Bangla
Hepworth & Co. (Brewers) Ltd.

Bottle. Clear straw. Thin white head. Slide lacing.
Smells of sweet grain and not much else and tastes the same.
A light refreshing feel.
Good with my curry otherwise just a Euro Lager.

I've asked BA monitors to decide who really is contracted to brew Bangla. (UnTappd has it under a distributor, LWC.)

But my revelation is this... If I eat enough Indian food and wash it down with Indian beer, I eventually understand why their beer is not-so-good as their food. You see, the beer is designed for food that already is flavourful. So why have a tasty beer? Bangla is like a long list of Indian lagers: it is sweeter than we Westerners like. But Indian beer doesn't need hop spicing; the food already is spicy enough (sometimes too spicy.)

This explains why my rating is so much higher: the beer fits the food, and that is important to me as that is the primary reason I drink beer (or so I tell myself.) Bangla Looks average, a pretty pale and sufficient bubbles but still average. Smells are slightly below average, malt is sweet but undistinguished. Tastes are balanced if you are eating the food (but sweet if you are not.) Bubbly enough to both calm my palate and cleanse it for another bite.

For being food-friendly and for having an innovative way to contract its recipe, I give whomever owns Bangla good Overall Hugs. Ciẏārsa ! (That's Cheers in Bengali.)

660 ml bottle, as Bangla Premium Beer, courtesy of Cardinal Pub & Bar, Stavanger. ABV is 5.2%. Very cool design of bottle and label. Brewed and bottled in the UK for LWC Ltd., Manchester, M11 2ER. Pale yellow colour, big white head. Fairly nice flowery aroma. The flavour is rather sweet with noticeable pilsener malts, bordering on "sugary", but not quite there. Some floral notes, hints of alcohol but not disturbingly so. Low bitterness. Not a great beer, but not awful either, should be acceptable to wash down a curry.

 

Bright amber with a fluffy head, moderate carbonation. Smells of corn and some grass and sweet malts. Taste has some mild bitterness and a thick malt base for the style, a little fruity. Mouthfeel is a little sweet but quite crisp, quite a thick feel. This beer almost straddles the line of golden ale, quite a thick lager. Not bad.

 

 

 

 

 

 

660ml bottle, Kings Cross Tandoori, London (£4.25):
Bright amber with a foamy white head that holds pretty well for a pale lager. Clear and there is some signs of carbonation showing.

Corn & some lager malts with light and sweet notes. There is some grassy hops as well and overall the beer is light on the nose with a clean and fresh aroma.

Light and clean taste with some grassy hops, faint background fruits and some light bitterness. Quite refreshing tasting and one that goes down well with a curry.

Clean and refreshing too, particularly with spicy food. There is a slightly grainy feel but nothing major. Carbonation is moderate to strong and the beer goes down easy.

A pretty good pale lager and much better than one would expect going in. The taste is a crisp and clean one with a nice bite at the end and it goes particularly well with spicy food.

 

 

 

I tasted this 660ml bottle on 11.04.2009 (in date). Brewed in Manchester (so much for "Bangla"). It poured a clear amber coloured brew with a thin head that lingered. Some lacing remained.
Not much to smell here really.
It tasted surprisingly good; somewhat sweet with a nice enough tang to it.
Should be good with food, but in fact this was decent enough to drink on it's own. Not bad!

I must wear my glasses while out shopping, I must wear my glasses while out shopping.

Write that 100 times you naughty boy!

The temples of Dinajpur, the tea gardens of Sylhet and the rain forests of Sundarban are all in Bangladesh, but this beer hasn't been anywhere near them.

I am trying to drink round the world, this beer hasn't helped.

The truth is I quiet liked the beer (for a UK brewed lager).

Brown 660ml bottle, best before 31 Mar 09, drank Feb 09.

The normal pale golden yellow that all lager/pilsners/helles usually appear like. the same small white disappearing head and the same non-aroma most have too. Thin looking, as again some lagers tend to do.

This beer however was a sweet version, not sickly, but even in the non-aroma there was a hint of something sweeter than normal.

It had flavour too, nothing huge, just a presence and a bodyfeel over and above your regular Curry cooling lager, maybe the 5.2% alcohol helped?

Even though I was disappointed to discover it came from Hepworth's I enjoyed the beer.

I was quite upset to see that this is actually brewed in the UK. Oh well.

A - Clear, dark golden colour with a frothy inch or so of white head that falls away quite quickly.
S - Not much on the smell. Quite grainy & there is a touch of spicy, grassy hops.
T - Grainy malt with some soft stone fruit touches.
M - Medium bodied, quite smooth, medium to high carbonation.
D- Decent. Decent enough to get again? Probably not.

Pours a three finger white head that fades quickly leaving a trace of lace. Chrystal clear light amber color. Good carbonation and medium bodied. Apple juice/cider nose. Starts sweet, fizzy apple flavor hints of adjuncts in background. Brewer says "With a strength of 5.2% ABV, Bangla is stronger than most Indian beers and has a fuller flavour and smoother taste, which perfectly complements spicy food." Didn't know what to expect. $1.99 for a 660ml bottle from John's Market Place Tigard, Or.