Courage Best (Pasteurised)

Brewed by Wells & Youngs
Style: Bitter
Bedford, England

Serve in English pint

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Bottle 500ml.
Clear medium amber color with a average, frothy - fizzy, good lacing, mostly lasting, off-white to white head. Aroma is moderate malty, hay, toasted, caramel, light to moderate hoppy, dry hop flowers. Flavor is moderate sweet and bitter with a average duration. Body is light medium, texture is watery to oily, carbonation is soft. [20100118]

Bottle 50 cl. Pours a clear amber with an off-white head. A little nuts in the nose and perhaps a whiff of floral British hops. Light in body, caramel and nuts and a metallic touch. Very subdued bitterness. But a pleasant little drinker. 180110

Bottled (Beers Of Europe). Amber colour, medium white head. Aroma is fruits, mild vegetables, some slight toasted notes as well as earth. Flavour is being quite similar. Rather watery and thin, though the elements are there.

Based on draught version: Just your average English bitter. Nothing too exciting.

Bottled, 500ml from Sainsburys, Banbury. Amber with white head, carbonated. Took a flier on buying this as I thought I hadn’t rated it. Carbonated cardboard flavours on pouring with a boiled grain background. A touch sweet, pear drop, vegetable. I got what I expected.

UPDATED: AUG 27, 2011 500ml bottle, drunk on 28 July 2011. A surprise "how had I missed that one before" rating. Actually hadn’t missed much. Looks fine enough - bright coppery amber with a thin white head. Mainly nutty malt aroma with a touch of paper. Not that much happening on the palate. Touch of sweetness in the malts here. A smattering of earthy hop. Nothing particularly unpleasant here but hardly inspiring. Had plenty of worse pasteurised, botled ordinary bitters though.

Bottled. A copper to gold coloured beer with an off-white head. Some grassy hops throughout with some fruits. A reasonable bittersweet balance and really easy to quaff. Plays very safe but hey ho.

UPDATED: DEC 1, 2009 Midnight acquisition from Rugby Tossco (bottle). Still gold with a thin white lid collapsing to nothing. Nosebleed on cardboard, vegetable aroma warming with grass, honey and orange suggestions. Papery and a dab grassy with some OK honey-and-cream malt softness. Could almost have a couple of Honey and Lemon Lockets bobbing about in it. Saw it off in the end.
Earlier Rating: 9/15/2007 Total Score: 2.3
I’m afraid it’s back again. Sampled in an Irish pub(?) in Torquay before hitting the Guinness. Wish I hadn’t bothered. Red amber murk with best-a-man-can-get head. Faint curranty fruit, a trace of watery apple peel blandness. Dismal.

UPDATED: OCT 11, 2011 March 2009 440ml can in a four pack from Tesco. Moderately carbonated. Mild tasting. Not offensive. Quite drinkable in fact. This is much better than the old keg Best. [2.5]
Jan, 2011 Bottle. Crisp carbonation. Dry, session bitter with some herby hop notes, and a mild lingering bitterness. Drinkable and quite acceptable. Some malt flavours come through. This is a not a crap beer - there is clearly an attempt to make a decent enough brew. The processing is mainly felt in the carbonation - the pasteurisation is not really significant. Not a good quality drink, but OK enough. [2.7]
Oct, 2011 £1 a bottle at Morrisons. Drinkable and cheap. [2.8]
Earlier Rating: 3/6/2005 Total Score: 0.9
Sept, 2002: Keg, Kent. Tastes of weak, stale beer and old damp cardboard. [0.5]
August, 2004: Keg, Shipwrights Arms, Chatham. A rough local. Soft fruity aroma. Prickly mouthfeel from the co2. A nutty fruit. No hop awareness. Barely beer. [1.2]
August, 2006 <a href=http://www.beerintheevening.com/pubs/s/28/286 Charlotte/Rochester>Queen Charlotte, Rochester Keg Greasy cardboard. Rancid fruit. Cold and fizzy. This is dreadful. I’m really not sure why people drink this stuff. Dreadful. Offensive. [0.9]
Nov, 2008 Two Sawyers, Brompton Sour cardboard nonsense. [0.9]

Bottle from Sainsburys. Amber with slight carbonation. Light cereal malt aroma overwhelmed by a strange mushroom soup edge. Flavour was similar: sweetish malts and wet cardboard. Another poor British bottled beer.