the mix in the middle, and the dry finish. This was one of the two beers I came to Pig’s Ear for. I was slightly uncertain about this one because barley wine is not usually my thing, but this blew my socks off. I was trembling with excitement and pleasure as I drank it. If I didn’t have a job to do sampling another 30 beers I would have stayed on this all day and then been carried out giggling. [4.7]
Dec, 2006 Bottle conditioned as Kings Ale. I opened this as part of my British Wedding celebration. I had brought the bottle earlier in the day and let it settle. I removed the lead cover, and then carefully removed the cork. Yes. The cork was intact and moist. The aroma was very strong. Rich woody port. I carefully poured half a glass. There were some bubbles - but there is dispute if this was evidence of remaining carbonation or simply agitation from the pour. The liquid was honey brown and clear of sediment. I poured two more small glasses, but these were murky, as I’d disturbed the sediment. The beer in my glass was soft honeyed toffee with wood, port, spice, fruit cake, alcohol and an oaky bitterness. In my excitement I wanted others to share, and gave sips of my glass to people who didn’t understand what they were drinking. But those who drank from my glass felt the beer was like port and drinkable. The beer from the other two glasses was like vinegar. As the beer in my glass was diminishing, I topped up from the bottle. Sadly, I topped up with disturbed sediment, and my glass turned to vinegar. I corked the bottle and took the remains home where I let it settle until Christmas. I then opened it again. I had problems removing the cork a second time as it had now dried out. It broke again and again. Eventually I had to scoop out the centre from the remaining quarter in the lower part of the neck, and poke a small hole for the beer to come through. A very careful pour again produced a honey brown clear liquid. Again it tasted of spicy, sweet, toffee port. Quite delightful. Quite, quite delightful. Nothing aggressive. Everything soft and gentle, yet flavoursome and balanced. The sweetness, the spice, the fruit, the toffee, the alcohol, the wood, the bitterness were all in harmony. Mmmm. I poured again, but immediately I could see the colour was tarry, and the aroma was tinged with vinegar. One sip was enough. Yugh! Allowed to settle and then poured carefully, the top of this vintage ale is a trembling pleasure. But a second pour is not possible, and allowing the sediment to intrude on the initial pour could contaminate the glass. Pour as much as you dare, but don’t be too greedy!

UPDATED: JUN 5, 2007 1000th rating and what a beer to get it with. Bottle from what seems the 70’s though not sure. Aroma is deep berry fruits, blueberries, leather, pale sherry, serious agingoak and nutmeg. Taste is malty, nutty, leather, molasses, roasted vanilla, burnt treacle tart. Oh yes. RERATE: Kulminator Bass kings ale 1981. Oustanding and amazing beer worth every point of its perfect 5 rating, very nice to get the proper glass also.

UPDATED: JAN 31, 2007 Bass built a brewing museum in Burton on Trent, and in the museum, they built a small 10 bbl brew house, that brews speciality beers with very limited releases. The Barleywine No. 1 is one such beer. This beer is a rare one, even in England. This beer in a word, was incredible. With a beer this stunning, there is no want or need to even try to describe this beer. Some things you just have to taste for yourself to know its greatness. Bass No. 1 is such a beer. Michael Jackson claims it was called No. 1 not because it was the first barleywine ever brewed, but the No. 1 brewhouse was used, when brewing it. Bass was the first brewery to use the term "barleywine", so this beer was the first strong ale/old ale ever to be called a barleywine. It is brewed with 96% pale ale malt, but with an amazing 12 hour boil, the beer was a deep garnet color. The flavors were very intense. When I sampled this beer at a tasting hosted by Michael Jackson, "The Beer Hunter" he made the comment, "for those who are wearing socks, prepare to have them loosend." Incredible rich, sweet malty nose, chewy, sweet malty palate, and a warming, soothing high octane burn. The depth of malt character in this beer was truly wonderful, and its warming, soothing, alcohol burn, made it the ultimate sipping brew. Phenomenal barleywine, it was a honor and a privilage to drink this beer.

Well after much research the bottle i had in the kulminator which they stated as 1981 Kings ale, seems most likly to be Bass number 1 bottled into the old Kings ale bottle from 1977. Red/light brown in colour, ovaltine malt nose with a little fruit. mellow oh so mellow soft and gentle fruit malt, very juicy very fruity, and oh so smooth and drinkable. the depth and smoothness of this was remarkable. And no way would i guess the alchohol levelfrom this. Wonderful ...

