Tag Archives: Best Bitters

165. Wells Bombardier

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It’s not getting any easier to track down beers from The List, but fortunately there are one or two quite widely-available ones left. Wells Bombardier, for example.

The exact relationship between Charles Wells and Young’s, who together were once Wells & Young’s—not to mention Marston’s, who actually brew this beer—is bewildering to me. But happily enough, it still seems to be the case that you can visit any of countless Young’s pubs and confidently expect to see Bombardier on the hand pumps.

Which is what we’ll do today. Welcome to the very pleasant The Clock House pub, overlooking the green expanses of Peckham Rye here in South London. Peckham Rye is known for being where wordsmith, engraver and general-purpose nutcase William Morris claimed to have seen visions of trees filled with angels and whatnot. But it’s probably changed a bit since then.

Wells Bombardier at the Clock House, Peckham Rye

Wells Bombardier is a famous Best Bitter, weighing in at 4.1% ABV and served here from cask. The colour is the classic deep, reddish chestnut that befits a Best. It’s certainly aromatic, with big, fruity notes wafting up at you from the glass.

The Clock House, Peckham Rye

And very drinkable it is too. Bombardier won’t surprise anyone familiar with the style, but it’s certainly a good example. Again it’s fruity to taste, all raisins and sultanas, with biscuity malts and a pleasing bitterness lingering at the end, courtesy of what I would assume to be English hops.

It’s a decent pint, all told, though a beer that absolutely has to be in peak condition, which it is today here at the Clock House. Perhaps not a style that’s always been guaranteed to excite your blogger, but without question this is a beer I would happily drink again.

Facts and Figures

Brewery: Charles Wells, Bedford, England
Style: Best Bitters
Strength: 4.1% ABV
Found at: The Clock House, Peckham Rye, London SE22
Serving: Cask, pint

151. Batemans XXXB

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It looks like it might be worth making speculative research trips to the Crosse Keys, a JD Wetherspoon pub in the heart of London’s financial centre, more often. The previous visit unearthed Hambleton Nightmare, and this time we have the opportunity to accompany our reasonably priced lunch with a pint of Batemans XXXB, a Best Bitter from Lincolnshire.

Batemans XXXB at The Crosse Keys, London

I’m always a little trepidatious when it comes to English Bitters, as it’s not a style that’s always managed to get me excited. That said, this one looks and smells fantastic. It’s a lovely deep ruby colour with a big fruity English hop aroma.

There’s a rich malty body as befits a “Best” Bitter rather than an “Ordinary”. It’s full of smoky bonfire toffee and caramel, all finished with a moreish, distinctly tangy bitterness, rather than the harsher aftertaste found in some lesser Bitters. Blindfolded, I’d probably identify XXXB as an ESB-style beer, thanks to all that lovely depth.

It goes down quickly though, and all in all this was a thoroughly enjoyable pint. This is a beer that I’ll be happy to drink again whenever I see it. At the Crosse Keys’ thoroughly reasonable £3.25 it’s positively a steal.

How nice that the Crosse Keys now opens on a Sunday, too. The City has traditionally been a ghost town at the weekends, with pubs remaining resolutely closed. Times are changing, thankfully. Saturdays have been a great deal more lively in recent years, but to be able to get a decent pint of beer on a Sunday is very new indeed. All credit to JD Wetherspoon for making that happen.

Facts and Figures

Brewery: George Bateman & Sons, Wainfleet, Lincolnshire, England
Style: Best Bitters
Strength: 4.5% ABV
Found at: The Crosse Keys, Gracechurch Street, London EC3V
Serving: Cask, pint

135. Wadworth 6X

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Since we’re in Swindon for the day, and having successfully put ourself on the outside of a couple of pints of the rather tasty Arkell’s Kingsdown Ale, why not let’s track down another Wiltshire-brewed beer, the Wadworth 6X.

6X is brewed in Devizes, not too far down the road, and Wadworth themselves have a couple of pubs in Swindon, one of which is The Wheatsheaf. It’s a spacious, rambling place with more rooms than I was able to locate in a single visit. Appearances suggest it to be a former coaching inn, and it’s very much the sort of pub in which Threehundredbeers could happily while away a Saturday afternoon.

Of course, as a Wadworth pub, you can reliably expect to find a pint of 6X here, and in excellent condition too. Of particular interest is the fact that at The Wheatsheaf, the 6X is served on gravity from oak barrels rather than the more commonplace modern metal alternative.

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I think it’s fair to describe Wadworth 6X as an archetypal Best Bitter, and so it pours the expected warm copper colour. Served from gravity it’s completely still, and yet manages to rustle up a generous off-white head. There are no surprises in terms of aroma, with the expected peppery yet subtle English hops dominating.

