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Bass Ale

Nitro-infused Bass Pub Pour Can.

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Neither Trendy Nor Sexy Bass is a RELIABLE OLD FRIEND
by Belly Buddy Mark Stevens

Bass
At A Glance
Beer:
Bass Ale
Pros:
Predictably good and fresh.
Cons: Not as good in US as in UK.
Recommended: Yes.

Ask a dozen people to name an english ale, and I'll bet the answer you hear most is "Bass". No surprise there, Bass is the largest brewer in England and its pale ales are the reason why. Bass Ale is widely exported and is widely regarded as one of the best of the popular international brands. While I can't say it's my favorite beer, or even in my top 20 from England, it is still a very good, flavorful beer and a good choice for someone who wants to get a first glimpse of English style beers.

Style:
English pale ales are, like their draft brethren, the bitters, predominantly hoppy beers. They've also got a somewhat sharp edge to the bitterness that is usually attributed to high carbonate or sulfate waters, such as those found in Burton-on-Trent, where Bass is made. English pale ale malts have a slightly bready or toasty edge to them, which comes through in the malt flavors; crystal malts provide some additional sweetness and red colors. Ale yeasts sometimes contribute a bit of fruity aroma or flavor (esters), a slight buttery edge (diacetyl), or possibly other yeast by-product aromas and flavors, although the better brands tend to keep these under control through cool conditioning, yeast management, or other techniques.

Sample Conditions:
These comments reflect the bottled version, which I'm sampling as I write this review. The beer is also widely available on draft throughout the U.S., and cask-conditioned versions are available in the U.K. [Editor's Note: Bass is now available in the U.S. in the "Pub Pour Can;" news] There are some variations in these versions, and one of my favorite memories of drinking Bass is spending a Friday evening at a pub in Bath England (the Star) that was serving nothing but casks of Bass poured by gravity tap. Now that's Bass at its finest! But I'm rambling again...back to the bottle in hand...

Evaluation:

Appearance: Brilliantly clear in the glass with a rich amber color that flashes with red highlights. Fairly aggressive carbonation that throws a thick creamy head.
Aroma: Fairly complex with some light caramel malt aromas quickly yielding to the strong earthy hop character with just a hint of floral smell to it. Letting the beer rest a moment and sniffing it again, I get almost completely earthy hops.
Flavor: The beer is quite complex and very well balanced. I get a lot of the soft, sweet, malt character with a bit of toast and caramel in it, but the predominant flavor is, of course, the hops. The bitterness is earthy and somewhat sharp with a little hint of peat in it. I can feel the bitterness coat my mouth and linger long after I've swallowed the last drop.

Brewer Notes:
Bass is probably the best known of Britain's many pale ale brewers. The beer is fairly light in body at 1043 (11
Plato) and is hopped with Challenger and Northdown hops.

Although the brewery is sometimes rumored to still use the technologically fascinating Burton Union system of fermenting in casks connected by hoses to an overflow trough, Bass actually abandoned the system almost 20 years ago, leaving Marston as the last brewery to use the system.

Overall Impression:
An outstanding beer. Very smooth and drinkable with an interesting dash of complexity in the interplay between malt and hops. While I would almost always rather have a big tall imperial pint of freshly drawn cask-conditioned ESB, let's face reality here, that's a bit tough to come by in the U.S. While there are a lot of english pale ales on the market here, Bass is usually a good bet because its popular enough to move well in most markets, assuring you of getting a good bottle, and because it got to be popular by delivering a pretty good product. You could do a heck of a lot worse than Bass. I recommend it as a reliably good english pale ale. Cheers!

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