Bass (Cask)

Brewed by Marstons (Marstons plc)
Style: Bitter
Burton-on-Trent, England

Cask (The Anchor, Cambridge)
Past its prime, flat, not quite off, but definitely oxidised. Could be tempted to rerate, but my memorues of this are not that wonderful anyway.

In an attempt to somewhat recreate Bass of old, we dry hopped a 9g cask with almost 200g of Goldings and matured it for 4 weeks. But what a disappointment. The ratings are based on the dry hopped version. The aroma of course was of 200g of Goldings, fresh, citrussy and flowery and some came thorugh in the mouth too. The problem was that it just isn’t a great or interesting beer at all underneath it’s makeup. There’s flavour, but in the same stables as Green King IPA, and a shockingly thin body. Why put such a great yeast to waste? (Although it was improved by blending with Timmy Taylors Landlord) Update After a couple of days of being on, the beer became more balanced and was a slightly more hoppy version with that earthy dry hopped effect, drinkable but still needs more body.

Peach, apple and malt aroma. Golden amber color. Light sweet peach malt flavor with just a kiss of hops. Decent but not spetacular.

Cask~ Morarities, Phildaelphia, PA- amber coloring, nice head and lacing, malt and vegetable and mild hops. Pretty middle of the road, but better than most of the American’s i’d put in a similar category.

Cask at The Wall, London. Amazing that it’s taken me more than 1100 beers to get to Bass, an old favourite. A nice dark orange with thin head. Malty, fruit notes of orange. With a nice bitter finish. A solid bitter.

Tasty beer at local Irish pub , nice sweet taste. A good beer as a starter to the night on the town.

Cask @ Old White Swan, november 07. Shinny golden color with a small white head (sparkler). Skunky, flat, dull flavor with some oxidized notes. Boring. Medium to light mouthfeel, tired and dull. Sad. Oxidized, ropey aroma. Sick. Sad, tired bitter.

Pint draught straght from the cask at The Dolphin, Plymouth. Light brown IPA with very small head, low carbonation, sulphorous nose, predominantly malty & full bodied with a bitter aftertaste. Still a classic IPA if you can find it well kept.