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There are the oak casks right there. Well, perhaps not exactly. I’m told that the real oak casks are in the cellar and what you see behind the bar is a sort of elaborate charade, designed to sort of communicate the fact that there are oak barrels involved somewhere along the line, which seems fair enough.

I’m not sure I could taste oak, but then I believe the traditional barrels would typically be lined with pitch to prevent the wood and beer becoming intimately acquainted. Of course, I’m happy to be corrected if that isn’t the case here.

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What you do taste is in many ways a typical Bitter. While that’s not a style that I’ve always been thoroughly excited by, there’s no doubt the 6X is a very good example of the style. It’s nutty, chewy and full of raisin and sultana fruits. The body is spot on: not in any way thin or watery like some lesser Bitters, but not so heavy that you couldn’t manage a few pints if push came to shove.

There’s a pleasing caramel sweetness underlying proceedings and a long lingering bitter finish. This is a good beer and it’s served to perfection at The Wheatsheaf. I’d call this a pretty successful day out.

Facts and Figures

Brewery: Wadworth & Co, Devizes, Wiltshire, England
Style: Best Bitters
Strength: 4.1% ABV
Found at: The Wheatsheaf, Newport Street, Swindon, Wiltshire
Serving: Cask, pint

131. Rooster’s Yankee

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It’s difficult to overstate the influence that Sean Franklin, founder of North Yorkshire-based Rooster’s, has had within the British brewing world over the years.

Sean is credited with pioneering the use of hops in creating the fundamental, distinct character of individual beers, rather than merely as a preservative which conveniently happened to contribute a bit of aroma and bitterness.

A former professional wine boffin, Sean famously described hops as “the grapes of brewing”. That’s absolutely true, and it’s a lesson that has enthusiastically been taken to heart by the new wave of British and American brewers (I’m doing my best to avoid using the word “craft”) for whom hops are the lifeblood.

Yankee may be Rooster’s most famous beer, but you really don’t see enough of it down south. Yet in a move that will delight fans of seriously fresh beer, Rooster’s have recently begun canning several of their brews, and the handsome little chaps have been cheerfully popping up in the fridges of discerning pubs and bars.

Rooster's Yankee at Stormbird, London SE5

Which—as if Threehundredbeers needed an excuse—brings us back to the ever-magnificent Stormbird in Camberwell, that Aladdin’s Cave of beery awesomeness where we enjoyed the classic Rochefort 10 a mere 50 or so beers ago.

Yankee is classified in The Book as a Best Bitter. Whether or not the recipe has developed over the years I couldn’t say, but it would unquestionably be seen as an American-style Pale Ale these days. Just look at the colour, for a start.

The aroma is floral and delicate, but full of citrus and tropical fruit: lychees, grapefruit, mango, that sort of thing.

There’s yet more grapefruit in the flavour, courtesy of the Cascade hops, and a pleasingly huge bitterness that’s well balanced by juicy sweetness from the malts.

It’s a classic, obviously, and a relatively light body makes Yankee hopelessly drinkable. It should probably come in a bigger can, quite frankly, but at Stormbird’s reasonable prices we can afford to take a couple more home with us.

Facts and Figures

Brewery: Rooster’s, Knaresborough, North Yorkshire, England
Style: Best Bitters
Strength: 4.3% ABV
Found at: Stormbird, Camberwell Church Street, London SE5
Serving: 330ml can

102. Mordue Workie Ticket

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The contribution that The Grape & Grain up in Crystal Palace has made to this ridiculous project so far has been nothing short of heroic, and continues with this oddly-named Best Bitter from the North East of England.

I’d been wondering how to find this one, so the moment “the Grape” announced that it was on the bar via their Perfectpint page, plans were hastily changed and Threehundredbeers was on its way up the hill.

Let’s order a pint from the friendly young staff and take it outside into the spacious beer garden. In fact, in over a hundred beers covered, I think this is the first outdoor beer we’ve had. It must be summer.

Mordue Workie Ticket

The name “Workie Ticket” apparently derives from a distinctly North Eastern term, the meaning of which is somewhat ill-defined. I’ve seen various explanations involving being a jobsworth, or trying to get expelled from the army, but I won’t bore you with them, because no one really seems sure, and I imagine you know how to use a search engine at least as well as me.

The name of the Mordue Brewery itself dates back to the 19th century, but its present incarnation actually began life in 1995, shortly after which they were awarded Champion Beer of Britain for this particular brew. It’s a famous beer then, though you rarely see it down here in London.

