Belhaven Scottish Ale / Export (Bottle & Keg)

Brewed by Belhaven (Greene King)
Style: Bitter
Dunbar, East Lothian, Scotland

12 oz bottle, via porterhouse. Pours a clear dark copper under a craggy two finger beige head. Moderate visible carbonation. Aroma of toasted and nutty maltiness with a little toffee and light smoke. Flavor is dominated by toasted malt up front. The finish is semi-sweet with smoky peaty malt. Mouthfeel is medium bodied with a softly carbonated creamy texture. Overall, this was better than expected and remembered. It’s nice to revisit an old favorite.

On Nitro Tap at the British Beer Company in Plymouth. Pour of a heavy ruby amber, with a creamed head of off-white. Aroma of faint dusky grains, hints of caramelized sugars and distant barbeque sauce. On the tounge, it has a a good run of smoky toast and some sweet caribbean tang. Mostly a salt grow of oak, but then heavy sugars. Finishes with an indistinct hop dryness. Drinkable.

Bottle. Clear amber, white head. Aroma is pine, caramel and molasses. Flavor is strong pine, but I don’t detect any of the complexity that I expected from the aroma.

Tap at Paddy’s at Chateau Elan. The beer is a creamy malty drink. Almost overpoweringly so. Not too complex. Decent taste, aromas, and finish.

Tap at Papago <!-- br --> Aroma was like walking into a warehouse that stores empty kegs of beer, musty malt. Cloudy brown body with big head and good amout of lacing. Flavor had a malt backbone and to my delight was not overly bitter. Smooth on the palate.

Nitro tap. Pours a creamy medium amber, clear, fluffy off white head and some lace. Aroma is slightly peaty, toasted malts, and slightly nutty. MOre wierd charred wood and smoke peat flavor with some light caramel sweetness and a relatively clean finish. Smooth and easy to drink as long as you like some peat smoke.

500ml bottle. Huge head - maybe I poured it too warm. Colour looks like day-old Coca-Cola! The aroma is fantastic, full of flavour and very strong. There’s sweet coffee, perfume and damp wood in it. The palate is fluffy and peppery. The flavors dance around - starting with strawberry (?), middle of barley and a hoppy twist at the end. A beer to enjoy. Re-rate: tot. points 3,5. Close to Belhavens McCallum stout, it has the same sweetness. Some nuts and cork in it as well.

Pours copper with a full off-white head that endures well. Moderately carbonated. Has a mild malty aroma. The palate was slightly thin which made it a good selection with a heavy meal. The taste was malty with a bit of a smoky, roasted nuttiness in the finish. Overall, it was a very quaffable and enjoyable ale.