On Tap Today: Wells Banana Bread Beer – Leaving Your Beer Comfort Zone to Create Changing Tastes

Sometimes, you have to challenge your own comfort zone to see if there are new things that you might like.

Hey Guys!

Today, I want to encourage you to challenge your beer comfort zone.

So I Tried a Banana Bread Beer

Banana Bread Beer? Yea!

As you know, I consider myself an amateur when it comes to craft beer. Partly because I have only been drinking craft beer for a few years, but mainly because there is so much to learn as a whole. When it comes to beer in general, there are so many styles that you can choose from. I won’t get into all of your different choices, but man, who knew that there are so many hundreds of possible styles of beer that can come from a lager and an ale. That’s amazing to me. However, when it comes to craft beer specifically, there are hundreds of thousands of small brewers, microbrewers, and nanobrewers out there. There are so many breweries to choose from and each one has their own specific takes on the styles of beer that they decided to brew.

If you go to Lagunitas and get their Little Sumpin’ Sumpin’ Ale you’re going to expect it to taste completely different than Breckenridge’s Avalanche Ale. They are very similar beers and take on the slightly citrusy and brownish pale ale style fairly similarly. But when it comes time to drink the two they are different, because of infinite numbers of factors. The reason I say all of this, is that our individual preferences and tastes determine that we will be split between which beer that we think is better. What I’m trying to get at is that, in developing our personal preference, many craft beer drinkers (side note: this doesn’t just apply to beer. It applies to everything out there that we eat, drink, use, play, watch, etc.) develop our palate and what we like to drink and tend to be fairly stationary when it comes to if we are given opportunities to try new styles of beer. When I say style, I’m talking about that one time in the store, and you were heading for that one beer you really love because you wanted a chill night in (or out at a friend’s house). Then we’ve all been there when that one weird beer pops into our vision, and we’re thinking ‘WHAT? Why would anyone want to drink that?’ then you smirk and pass on to your beer. That’s the scenario we’re faced with at the beer store, and in life really.

In order to try to expand my horizons, what I’ve been trying to do is search out those beers that instinctually make me think ‘WHAT? That’s so weird!’ My goal being that I want to find that which I am uncomfortable with and give it a try. And that’s what I’m suggesting that you do too! Don’t get me wrong, I will still pick up a chaser to the new beer; just in case it doesn’t go well at all. But the first step is picking up something new to finding out if you like something you didn’t know you did.

Now, I’ll get off my high-horse and stop blabbing so I can talk about this beer:

Where I am Drinking It:

I’m sitting and watching the Marvel and Netflix series Daredevil with my wife. A nice day in.

Wells & Young’s Ltd Wells Banana Bread Beer 5.2% ABV 

Fruit Beer:

Aroma:

I am getting an overwhelming barley and banana scent off of this beer. The banana and malt aroma is really delicious. It provides a caramel lager-like scent. It is makes you want to drink it.

Look:

The look is a dark golden caramel color. Very little to no head on the beer. I expected a bit of fluffy-yet-slowly-dissipating head, but upon completion of the pour there was a slight head that immediately dissipated prior to being able to photograph the head.. There is a good amount of champagne-like carbonation that is showing as very active throughout the glass. I have let it sit for a bit and I am still seeing active carbonation. There is a bit of reddish hue to the golden color.

First Taste:

I am getting a very unoffensive flavor of slight banana-like flavoring right off the bat on the tip of my tongue. On top of that the scent adds to the idea that I am drinking  a  bread-like beer. Immediately, I get a great mouth-feel that surrounds my tongue.

After Taste:

Immediately following the first taste of the beer, I get the distinct maltiness of a smooth lager. The banana is the majority of the aftertaste. However, I am getting a very slight bit of bitterness from a low IBU hop strain.

Final Word:

Overall, this is a very non-offensive beer that is quite smooth to the taste. This ranks high on my scale of drinkability, because there is nothing in this beer that challenges your palate. That is a good thing for many people, but for me I need a bit of challenge in beers that I will repeatedly drink. There was absolutely nothing wrong with the beer, but it is not for me

Looking through beer review sites and doing some research on the beer in the past, I noticed that there is a lot of negativity thrown this beer’s way. I can definitely understand the negativity, but I feel that it comes from a place of consumers now looking for things specifically that offend their palates in some way that will make the beer interesting to drink. That is a fair request of a beer made in this age of craft beer flavor explosion. But sometimes, it can be nice to have a smooth, drinkable beer. As I said, I would probably not drink this again, but when I recognize this beer is what it is, I see that it is a fruity (a bit gimmicky) beer that is there as a way to get a bit of banana and a bit of mouth-feel.

*As a qualifier, I’m definitely in love with hoppy and bitter beers so this is my style of beer. If you’re not into beers with bite and you like this style of fruity beer more, this can appeal to you much more.

Alright, that’s my time, and as always, if you liked this post, please follow. And if you didn’t, please follow anyway. And please leave me a comment where I can see your opinion, because you probably know more than I do.

Don’t forget to check out my Instagram, where you can keep current on all my beerscapades.

-The Glasshopper

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