Bathams Best Bitter

Brewed by Bathams
Style: Bitter
Brierley Hill, England

Cask at the Vine, Brierley Hill. Superb straw coloured bitter, hoppy and aromatic with almost a hint of strawberry. The same fantastically balnced sweetness that the mild has. Outstanding stuff.

Handpulled cask at all of Bathams tied houses in the West Midlands (I still have to visit the one in Wales). Straw coloured with a creamy white head. Soft and malty to start. The hops dont really come through until you have sunk a few pints, but when they do they are fresh fuggles at their best. A fine bitter once you have tuned into it. Rating beers on a half pint sample is bollocks realky.

Cask, The Griffin Inn, Shustoke. Soft, sulphuous and lacy. Straw half wafting with Pedigree-type snatch, hint of apple fruit. Vaguely lemony with grainy malt and cask notes. Vanilla-sweet, clinging, doughy Digestive afters. Bit hopless and Honey Nut Loops milk for me. Mealy with mushy biscuit softness, but inoffensive enough.

Solihull Beer Festival October 2003. Orange with white head. Faint biscuit and hop aroma notes. Sweet fruit that is slightly balanced with a bitter finish.

Cask, The Vine, West Bromwich. Golden, with a lingering slightly foamy lingering white head. Malty aroma. Smooth on the palate, but with a sweet not entirely pleasant flavour. As an accompaniment to the very good firey Indian food served at the vine it was fine though, and overall a slightly above average bitter.

Cask (handpump) @ Robin Hood, DY8, Amblecote. Clear medium yellow orange color with a small creamy, fair lacing, mostly lasting, off-white head. Aroma is moderate malty, roasted, caramel, butter. Flavor is moderate sweet and light to moderate bitter with a average to long duration. Body is medium, texture is oily to creamy, carbonation is flat.

Bottle.Yellow clear and flat.Pleasant bitterness but not a lot else.A straightforward, honest bitter.

Cask@Burton 12th Winter Beer Festival. Stale and stagnant looking golden beer. The aroma is lightly florally hopped, and the flavour is florally bitter and very sweet. Overall a poorish bitter, too sweet.