Mordue Workie Ticket is a handsome enough beer, pouring a deep rubyish bronze colour with a small tan head. Right from the first taste, it’s full of flavour. It’s a Best alright, but there’s a big malty sweetness that’s strongly reminiscent of a Mild.

The sweetness is backed up by a huge mouthful of spicy English hops, though, and there are dates, currants and other assorted dried fruits, but also some chocolatey and roasty notes that wouldn’t seem out of place in a Porter. It all combines to make for a huge beer that’s chewy, mouthwatering and very moreish.

I stuck at one pint though, because I suspect all that flavour could potentially get a bit overwhelming. Still, this was a very fine, restorative pint. I liked it a lot, and it’s one that I’d happily drink again.

Facts and Figures

Brewery: Mordue Brewery, North Shields, Tyne & Wear
Style: Best Bitters
Strength: 4.5% ABV
Found at: The Grape & Grain, Anerley Hill, London SE19
Serving: Cask, pint

81. Adnams Broadside

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Whilst I’m not sure that I’ve lived down opting for that somewhat overcomplicated bottle of Affligem Blond just yet, it’s time for 300 Beers to show its face once again in the rather wonderful Grape & Grain, up the hill in Crystal Palace.

Let’s puff out our chest, involuntarily adopt a Cockney accent, and order something a bit more manly this time: a pint of cask Adnams Broadside.

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Among their 12 handpumps, “the Grape” often have something on from Adnams, one of the most highly-regarded of the old-school English breweries. Like all the other cask ales in this pub, it’s always going to be in great nick too.

And so it is today. Broadside pours a lovely deep ruby or chestnut colour with a smallish off-white head. The aroma is all fruitcake and christmas, while the mouthfeel is thick, rich and just a little sticky.

The flavour is yet more nutty dried fruit and cake, with a dense underlying sweetness. Hops are subdued, making Broadside somewhat reminiscent of a Mild or a Brown Ale, styles of beer which continually prove that low on hops needn’t equate to low on flavour.

And Broadside is full of flavour. It tastes stronger than the nominal 4.7% ABV it claims to be, but goes down as smoothly as can be. Still I’m not sure I could drink more than a couple, as this really is quite a heavy, rich beer. It’s good though.

Broadside is also available in a 6.3% ABV bottled version, named “Strong Original”, acknowledging the fact that Broadside was once a much stronger beer. It’s a testament to Adnams’ considerable brewing skills that they’ve managed to tame the cask version down to the lower ABV without neutering the flavour one bit.

Facts and Figures

Brewery: Adnams Sole Bay Brewery, Southwold, Suffolk, England
Style: Best Bitters
Strength: 4.7% ABV
Found at: The Grape & Grain, Anerley Hill, London SE19
Serving: Cask, pint

72. Brains SA

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At the very real risk of becoming predictable, it’s back to the Grape & Grain we go for another pint of CAMRA-approved “real ale”. This turns out to be the first Welsh beer to be covered in these pages, which is terribly exciting.

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And I use the word “exciting” quite wrongly.

Brains SA is a fairly standard Best Bitter, and as such pours a typically warm, dark chestnut colour, but with the tiniest of frothy heads.

It has a sharp, harshly bitter flavour, which only temporarily masks the fact that it has absolutely nothing else going for it. It’s dry, but in this case that’s really more of an unpleasant aftertaste than a finish. The body is watery and lifeless, and it’s next to impossible to find anything more to say about this beer.

The Welsh and the old guard CAMRA types apparently wet themselves over it, but this is a crushingly unexciting beer. The term “real ale” seems more dated and less relevant than ever.

Facts and Figures

Brewery: S.A. Brain and Co., Cardiff, Wales
Style: Best Bitters
Strength: 4.2% ABV
Found at: The Grape & Grain, Anerley Hill, London SE19
Serving: Cask, pint

62. Fuller’s London Pride

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This is the second beer to be featured here from London’s oldest existing brewery, after the excellent pint of Fuller’s ESB I enjoyed a couple of months ago.

Given the relentless ubiquity of both Fuller’s and their flagship London Pride around these parts—practically any London supermarket or corner shop will stock it, not to mention Fuller’s own network of 367 pubs, or London Pride’s countless appearances as a guest ale—it may seem remiss that it has taken me so long to get around to covering it here.

Clearly this isn’t the first time I’ve tried London Pride, and so I’m well aware that it’s a beer that, unless kept and served to absolute perfection, can make for a fairly underwhelming pint. For this reason, as with the ESB, it’s well worth seeking out one of the better Fuller’s pubs where they really know how to condition a cask ale.

And so it happened that a rainy bank holiday weekend saw me make my way back to the Mad Hatter Hotel in London’s Stamford Street, the very same pub in which I sampled the ESB.

