Banks’s Silver Lining

Formerly brewed at Banks’s (Marstons plc)
Style: Golden Ale/Blond Ale
Wolverhampton, West Midlands, England

[CASK: The Didsbury, Didsbury, Manchester 21/07/06] When I tried this pint I was into my sweet, light couloured ales (my tastes have matured to more full bodied, dark winterish ales of late), However I remember this pint been extreamly satisfying and look forward to trying it again. Was quite delicious and one for those of you into your sweeter kind of ales.

Cask (handpump) at The Colonies (T & J Bernard), Westminster. Billed as a cloudy wheat beer but it had only a very slight haze and looked almost identical to the (less than crystal clear) Youngs Bitter that my companion was drinking. Pale amber colour. Light honey notes in the aroma. Sweetish initially on the palate with a developing zesty sharpness. Clean and refreshing, although could have been a bit more vibrant; seemed a touch tired to me but that could have been more down to the condition as this pub doesn’t always keep a prefect pint.

Cask conditioned at the Gardeners Arms, Plantation Rd, Oxford 25-07-05. This was sampled very shortly after BeeZone and yet somewhat suprisngly I felt that this had more lucious honey type flavours than the aformentioned beer. I wouldn’t have described it as a wheat beer and felt that it had a very good clarity though I must add that the Gardeners Arms is a very small dark pub and so my eyes could have been tricked, it appeared a pale amber colour and had some sweet and wheatyness in the aroma perahps but it really was the taste that impressed and particularly as it was Banks I was even more suprised. Mixing it up with that lucious sweetness there was a pleasant citrusy tang that counteracted nicely, creating a very nice balance. This wasn’t particularly bitter, but all in all made an excellent session beer that I would happily search out again.