Phoenix Bantam Bitter

Brewed by Phoenix (Oak Brewing Co.)
Style: Bitter
Heywood, England

Cask handpull, ’All creatures Great and Small festival’, The Merchant Inn, Drugby. Dull watery suck of lemon barley sweet with peach and elderflower hints. Dusty amber with a slim white lid. Slight vinegar on the nose. Grassy, sweet and dull.

A Mes rate: Cask at Chelmsford Beer Festival. Bland malty bitter with some slight hops to detect giving it some refreshing citric notes but it’s just not enough to save it. Like a watery iced tea.

Cask Handpump at the Queens Arms, Manchester 18/11/2001 Amber mid brown coloured and bitter. Roast malt and hop finish.

Striaght from the Cask at the Erewash Beer fest in Sandiacre on Sat 20th Nov 2005. Light brown on colour. Not as exciting as Phoenix beers usually are but still a good solid bitter. 2nd try At The Pilgrim in Liverpool Dec 4th 2004, much the same impression. Kinda fruity too...

Phoenix is one of my favourite breweries, but this was one of their more mundane efforts. It’s a pale copper coloured, malt accented, basic session bitter. Clean and dry, but not packed with flavour. Perfectly acceptable, but nothing there to really tickle the taste buds. Cask (handpump), Head of Steam, Euston, London.

Hand pulled at the Anchor, Birmingham (during their Phoenix weekend). Pale brown beer, which looks thin from the word go. Chubby, sweet rounded vague flavour. Slight bitter finish, and very slight overall. Like a less impressive brother of Oal Oak.

Cask Conditioned, at the Wenlock Arms.
Definitely punching above its weight. Golden colour, no head. Slipped down very smoothly. FYI – Phoenix Micro Brewery was established in 1982 as Oak Brewery in Ellesmere Port. It moved in 1991 to Heywood, Rochdale and changed its name in 1996. It now supplies over 150 free trade outlets and has a very large programme of seasonal beers.