Bass.... Anyone?

Idgeitman

Was out the other night and tryed some bass for the first time (was fairly broke at the time). Coming in at 99c for a 500ML can aint to bad.

Taists... Fairly horrid if i remember correctly, but it did the job to finish the nite.

Anyone out their speak highly of bass?

ferdi

i like the fact its 99c and i usually like ales and stouts but bass is hoorible. bertie ahern drinks bass.

Morrigan

Never drank the stuff, but I do rememeber as a kid copying the ads that were on telly for Bass and saying "Ah that's bass!" after taking a quaff of lemonade, or whatever... Anyone else remember those ads?

It's got a cool logo, regardless of what it taste like imo...

petes

I never liked the stuff. I can drink ales okay but they are not my preference. Bass is just eeeuuugghhh!!

fatboypee

Bass is fairly OK... beats crappy Smith-Wicks (whose Wick was used to dip this brew I wonder :eek:)....

keep if V.cold and for 99c it goes down just as nice as over-priced Heineken of equivalent...

Blub2k4

I like it as a proper real ale in the UK, I would never choose to drink from a can, bit of a beer snob that way, but if I had to I imagine the bass would not be too bad but nothing near what it can be.

ferdi

fatboypee wrote:

Bass is fairly OK... beats crappy Smith-Wicks

you take that back! smithwicks is the finest snifter around i'll have you know!

Sarky

I quite like Bass, but it's damn near impossible to get on tap in Galway.

DaBreno

ferdi wrote:

you take that back! smithwicks is the finest snifter around i'll have you know!

Good Lord! Dont know how anyone can drink that stuff, tis rank. Youre right when you say Bass is Berties tipple. Enough reason not to touch it.

noby

From what I've heard, Bass used to be a fine drink, when you could get Bass Pale Ale. This is perhaps still available in Britain, but we seem to get cans of Bass 'beer' here. That's only ok as a drink.
I rarely see it on tap, but recently the bottles of Bass have re-emerged in a lot of pubs. I'm not sure, but I presume it's still the dumbed down version, although I haven't tried it yet.
When I was in Wales last year they were promoting 'new' cask conditioned Bass ale, which is a pleasant, easy-going drink.

If an ok tasting cheap ale from a can is your tipple, try the cans of Newcastle Brown. They're around the euro mark round here, and have a bit more to them than the cans of Bass.

And Smithwicks, while maybe not the best Irish Red I've had, is a fine drink when served properly.

noby

Blub2k4 wrote:

I like it as a proper real ale in the UK, I would never choose to drink from a can, bit of a beer snob that way, but if I had to I imagine the bass would not be too bad but nothing near what it can be.

Unfortunately, (as I have just mentioned before I noticed your post) the real ale version is a world away from what they put into the cans. From what I can see, the cans we get here aren't even labelled 'Ale'; just 'Beer'.

Oh, and obviously one would decant from the can into an appropriate drinking vessel: a pint glass, or a dimpled mug perhaps. A pewter tankard for those special occasions.

Blisterman

Is it pronounced like Bass Guitar or Sea Bass?

Morrigan

Blisterman wrote:

Is it pronounced like Bass Guitar or Sea Bass?

"Sea Bass"

Crubeens

Bass is fairly OK... beats crappy Smith-Wicks (whose Wick was used to dip this brew I wonder )....

I actually feel hurt. Smithwicks is one of the only quality beers/ales on tap in this country, yet it has the worst reputation. Everytime I'm out with a crowd at least one person squints their eyes at me, turns up their upper lip and says 'are you drinking Smithwicks' in a horrified tone.

I'm sick of it!

noby

Smithwicks does seem to have a bit of a stigma attached to it. Us Irish just don't 'do' ales anymore. Stouts, yes. Generic mass produced lager, yes. But not ales.
Wheat beers and decent Pilsners seem to becoming more popular, so maybe as we get more cultured in our beer drinking habits, drinking ales might become more 'socially accepted'.

steveland?

noby wrote:

Smithwicks does seem to have a bit of a stigma attached to it. Us Irish just don't 'do' ales anymore. Stouts, yes. Generic mass produced lager, yes. But not ales.
Wheat beers and decent Pilsners seem to becoming more popular, so maybe as we get more cultured in our beer drinking habits, drinking ales might become more 'socially accepted'.

There's a huge range of English Ales being brought onto the Irish market. These are proper English Ales and not like the stuff you'd get on tap over here...

I'd say it's only a matter of time before they're more "socially accepted" since, for a good while, Wheat Beers and Pilsners were seen as a kind of yuppy drink...

Anyone interested in English ales should definitly try some of the Fullers or Youngs range... some of them are great beers... especially the London Pride and the Old Nick.

I'm not a huge fan of Bass but I do like the odd Smithwicks or, and I'm probably going to get lynched for this, Macardles

Crubeens

I'm not a huge fan of Bass but I do like the odd Smithwicks or, and I'm probably going to get lynched for this, Macardles

My hat goes off to you!
Proper English Ales are certainly getting more popular and acceptable, but it annoys me that you can only get them in the off licence and they're very expensive. I wonder will we even see them on draught in more than just one or two specialist pubs?

noby

There's nothing unproper (is that even a word) about Smithwicks etc. They're just a different category of Ale (Irish red).

Fullers do a fine ale alright. London Pride was my mainstay the last time I was in London. Shepherd Neame are available here aswell. Quite nice too.

I'd be happy to see a few of these bottles finding their way into pubs too. Draught would be welcome too; I won't hold my breathe on Cask conditioned, though.

Macardles from the can does nothing for me, and I don't see it in any other form down here.

sc317

Have to say that I find McArdles the nicest of the ales in Ireland, The oul Bertie Bass is not bad at all though. Smithwicks I find far too gassy..

A lot of ´´Bars´´ (as opposed to lounges) in your local pubs should stock pint bottles of Macardles, very nice. Ik now that The Halfway House on the Drimnagh Road also serves it on tap..

Here in Spain, the English Bass Pale Ale is available in a lot of Irish and English boozers, very nice, and clocks in at well over 5% and tastes it.. One of the nicest ales though must be the ´´Export only´´ Murphy´s Irish Red, available widely over here, it beats Macs, Bass, Smithwicks any day. I understand certain hotels stock it at home, Mound Juliet is one i believe

Bob the Seducer

If memory serves correct I believe Lidl are selling the stuff for 69c a can for Paddy's Day (A tribute to our omnipotent leader Bertie 'Bass' Ahern perchance?)

noby

Tis true alright. 69cent in Lidl lastnight.