Courage Best Bitter | Wells & Young's Ltd

2.9/5  rDev -5.8%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3 | taste: 2.75 | feel: 3 | overall: 2.75

3.28/5  rDev +6.5%
look: 4.25 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.25

Served in an imperial pint glass at a dive bar in London. Clear copper color beneath a creamy inch of foamy head that left sheets of fuzzy lace. Tons of fine bubbles cascaded down the liquid. Nose is metallic, penny, copper amber scents, very light and bready. Taste follows the nose with bready and light flavors. Peppery hop in the finish is light but balances out the slightly sweet bready notes. Super light body, slick and watery, served warm. Smooth slick low carbonation. Decent bitter, decent beer, but left me wanting more.

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3/5  rDev -2.6%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3

3/5  rDev -2.6%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3

3/5  rDev -2.6%

2/5  rDev -35.1%

3/5  rDev -2.6%

3/5  rDev -2.6%

3/5  rDev -2.6%

2.5/5  rDev -18.8%

4/5  rDev +29.9%

2.98/5  rDev -3.2%
look: 3.25 | smell: 2.75 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3

though drank on cask due to this being reduced through time and cost saving to 'brown twig water' review and score actually based on can which my not give the best looking beer but doesn't really detract as the flavours are no longer there
an okay bitter and would buy some in to have beer if cheap but not especially buy

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3.5/5  rDev +13.6%

3/5  rDev -2.6%

3.75/5  rDev +21.8%

3.25/5  rDev +5.5%

2/5  rDev -35.1%

4/5  rDev +29.9%

3.25/5  rDev +5.5%

3/5  rDev -2.6%

3/5  rDev -2.6%

2.93/5  rDev -4.9%
look: 3 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3

A 500ml bottle with a BB of July 2012. ABV is stated as 3.8%. Picked up recently from an off-licence. Label lists the ingredients, including sugar, E150c and E450 - not convinced these are really needed.

Poured into a Sam Smith's pint glass. A clear golden-amber colour with medium carbonation. Forms a decent head of white foam that lasts for a minute or so before subsiding. The aroma is pretty weak - a faint hint of grainy caramel malt and little else.

Tastes of grainy caramel malt with a dry finish. Slightly sweet, with a faint hint of stewed hops. Pretty mild, not much bitterness to be found. Mouthfeel is smooth, tingly and reasonably full-bodied. Not much aftertaste; just a whisper of malt.

Surprisingly bland, particularly for a bitter. It's more like a mild really; hardly any hop presence. The balance is OK and it doesn't have any flaws - it just fails to excite me on any level. It's best characteristic is the body, although I wonder if the added stabiliser plays a part in this. At any rate, drinkable but nothing special. No need to seek it out.

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3/5  rDev -2.6%

2.82/5  rDev -8.4%
look: 2 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 4 | overall: 2.5

A - Apparently it's the colour E150C... which is a light bronze, topped with a foamy head which comes to a half finger. Plenty of bubbles dancing underneath the white surf as I hold it to the light.

S - I'm getting the malts, faint hops, and a very neutral clay/earth vapor.

T - Pale malts, cereals, grass, paper-cardboard, hops are quite delicate, too much so, leading to an underwhelming finish.

MF - Has a certain creaminess, nice to swirl in the mouth, the pleasant part of this beer.

O - Not the 'best bitter' proclaimed on the bottle by any stretch of the imagination, yes, it's drinkable but I'd give it a miss comparing it to similar bitters.

Also, I do not like the way this beer has added ingredients, the colourant and the stabilizers. It just seems a bit needless and goes against the craft brewing ethos. I'm sure a wonderful beer could be brewed without their use.

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3.25/5  rDev +5.5%