When I saw this one on the shelves at Consumer’s on Elmwood, my first thought was “Nice label, but do I really want to drink that?” Then I reflected on the awesome banana bread recipe that we tasted at one of my food/beer pairings at Delish!, the mushy, overripe bananas in my freezer, and the fact that banana aromas and flavors are really part-and-parcel of some beer styles, and grabbed the bottle. After all, I love monkeys drinking beer: my original name for the site & show was going to be “BeerMonkey”, but sadly, “Brewmonkey” was already out there. So… would a domesticated ape such as you—or I—like this beer?

Wells is a venerable English brewery, founded in 1876. In addition to brewing, they also run pubs in the British tradition of ‘tied-houses’ which was once also the way things worked in the US, pre-prohibition. They make Wells Bombadier and Eagle IPA, and also brew Red Stripe, Corona Extra and Kirin Ichiban for the English market. They recently also acquired the Youngs recipes and rights- Youngs Bitter is generally considered a classic real ale. Their Banana Bread Beer is brewed to 5.2% abv using organic, fair trade bananas in addition to hand-milled crystal malts, and English hops variatal Fuggles.

It poured out with a voluminous head that had middling staying power, reducing to a finger-width for most of the beer, but leaving only spotty lacing. The aroma was, well, frikkin’ bananas alright. And definitely not the yeasty type- I could tell these were good bananas. The beer had a pleasing deep amber color and was perfectly clear. The beer met the palate with a burst of sweetness, half banana and half malt which was not overpowering. By the middle of the sip, you’re back to a more-or-less regular pale ale flavor, mainly crystal malt with a sincere bready tone and hints of nutmeg & vanilla. The finish lingers with a wee burst of hop bitterness. The mouthfeel on this one was very smooth. Overall, though it might seem to be a novelty, this was a remarkably drinkable beer. Would I drink them all night? No. But I’m good for more than just one, sure.

How’d it pair with the banana bread? duh! Obviously, they synergy of banana flavors worked well, but there was a nice additional layer of symmetry between the vanilla in the bread and the hints of vanilla in the beer, and concordance as well with some of the toasted flavors of the malt with the nutty bread. When we tried this recipe at Delish!, we paired it with Flying Bison’s Imperial Porter limited release, and the bread itself was dusted with chocolate power. I have to say, this didn’t work as well–too redundant–but it might still have been the best context for the beer, if not the bread.

Wells Banana Bread Beer: not just for monkeys.