Belhaven Scottish Ale / Export (Bottle & Keg)

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

I opened this bottle while writing a lecture on the American Congress.... Pours with a decent, puffy, but loosely formed and quickly diminishing beige head, over a typical dark amber/caramel body. Then I took one sip and was hit with peat. Perhaps this is a smell you can place only if you’ve watched peat being cut or smelled it burn from a Scottish cottage. I now know that others have had this reaction to this beer. Lovely, earthy flavors. A slightly oily palate, typically British body in the lack of sustained carbonation. Mildly sweet, building through the drink. Smokiness continues, with some nice malty notes and only the slightest bitterness in the end. Another flavorful and enjoyable ale in the Scottish ale category. It ’twould be among my "everyday" beers, if I had my druthers.

This is a very basic scottish ale. It has a great malty taste, if you take away all the other things holding it back. It is extremely muddled and watered down. Alot of potential, but it needs more alchohol.

A clear amber ale with a thick tan head which dissapates quickly. Creamy body with a smoky-citrusy flavor.

The aroma has sweet malt, hops and peat. Color is a reddish brown and pours an average head. Taste is nice with mild hops and a smoke taste. Aftertaste is slightly sweet but more on the dry side. A little weak but very good.

35.5 cl bottle. No yeast in bottom. Amber colour with a nice white head. Little aroma of malt and caramel. Surprising taste of smoke, caramel with a dry end.

(500 ml bottle: $2.79 at BevMo in La Jolla, CA) and (440 ml widget can: BevMo in La Jolla, CA) Having unintentionally been away from Belhaven Scottish Ale for nearly a decade, I’ve totally forgotten how smoky this beer tastes. From the bottle, this is wonderful! It’s lightly fruity with a touch of sweetness at the beginning of each sip, but it soon becomes mildly nutty and fairly dry by the mid-palate, and finishes with a moderate bitterness. But the smoke is ever-present right from the first sip. In contrast, the canned version is less fruity and sweet initially, starting off with and maintaining a drier, more nutty, more consistent flavor, and if anything, the smoke is even more prominent with the Draught can. Body is medium, and predictably, it’s creamier and smoother from the can, but more interesting to me from the bottle. Dry, nutty, but only lightly smoky in the nose, and in general, it’s just not that interesting an aroma. Straight-up amber colored body shows only a hint of haze, but of course the cascading is present only from the Draught can, and it cascades in a wavy fashion. Heading on the bottled version is mediocre at best, fading quickly to a ring, but there can be no doubt that the creamy, dense, beige head from the can shows exceptional retention. So while the cascading effect of the Draught can is much more visually appealing, I think I prefer the flavor of the standard bottle.

Pours a nice looking golden/amber with a dense creamy tan head. The aroma is fruity and spicy. Creamy body and mouthfeel. Bitter fruityness (plummy), roasted fig aspect. A touch of spicyness and has a balancing light dryness in the finish. Good flavors and body texture, considering the low alcohol content.

An interesting ale. Dark tawny brown, with medium lacey head. Aroma is mossy, smokey caramel. The flavor is strongly smoked malt, dry and lightly hopped. This is a distinct beer -- **Be ready for the old smoke flavor** -- nothing at all like the supersweet Scottish ales (McEwan’s). Recommended for a hearty meal, especially with game.