Ladies and Gentlemen, I hereby provide you with full disclosure: this is one of my favourite beers in the world, ever. There I’ve said it. I’ll do my best to be even-handed, but it’s going to be difficult. I might run out of superlatives.
Brakspear Bitter pours a really nice conker brown, with a very healthy effervesence. The head is lacy white and long-lasting.
This bitter doesn’t have a complex aroma by any means, but that’s of no importance; it’s solid. Solid malt, malt and more malt; a light flinty minerality does poke through here and there, whilst a little hoppiness peeks over the top and around the edges.
Upon tasting you get a beautifully solid slab of bitterness to chew on, this is backed up by perfectly judged malty and toasty notes. On the after-taste a second strident dose of bitter rides in to clout you roundly and give you something to think about.
You really wouldn’t know that Brakspear Bitter is only 3.4% ABV, as it’s that well-made…and as it’s not too strong, you can drink more of it. Hooray!
Folks, this is a study in the style of the English bitter, along with Adnams Bitter I consider it to be one of the de-facto standard bitters by which others should be judged.
Brakspear even make their bitter in a special way, using the “double-dropped” fermentation method. Read all about it here: http://www.brakspear-beers.co.uk/history
As if all of the above wasn’t enough, I can buy 500ml bottles of Brakspear Bitter from my local Aldi (in Banbury) for 99p a bottle. Yes, I’ll repeat that…99p a bottle.
It’s an absolute bloody steal at that price. I buy them ten at a time. Aldi: I think I love you for that. Brakspear: I love you for being you.