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Fuller’s London Pride is a lovely deep amber or perhaps burnished bronze colour, with a thinnish off-white head. It smells of good old-fashioned beer, in such an honest manner that it defies you to write anything pretentious about its “nose”.

London Pride is somewhat lighter than the ESB, but the rich, underlying caramel and toffee sweetness is there, as befits a well-kept cask Best Bitter. That’s complemented by Fuller’s signature orangey notes, provided by their in-house yeast, and balanced by a dry, bitter finish full of peppery hops, making London Pride satisfying yet refreshing, and a cut above the average session bitter. It’s really quite moreish. So I had another.

At a sensible 4.1% ABV, you can afford to do so. It’s to Fuller’s eternal credit that they’ve created a beer of such complexity and depth at such a sessionable ABV, and so it’s no wonder that they shift well over 100,000 barrels of the stuff each year. To some extent London Pride is a victim of its own success in that its ubiquity means it tends to be taken for granted by Londoners, myself included.

Facts and Figures

Brewery: Fuller, Smith & Turner, Chiswick Lane South, London W4
Style: Best Bitters
Strength: 4.1% ABV
Found at: The Mad Hatter Hotel, Stamford Street, London SE1
Serving: Cask, pint

51. Goose Island Honker’s Ale

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It’s always interesting to experience American attempts to replicate classic British beer styles. This time we’ll be trying Chicago-based Goose Island Brewery’s interpretation of a Best Bitter.

I wasn’t entirely convinced by Goose Island’s IPA when I reviewed it a few weeks ago, finding it far too sweet and cloying. Let’s see how their endearingly-named Honker’s Ale compares.

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Goose Island Honker’s Ale pours a lovely warm bronze colour with a generous off-white head, and there’s an enticingly fragrant malty aroma.

The beer is very full-bodied, and packed full of flavour: there are big biscuity malts, tart fruit and an intriguing marzipan note.

Unfortunately, that sweetness that plagued the IPA is back. Although Honker’s Ale isn’t quite as tooth-janglingly sugary as the IPA, it’s still too sweet. Bitter is named that way for a reason, and while there is a bitter finish here, it’s well hidden under a coating of sugar.

This is a genuinely good beer that’s let down by what seems to be a pandering to the American palate. That’s a real shame, because I’m sure that the kind of drinkers that would buy Goose Island’s beers have far more sophisticated tastes than mainstream beer swillers.

Maybe I’m wrong—Goose Island are currently owned by Anheuser-Busch InBev, the giant international corporation responsible for Budweiser, Stella Artois and Corona, after all—but I don’t think so.

Facts and Figures

Brewery: Goose Island Beer Co., Chicago, IL
Style: Best Bitters
Strength: 4.3% ABV
Found at: Bossman Wines, Lordship Lane, London SE22
Serving: 355ml Bottle

49. Hook Norton Old Hooky

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It’s off to the Cotswolds we go to try the first beer I’ve ever had from the Hook Norton Brewery, their delightfully and somewhat misleadingly named Old Hooky.

I say misleadingly, because unlike Old Peculier or Old Tom, this is a Best Bitter rather than an Old Ale.

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It’s a handsome enough looking beer, pouring a warm, rubyish amber colour with a big off-white head, albeit one that fades quickly. The nose is remarkably fruity, and I’m surprised to notice that it smells almost like a Belgian Dubbel, such as Westmalle Dubbel or Chimay Rouge. There’s that distinctive, estery waft of dried fruit so typical of that style.

The fruitiness comes through in the flavour too, where it’s especially reminiscent of sultanas, and is backed up by some hefty malts. There’s a huge bitterness, but also a sweetness, and finally a saltiness that’s reminiscent of Marston’s Pedigree.

There’s a lot going on flavour-wise here then, but I’m not sure it all comes together into more than the sum of its parts. I’m just not sure what this beer’s driving at or trying to be.

In fairness, Hook Norton are all about cask ale: they refuse to let a drop of their beer be served from a keg, and sell very few bottles. It’s quite possible that I’m doing them a disservice by trying this one from a bottle, but given that Old Hooky is nigh impossible to find on cask outside Oxfordshire, it’s all I have to work with.

A reasonably good beer then, full of flavour, but not mind-blowing in any way. Still, I promise I’ll try it on cask if I ever have the opportunity!

Facts and Figures

Brewery: The Hook Norton Brewery, Hook Norton, Oxfordshire, England
Style: Best Bitters
Strength: 4.6% ABV
Found at: Bossman Wines, Lordship Lane, London SE22
Serving: 500ml Bottle