John Smiths Bitter / Extra Smooth

Amber colour with a creamy off white head. Aroma of weak malt with weak caramellish hints. Sweetish flavour with some grassyness. Medium bitter palate. Light to medium bodied.

Can. High creamy off-white and lasting head. Clear dark brown body. Mild nutty caramel aroma. Watery nutty caramel flavor with some bitterness. Low carbonation. Short bitter aftertaste.

Draught. A pale amber colour with a creamy, thin and white head. The aroma has some malty caramel and...well really nothing more. Thin. The flavour has some tart notes - no carbonation whatsoever - a hint of bitterness with a very thin taste. Watery and boring.

On tap on Malta. Clear amber colour, creamy head. Aroma of nitrogen, some malts, little caramel, water. Flavour is much the same, with a touch of bitterness. Smoothness and creamy texture make up for the lack of flavours. Nice.

[Keg at Letchworth Hall Hotel, Letchworth] Well, I had to rate this at some point. I remembered it from a long time back as being fairly dire, but given that the only other bitter on tap at my mate’s wedding reception was the dismal Courage Best, I thought I’d give it a try. Maybe it wasn’t so bad after all? But no, my memories were correct. There’s the tiniest hint of sweet malt, a very faint tang of dusty hops, but mainly the taste is of water - it’s as weak as you like. Any further possible taste (and I doubt there is any) is wiped out by the huge metallic bitterness in the aftertaste. And there’s not even the smooth creaminess that you expect from a nitrokeg beer. Y’know - everyone loves to slate Bud, but I do feel that Bud is much closer to the decent lagers than this muck is to the decent bitters. It’s simply dreadful - I’m not convinced it should be classed as a bitter, or even a beer. It’s as good an advert as any why bitter should be live casked and not pasteurised kegged!