Christina VarvisBrew: Big Ben Brown Ale
Brewery: Thwaite Brewery, UK
I picked this beer because of the cute stylized clock on the label and its promise of “A Bitter-Sweet Resonance” that is “as big and as full-on as the chimes from the 16-ton bell of the Westminster clock tower.” With these lofty claims I was expecting a bitter and interesting flavor, but what I got was a beer that was so aggressively mediocre that the Queen should excommunicate the brewers for tainting the name of the Big Ben clock tower.
Just as you can expect from foreplay with a selfish lover, the head from this brew was extremely shortlived and unrewarding. It was extremely pale considering it’s a brown ale, and didn’t linger or have any flavour. The carbonation also dissipates quickly, so unless you like your beers to have been sitting in open air overnight, you’ll be disappointed by Big Ben’s lack of flair.
Taste-wise, it’s like drinking bad light beer that someone accidentally dropped a can of molasses into. There’s a fruity-sweet aftertaste, but is only noticeable if you are paying enough attention to be able to write several hundred words about what is essentially a viscous, brown Molson Canadian. The sweetness is unsettling, considering there’s no sugar flavour until the brew has travelled down your throat. Where does the flavour come from? We will never know.
Honestly, if you like light beers you’ll probably enjoy this, and it’ll make you feel more sophisticated because you aren’t drinking glorified carbonated water, you’re drinking fancy brown ale. But if you, like myself, enjoy more complex brews with more flavours and a nice aftertaste, skip Big Ben and save the few dollars for a beer with substance.
