Wells Banana Bread Beer (Bottle)

Brewed by Wells & Youngs
Style: English Strong Ale
Bedford, England

Serve in English pint, Snifter

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Appearance: It pours looking like a typical beer. It has a light amber color, with about a two finger head. The lacing is patchy and quite sparse. Smell: I don’t get much banana aroma at all in this beer, surprisingly. I was expecting a lot of fruity aromas. There’s some in there, but not much. Really quit pleasant. Taste: Tastes a little bit better than it smells. To be honest, it grew on me the longer I drank it. Some of my first few sips had a really weird sharp bitterness on the finish, but I didn’t get it after I was halfway through until the end. The banana isn’t overwhelming at all in this beer, and it fits in nicely. I see a lot of people complaining about this tasting artificial ... I don’t think it tastes terribly artificial, but I can certainly tell it’s there. Some of the aroma has that tangy, odd, banana sourness that I seem to only get from things like banana Taffy... real bananas don’t get it. The nice bit of hops and spiciness in this beer came out a little bit more as the beer warmed, and only made me enjoy it more and more. I had initially planned on giving this beer about a 3.5 rating based on the first few slurps ... well, now you can see just how much I bumped it up. The mouthfeel is also nice on this beer ... a slight carbonation, and a fairly creamy texture. A solid banana beer. The banana isn’t overwhelming, and I wish I had bought another one.

Very strong aroma, medium body, don’t really get a banana taste at first but strong in the after taste wouldn’t pair w/ food as it is pretty full going down mild hops but overall pretty satisfied

Bottle. Poured into American pint glass. A great amber color with a thin, defined head. Very little lacing. The aroma is 100% what you would expect...banana bread. The description says malt but I pretty much only got the name of the beer. However, I think it hit the nail on the head. Taste is the same...banana bread. Not too powerful, not too sweet. A hint of banana flavor which increased as the beer warmed. It is a dry finish and slightly bitter at the end. I think it is well done.

I wont deny there is a bit of an excitement. But after considering that this is just provoked by the exoticness of the ingredients, well, thats about it. Horrible malty alcoholic aroma, with yes banan and honey notes, but added to the soup rather than cooked with. Anyway, just for the experience I might say. No head, no proper carbonation either.

It is so strange to drink a bitter beer that tastes at something sweet as banana. It is like chewing a gum with sparkling and a bitter end. Not a bad sensation though.

Rossz, híg íztelen alere számítottam de végül is egy kellemes nem harsány gely banán illattal és ízzel operál az ital. Persze nem rohantam az újjabb üvegért...

Bottle. Cloudy yellow pour with white head. Smells of strong banana and slight sweet malts. Tastes of ripe bananas. Very good, different beer. ---Rated via Beer Buddy for iPhone

if you vant something diferent this one is just for you. great taste of bread and bananas mixed with bitter. once you try it it gives you the taste that you never for get it

Month of March head cold led to laying off tasting any beer until sense & smell returned. I had days to think about which beer I wanted to taste first, and the Charles Wells Banana Bread beer was calling my name. Ratings and reviews can have the ability of influencing a first impression: low ratings & poor reviews build low expectations, which is why this intruiging beer was somewhat of a pleasant surprize. Multiple reviewers have been likening the aroma to banana laffy taffy dropped into a beer, but that sells this product short I feel. I'd like to note that bananas have never been a fruit that I have enjoyed by itself, though I have always enjoyed banana flavored foods (pudding,bread, candy,sugary bubble gum from childhood days). The folks at Charles Wells claim to use "freetrade bananas" in their recipe, and fresh bananas are what I smell along with the typical malty attributes when taking in the aroma. I find the banana aroma is evenly balanced with the maltiness of this British import: those claiming the banana aroma/flavor is underdone would likely to be the first to complain if it were stepped up a notch. Looks like a garden variety British Ale, and it pours like a typical creamy British Ale as well. Carbonation seemed pretty slight to me, and it delivered a malty caramel banana flavor across my palate along with Bavarian soft pretzel dough and just a hint of alcohol detected. I was not blown away by the melding of flavors but it was not unpleasant either.At no point did it taste like an artifically sweetened banana flavor by my account, and I think they did a good job with that aspect of the brew. I can't imagine too many folks reaching for a second Banana Bread Beer after finishing the first one, but I would like to raise an interesting point at this stage in the review: one other reviewer made the observation that they enjoyed this beer as an in between when switching beer flavors from one to another. The concept is an interesting one because the finest multi course meals I have eaten in my life utilized sorbet to cleanse the palate between courses. I mention the sorbet/palate cleanser concept because I followed the Banana Bread Beer with a Ballast Point Sculpin IPA (my third bottle of the six pack), and found myself completely blown away with the flavor of the sculpin IPA, whereas the first two samples of that same six pack struck me as merely average. Could it be that the Banana Bread Beer sets the palate up for a new beer flavor? Based on my experience, I say it does.Worth a try just for the uniqueness alone. ---Rated via Beer Buddy for iPhone

Pretty pale amber color, with over-the-top white foamy head. Great light aroma. Nicely fruity flavor, balanced, complex. Exceeeded my expectations and good enough to drink on a regular basis. Not recommended with food as it is strongly flavored and seems a meal to be enjoyed on its own.