Mini Cask at home ... Huge thanks to the Brewer for making this possible Deep scarlet brown ... Sweet rich toffee vine fruits nose ... Sweet toffee rich and deep ... lots of vine fruits ... little warmin ... wondefull mouthfeel ... Wonder if i should hand bottle this to see how it ages over 5 years ... Its lovely ...maybe not as complex as the Aged bottle but still worthy of a 4.5+ score.

UPDATED: JUN 18, 2007 [Bottle from 80’s rating #1000] Pours a deep, beautiful bronze/ruby colour. Incredible aroma, waves of deep, malty complexity. Toffee and treacle are followed by pronounced notes of dried fruits, apricot and figs, also very present but never overwhelming notes of oxidation, redolent of rich sherry(Gonzalez Byass’ Noe springs immediately to mind). The ever-changing nuance is incredible, it noses with liquorice, cigar box, even faint citric notes and the faintest flutter of aged balsamic vinegar acidity. Has a smooth, coating palate, a mild sweetness is balanced with a tickle of acidity and a touch of warming alcohol dryness, some vinous qualities, baked figs. This is an exquisitely complex and intruiging beer, fully deserved of its reputation. A privilege to mark my 1000th rating with this beer.

UPDATED: FEB 21, 2006 Holy crap this is nice. Big Bitter cocoa and malt with winelike notes and an oily finish hints of wood and leather and a touch of smoke. WOW this is big. They use only two row pale malt that is caramelised in a 12 hour boil.

UPDATED: APR 10, 2008 Page 39 of Michael Jackson’s Great beer guide. The bottle I had and one for my cellar is called the Queen’s Ale and was an aged one brewed July 3rd 2002 on the 100th anniversary of the first one brewed. I am going to leave my assessment of this beer to one word, AMAZING. Only 178 of MJ’s Classic 500 brews to go. Also thank you Steve for this special brew and the day we had at the Museum Brewing Company.

A huge thanks to cletus for this Kings ale bottle. Opening this up was like brain surgery. The massive cork was near the end of its life. I needed to decant and strain the bottle. The aroma is BIG. Lots of sherry and burnt brown sugar. A little dust in there, but not enough to detract. The body is brown and nearly still after the initial carbonation. No head. The body is very dry, with a pronounced oak character. A little vinous character and a lot of soy. Just a faint hint of chocolate towards the end. I was afraid I’d be disappointed, but this is stellar. And I"m sure I’m not just "tasting the rare" here.

Kings Ale #1, Brewed 2/22/1902, Tasted 6/11/2011. And endless pile of thanks to BDR for sharing this one. As the cork did not entirely come out, this was strained into a decanter in 4 rounds, the last being fairly heavy with sediment. These notes are from the first two round (likely the top half or so of the bottle). Dark brown color with no head, but surprisingly visible carbonation. Strong molasses and brown sugar aroma with a hefty dose of sherry. That sherry picks up a full head of steam in the flavor. Light oakiness, but a dry and old sort of woodiness, not like a fresh barrel of vanilla. Very vinous. Some prune notes. Almost bone dry. Bitchin.

Cask (handpull) Bass Museum, Burton. Having been one of many to pester Steve Wellington about this, it’s only right and dandy that I should drag myself a few miles down the road from home on a dank day to try this beer.

Served as a nip, cradled in a warm hand, it certainly looked the part. A solid ruby body, drumskin-tight cafe au lait head. Lifting the glass closer - BAMM! A hot alcohol aroma, unsubtle, then settling to let chewy malts and a plumminess seep through.

That first sip.... challenging. Like a big brother, the alcohol was hogging the show, its softer siblings forced to sit at the back and wait.

And so I waited too. The aroma softened, the head slipped to a ginger ring. Seemingly cottoning on to the fact that mere alcohol doesn’t impress, the rest of the gang came out to play. Christmas cake bowl leftovers gave me something to chew on, a vein of dessicating alcohol stood alongside but never threatened to break up the party.

The tinge of bitterness towards the end, the slick heat lingers... and I then realise I’ve taken 15 minutes to drink a third of a pint.

Sitting there, surrounded by the industrial torpor of Coors, drinking something that looks at the macro swill across the other side of the bar and politely yet firmly says ’I am beer... and you are nothing.’ And that thought warmed me as much as the No. 1 did.