Banana Bread Beer
Eagle Brewery

Banana Bread BeerBanana Bread Beer
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From:
Eagle Brewery
 
England, United Kingdom
Style:
Fruit and Field Beer
Ranked #246
ABV:
5.2%
Score:
80
Ranked #26,033
Avg:
3.54 | pDev: 18.36%
Reviews:
985
Ratings:
3,303
Status:
Active
Rated:
Saturday at 08:58 PM
Added:
Aug 15, 2002
Wants:
  118
Gots:
  824
Long ago, ale was known as 'liquid bread'. We've used our long history of creating the finest malt blends & added fair-trade bananas to awaken the senses with a seriously fruity, rich, yet surprisingly versatile banana bread beer.

An inspired brew made with our own natural mineral water & fairtrade bananas. Tempting Banoffee aromas & flavors are balanced by the silky richness of a masterful malt blend & the peppery spice of the freshest, ripest hops.
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Ratings by biegaman:
Photo of biegaman
Reviewed by biegaman from Canada (ON)

3.72/5  rDev +5.1%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4
This definitely tilts more towards beer than banana in appearance. There's no yellow encasement here - just a clear, resplendent, lightly bubbled, golden ale on full display. (But one that still nonetheless looks on theme if you ask me.) Although it can't claim to possess any head, it is moderately endowed in peel after peel of white lacing.

This smells unexpectedly redolent of a Belgian tripel. The common thread being the banana. Some yeasts lend flamboyantly fruity notes, commonly the essence of bananas. While I assume the inclusion of actual bananas is responsible here for that component, this ale's yeast does impart a lot of other fruity esters, all of which work in perfect tandem.

Another thing about this beer to surprise me was that it doesn't taste like the antibiotic medicine I took as a child. Nor like those banana pop-sickles. It isn't artificial in the least and the enduring "beer-y" elements relegate the fruit element to second fiddle. All in all, this strikes me as just another easily quaffed, thoughtfully balanced English ale.

If anything I suppose it tastes like dried banana chips; the beer's malts supply a dry and sugar-dense base. What they don't provide is much body - by far and away the most prominent feature on the palate are the sharp water minerals that stick out like sore thumbs. While a dab of hops is perceptible too, the minerals are spectacularly discernible.

When you get down to brass tacks, this beer is essentially the same old English pale ale seen time again on the shelves here in North America: a rather plain and heavy beer that's thin in the malt department but chalk-full of minerals. This one, however, is laced with that delightful banana aura and is in turn that much more pleasurable.

Glancing over other reviews it seems that Wells Banana Bread is a fairly divisive beer. I'm not entirely sure why. I found it to be an entirely conventional, commonplace English ale, albeit with some banana flavour. It should be straightforward enough: Do you like beer? Do you like banana? Chances are you already know whether this interests you.
Jan 19, 2011
More User Ratings:
Photo of BurtonRed
Reviewed by BurtonRed from England

3.25/5  rDev -8.2%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 2.75 | feel: 3 | overall: 3
Where is all the banana? Plenty on the aroma. Can get more of a banana bread flavour from the average Belgian ale or Wheat beer. By no means unpleasant but far more nondescript than it should be.
Saturday at 08:58 PM
Photo of JayQue
Reviewed by JayQue from Virginia

3.43/5  rDev -3.1%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3.5
My taste buds must be shot!!! Didn't notice the banana at all!!! Some mild maltiness and grassy hops bitterness. Not a whole lot of nose or flavor. Beautiful clear copper color with a small white head. Average retention and minimal lacing. Mouthfeel was crisp but very light. On the whole, just another "meh" lager.
Mar 02, 2024
 
