Bass No. 1 (4.4%)

Rose-tinted beer goggles maybe but a pint of Bass was a thing of beauty back in t` day. Supping Tetleys at Uni (OK, Poly) was fine and I could just about endure a pint of Boddingtons on visits to Manc, but they all paled in the shadow of Bass. That red triangle pump clip heralded bliss in a pint pot served up in The Loggerheads or Welsh Harp (R.I.P.) in Shrewsbury, not too far from beer base Burton, I guess. But how does this stuff taste 15-20 years on?

About the only advantage of being taken over by a mega conglomerate type crew (InBev UK / Marston`s, I believe) is that costs can benefit from the economy of scale; make more and so make it cheaper (thank you Geography A-Level!). Bottles of Bass are probably no more expensive now than they were in the 1990`s and they can be found around the globe. I found mine in Mitchells at Meadowhead and it cost me all of £1.25. Bargain!.....?..errr, um..

 

This brew is commercially haled as `nutty, malty, complex with subtle hop undertones`. I got kind of a biscuit, malt mouth and it looked OK to the naked eye. However, my other half summed this up best saying that it, `tastes like shandy`. By the end of the bottle I was thinking more `insipid yet soapy`. There really isn`t a great deal of taste in there, especially when the twenty-first century drinker has got used to the big citrusy hops that prevail nowadays, but then maybe the Bass (Tetleys, Stones, Boddies, et al) taste was so simple that it facilitated drinking more heavily; quantity not quality, if you like. Sure, there are drinkers who still love a `traditional` bitter but they are outnumbered now by discerning drinkers happy to have their hoppy palates bashed about by the likes of a Double IPA or a Sour.  Nostalgia? It ain`t what it used to be! sob, sob.

Mike`s Score - 3 /10