Wells & Young's Breweries - Banana Bread Beer

In the spirit of reviewing fun, flavored beers, I'd like to introduce you all to a beer I tried a long time ago. I first had this probably in 2009 or so, and enjoyed it. I haven't had it in probably 3 years, and when I saw it at Whole Foods, I figured I should try it again and review it for the blog. I think you all should know about it. It's a beer made with bananas. Yes, bananas. Brewed by Bedford, England-based Wells & Young's Breweries, this beer is 5.2% ABV brown ale. Let's take a look.

The pour, as you can see, is smooth and thin.

There's lots of puffy white foam that clings to the side of the glass. The beer has a light brown color to it. It's golden brown when held to the light.

I let the beer sit for a minute or so before smelling it. The nose is one of overt bananas and spices, which is really quite aromatic. There is also a slight smell of alcohol to the beer.

The first sip provides a strong and powerful banana flavor, with a rather straightforward banana taste and very little else. Unfortunately, the flavor dies away quickly. What's left is a rather thin finish accompanied by a warm aftertaste with a hint of spice. One positive thing about the beer is that it's very drinkable - there are no harsh flavors or strong alcohols in there to stop you from drinking it as a session beer.

Admittedly, it has been quite some time since I tried this beer. Probably four years, at least. So I was a little let down when trying this, because I expected the flavor to be stronger and more pronounced. The beer is rather light in terms of alcohol content, and I think the flavor suffers because of it. Just like I mentioned in my pumpkin beer reviews, I believe that to really drive home unusual flavors in beers, you've got to ramp up the alcohol content and the gravity of the beer. Lighter beers that try to introduce those flavors don't really do it for me, and I'm sorry to say that the Banana Bread Beer falls into that category squarely. If Wells and Young's were to perhaps brew the beer at 10% ABV and sell it in a bomber format, my opinion of the product may be different.

In conclusion, this beer is worth trying. It's not without its shortcomings, most notably the watery aftertaste with no serious flavor retention, but the novelty of a banana bread beer combined with its serviceability as an ale makes for a taste worth investigating. I believe the four-pack cost me $12.99, which is probably a little too much for what you get.