The Bass “Brolly”

Okay, let’s get one thing straight, first: The Black & Tan as we know it, which is to say a layered blend of stout and ale (or worse, stout and lager), is entirely a North American invention. Don’t believe me? Go to Dublin, where they know a thing or two about stout, and ask for one. At best, you’ll be immediately sussed for what you are, a tourist, and at worst, you’ll get a good tongue-lashing from the barman.

That said, there are those on this side of the pond who simply love the layered look of ebony stout seated atop a base of amber ale. And for those people, the good folk at Bass, which is to say InBev, who own the venerable British brand, and their North American emissaries, Anheuser-Busch, have invented the Bass “Brolly.”

Shaped as a triangle with corner hooks to grip the top of a pint glass, the “Brolly” has several small holes along its sides, which I presume are meant to let the stout slowly drip into the ale below, settling there without breaking the color barrier, so to speak. According to the instructions that come with it, the idea is to pour Bass down the center of the glass until it’s two-thirds full, then set the “Brolly” on top and slowly drip the stout through it.

Being the ever-conscientious journalist, I had to try it out for myself. Here’s what I found:

1) Pouring Bass or almost any beer, directly down the center of the glass, as the instructions suggest, is an idiotic move. I wound up with about a quarter of a glass of beer and three-quarters of foam, forget having room for stout or even the “Brolly.”

2) After I poured the Bass in correctly – ie: down the side of an angled glass, allowing for one to two fingers of foam to form – I put the “Brolly” in place and immediately overflowed its sides, causing the predictable mixing of the beers. “Slowly” is obviously a key part of the instructions.

3) Having dumped, rinsed and repoured the Bass, I tried again, this time very, very slowly. It dripped at a frustratingly slow pace through the holes, and I may have overflowed a bit once more, but the promised separation still did not occur.

4) Another clean-up, another try. This time, however, I found my groove in a pouring speed that fell somewhere between the pace of my last two attempts, and discovered that the pour needs to be slow, yes, but not too slow, and vitally steady. since it is the force of the beer flowing onto the “Brolly” that pressures the beer through the holes. And yes, this time it did work.

Conclusion: Any bartender familiar with the “spoon” pour of a Black & Tan will have no time for this. For less skilled draftsmen and draftswomen, on the other hand, if the pressure of the stout pour can be regulated so it is just so, this could be a handy gadget, since the bartender can fit it on top of the glass and do something else while the pint is being finished.

Just don’t pour the ale straight down the center of the glass, no matter what your Bass rep might tell you.

Comments

[jberlat]

My second time worked better. You should guiness out of the bottle with the widget.

[Nicholas of Canada]

I wonder what my Grandfather would think of the Brolly. He was a Bass Chemist.