Rated: 4 by RoyalKaiju from Kentucky

Jan 07, 2024
Photo of dkoehler42
Reviewed by dkoehler42 from New York

3.91/5  rDev +10.5%
look: 3.5 | smell: 5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.75
I'm honestly surprised I never reviewed this one, but here goes. Eagle's Banana Bread beer has an unmistakable aroma of banana bread as you open the bottle and pour. It pours a transparent amber color with a white head. You can be several feet away from this and smell the banana, but putting your nose in it magnifies it intensely. It's definitely worth appreciating the smell and the anticipation on your tongue before tasting. The banana taste is present, but unfortunately there is also a chemical off taste. It's not bad but it's not good. The mouth feel isn't bad and doesn't linger around terribly long. If the flavor was a little more keyed in, this would be an absolute standard fruit beer.
Dec 18, 2023
 
Rated: 3.93 by RalphStanley34 from French Polynesia

Dec 10, 2023
Photo of PlutonowyManiek
Reviewed by PlutonowyManiek from Belgium

3.72/5  rDev +5.1%
look: 4 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
Amber colour, chestnut, clear. White foam, very high, with a long reduction time. Fine bubbles form a compact structure, decently fouling the glass.
The aroma is sweet, distinctly, intensely banana, with notes of sponge cake, pastry, banana cocktail accents and with a malty background.
The taste is moderately sweet (overripe bananas) with a bitter counter. With each sip, the hop bitterness gains in intensity, in strength, becoming almost leading.
Medium saturation upwards. Texture smooth. Body medium plus. Aftertaste long dry.
Nov 28, 2023
 
Rated: 3.77 by Mclusal from Colombia

Nov 26, 2023
 
Rated: 3.86 by TheItalianStallion from New York

Nov 19, 2023
 
Rated: 3.9 by DaPan from Canada (ON)

Nov 05, 2023
Photo of KleinSchwein
Reviewed by KleinSchwein

2.55/5  rDev -28%
look: 4.25 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 2.25 | feel: 1.5 | overall: 2
Poured from a 500ml bottle.

Pours a deep reddish brown , a light chocolate coloured head leaving little lacing. The smell is banana with malty grass lingering in the background and the taste follows on from this with the unfortunate addition of some kind of chemical. There's a bitterness throughout and a weird sweetness which seems . . . Artificial, thought the bottle strangely has no complete ingredients list . It's somehow cloying and watery and leaves a film in my mouth .

Overall . Looks nice, smells nice , tastes way too chemically, almost like a poor bitter with banana syrup . One I'll pass by in future.
Oct 18, 2023
 
Rated: 3.66 by Iggy88 from Ohio

Oct 05, 2023
 
Rated: 3.64 by funku2 from Colorado

Sep 10, 2023
 
Photo of Legendary_Geko
Reviewed by Legendary_Geko from Florida

4.36/5  rDev +23.2%
look: 3 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25
Look: Amber, looks closely like a Yeungling.

Smell: Like bananas on your counter. Really does smell just like bananas which is really nice.

Taste: Banana with a sort of malty sweetness. Very nice!

Feel: Doesn't really linger in your mouth at all.

Overall: If you can find it cheap, it's worth a shot. It is really expensive though.
Jul 04, 2023
Photo of Jramos7873
Rated by Jramos7873

4.37/5  rDev +23.4%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 5 | overall: 4.25
So surprisingly good!
Jun 30, 2023
 
Rated: 1.75 by bkwagie

Jun 19, 2023
 
Rated: 4.15 by Jdells09 from New Jersey

Jun 13, 2023
Photo of orinjuice
Rated by orinjuice

5/5  rDev +41.2%
look: 5 | smell: 5 | taste: 5 | feel: 5 | overall: 5
Unlike most beers that boast a specific flavour, this one actually tastes like bananas
Jun 13, 2023
Photo of DaveMaciolek21
Reviewed by DaveMaciolek21 from New Jersey

3.58/5  rDev +1.1%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3.5
Golden pour with a quickly dissipating bubbly head. Smell and flavor are as advertised--banana all the way. On the plus side, the banana flavor is legit; it doesn't taste overly sweet. On the negative side, this is a light-bodied trifle of a beer. Thin-bodied at best. Definitely a dessert mood beer.
Jun 10, 2023
Banana Bread Beer from Eagle Brewery
Beer rating: 80 out of 100 with 3303 ratings