Beer can be made from anything that will ferment, but should it? Coffee beer, cherry, apricot—your local vendor likely stocks a selection of stunt beers. Some of them are amazing, some interesting novelties, and a few are best left for practical joke time with your buddies.
Which category does Wells Banana Bread Beer fall into? Unless you drink your banana bread on a regular basis, “novelty” is a reasonable place to start, though the label disagrees. “Long ago, ale was known as ‘liquid bread’. We’ve used our long history of creating the finest malt blends & added fair trade bananas to awaken the senses with a seriously fruity, rich, yet surprisingly versatile banana bread beer,” reads the neck.
Seriously fruity, yes. This beer definitely delivers bananas. The nose is bananas. The flavor is bananas. The aftertaste is pine resin. Okay, it’s bananas, too. It would be easy to relegate this beer to sheer novelty, but here’s the thing: It’s delicious.
Granted, Wells & Young’s leads the witness with the name of this brew, but sipping their blend of fermented grains and bananas really is like drinking a slice of banana bread. It lacks body and anything resembling a head, but you get plenty of bananas and hops for your stunt beer dollar.
Surprisingly versatile? Hardly. I can’t imagine pairing Wells Banana Bread Beer with any meal other than dessert, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
Brewery: Wells & Young’s
City: Bedford, England?
Style: Fruit Beer?
ABV: 5.2%?
Availability: Year Round