Gage Roads: London Best - Review

The review:

I'm not a big fan of Gage Roads beers. However, having spent the first 31 years of my life in and around London I simply had to treat myself to a bottle of London Best. You've only got to catch a glimpse of the label to see why it would appeal to me, a Pom. I had to try it.

I thought it might warrant being consumed out of a traditional/old fashioned British pint glass (the kind with a handle - see photo).

To be honest, I don't know why I bothered sifting through my pint glass collection. I wish I hadn't even opened the bottle. It's extremely rare for me not to finish a beer. Today, I came very close to not finishing this one.

In my opinion, a beer this awful doesn't deserve to be called 'Best'. It's extremely misleading and surely must be flouting some advertising laws?!

I'd go so far as likening this brew to fizzy brown water. Not up to scratch at all. It pours very badly, no head, no taste, no 'Best' about it whatsoever.

'London Best'. It's a bold statement isn't it? 'Best' what? Perhaps it means London's Best Sample of the River Thames? Perhaps Gage Roads have pulled off the biggest bluff ever and siphoned gallons of water and sludge from the Thames, bottled it, slapped a label on and voila!

It irks me somewhat that this stuff carries a version of the flag from my homeland. Gage Roads will no doubt sell bottles and bottles of this to unsuspecting ex-Poms and Aussies that fancy a taste of London. Let me tell you that this beer is in no way a reflection of London!

The 'Best' thing you'll do next time you're in a bottle shop is walk past this beer.