Bass Stout?

Brewed at the AB facility in Baldwinsville, NY(as is Bass Ale for the US market), under the dba of Wm. Bass & Co's. Here's the story off the rear label:

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Both Guinness and Bass were long imported to the US by Guinness (for a time, the US import division was even called Guinness-Bass Import Co.) but once InBev bought Bass, that ended. As a result those two typical Black and Tan ingredient beers were often carried by different distributors and so ended all the usual advertising tie-ins. Diageo solved that by starting to import Smithwicks. Looks like this is AB-InBev's answer- the All Bass Black & Tan. Altho' no keg label yet- but AB does (or, at least, did?) have that nitro keg Bare Knuckle Stout.

 

Shoulda checked - Bare Knuckle Stout - brewed at AB plants AFAIK. I don't see it listed any longer on AB's site, nor does it turn up with a search, so maybe it's "retired"? Never saw the nitro can in the pic, but had it on draught once as a freebie (I'd done some machining for the bar owner).

 

If you brew it I will drink it at least once. Unfortunately this philosophy has wronged me from time to time. Damn you Ghost Face Killah!

 

I had the same problem with Shipyard Pumpkinhead. oh the horror.

 

The only time I ever saw Bare Knuckle was at Busch Gardens Tampa in the hospitality house free samples (before InBev shut it down)

 

Bass Stout - that would be the original Black IPA.

P2, that's the real Bass Stout.

 

The other "detail" that's somewhat interesting about this AB-brewed Bass Stout is that it comes in two versions, a relatively low 4.2 ABV (which puts exactly at Guinness Draught Stout's alcohol content - as well as Bud Light's) and an even lower - but not by much - "Under 3.2 ABW" version - for those few 3.2 states left, one supposes.

Bare Knuckle Stout was also listed at 4.2% ABV (on various sites on the 'net, at least) and was brewed at their Merrimack, NH brewery according to some AB wholesalers' sites.

 

I am guessing that the tipping point in the decline of the Bass yeast signature was when InBev bought the brand? It was definitely being cleaned up since the 80s, but not so much that it hurt the beer all that much (it just lost an almost 'romantic' wild quality, iirc, by the early 90s, but still had a distinctive Bass edge to it). But then, within the past decade or so, it has gotten to the point where it's pretty generic.

I'll try the stout, but this doesn't bode well for it. Then again, price could be a factor, and it might make for a nice cheapie.

 

Looks like AB is adding yet another "Bass" branded beer to its domestically-brewed portfolio - a 6% ABV IPA (also comes in a 3.2 abw version, as is typical for most AB brands), and they've begun brewing the Bass Stout at their Merrimack, NH facility.

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Ever since Baldwinsville started brewing Bass Ale, I've stopped drinking it. Not the same anymore by a long shot. Was great on draft also.

 

I remember when Bass was a good pint. It's not bad on gravity even now though but the bottled and canned versions are forgettable.
Would be nice if someone could recreate the original Bass Stout though

 

I bought this recently and added it to B/A under Bass (from England). I wasn't sure where to add the beer. If someone wants to set it up elsewhere that's fine by me.

 

Had similar experience with Elysian Peste.

 

Never minding that Bass Ale was once considered an IPA (at least the Bass imported into the U.S.).



(leetle tiny letters below Bass)

 

This is the saddest casualty of the conglomerates sucking up great "brand names" mass producing and homogenizing, abandoning the recipes that made them great in the 1st place. This is what makes their methods so insidious & untrustworthy, when they acquire something I end up viewing it very differently. I'm not above checking some of this stuff out, but already know it's going to be another case of a product sullied for mass consumption.

 

Hey, that's a good reproduction of that era label. I usually use this one, clipped from a 1980's Guinness-Bass US ad.

Also, many of the independent Bass bottlers in the UK used to call it an IPA on their supplemental labels (example below).

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Of course, in the UK "Bass" is just a dba of AB InBev UK - no different than the sham "William Bass & Co., Baldwinsville, NY". The brewing company itself gone since 2000, the famous Burton brewery owned by Molson Coors UK.

 

The Museum Brewery in Bass sometimes brews P2, the Bass Imperial Stout.