Friday’s overrated beer: Bass Ale
Posted by lhmark on May 19, 2006
Bass Ale is ubiquitous. It’s the oldest trademark in Britain. The bottle was depicted in a Monet painting. It’s often considered the pinnacle of beer by people who rarely venture out of Busch-land.
And it sucks.
OK. Mayby it doesn’t exactly suck, but it lacks body and character. Other English pale ales, such as Old Speckled Hen blow bass out of the water (sic) in terms of body, balance, and general character of the beer.
I guess Bass’ strongest positive is that it’s available everywere. Mostr restaurants carry it, and you can get it in the British Airways Club Lounge (provided Snoop hasn’t totally trashed the place). It’s blandness also helps make it less of an acquired taste than many of the craft beers.
At any rate, you won’t ever find it in my fridge.
May 19, 2006 at 3:42 pm
I agree with your assessment.
Bass is the Becks (or Heineken) of Britain.
There are others that can represent the style better.
September 11, 2007 at 10:48 am
You can slam on the blandness and everyday flavor of Bass till the troops come home. But as far as Bass being available everywhere you’re wrong, I can name bars in your town that have the audacity to keep a neon Bass sign in the window, baiting Bass drinkers inside only to find that there’s not a drop of the stuff behind the bar. It’s like going to Wal-Mart and finding no forless. I recall being at a loss for words. An empty feeling that some domestic home/small brewed concoction of hops, wheat and whatever the hell else is the zeitgeist of beer-making will always fail to fill. I also like the big red triangle.
September 11, 2007 at 4:19 pm
BLF, sure, that’ll happen because distributors give breweries those signs and stock eventually rotates. But go to any fine-dining restaurant in the northeast and you’ll ALWAYS find the ubiquitous 3: Sam Adams, Heineken and Bass Ale. It gives consumers the impression that these are the beer analogs of their high-end wine list; the best the beer world has to offer. And that’s why Bass is overrated.
October 27, 2007 at 8:32 pm
A coupla things from a Brit brewer (younger & smaller than the Brazilian/Belgie-owned Bass)
I think it was Manet, not Monet
http://jssgallery.org/other_artists/Manet/Manet_Folies-Bergere.htm
& the triangle AFAIK was Britain & *the world’s* first registered TM.
http://www.itma.org.uk/news-events/4k-tmact.htm (scan down to the odd tale of Bass’s wee scam on the 1st day of registration)
cheers
MikeMcG
PS did you go back & re-try a previous overrated beer - Sam Adams? If so, what did you think?
October 29, 2007 at 7:50 pm
Mike, I did try Sam Adams again when I found myself sentenced to six hours in the Baltimore Airport. It tasted unspectacular, but good; better than I remembered it. It certainly helped kill the time
By the way, I checked out your brewery page and I like what you’re doing. I hope for a chance to try your beer someday.
-Mark
February 15, 2008 at 6:44 pm
Bass is one of the beers which can be very ordinary or world class depending on the circumstances. It’s clearly at its best as a well kept cask ale and even then it’s often sold too green.But I’ve had some superb pints served by gravity ; it seems to put on weight and is so different from the sorry stuff in bottles or cans.