Belhaven Twisted Thistle IPA (USA) (Bottle)

Brewed by Belhaven (Greene King)
Style: American Pale Ale
Dunbar, East Lothian, Scotland

Bright amber color, with a frothy white head, nice fresh flowery hops nose, with a touch of orange fruitiness, piney, leafy and grassy notes, faint malty aroma follows through on a medium-bodied palate with a juicy piney, grassy hops character, with an orange fruitiness from the cascade and challenger hops used, with a subtle toasty malt note, leading towards a piney lingering bitter hops finish.

Bottled. Golden coloured. Clear. Dense off white head. Flowery and light fruitsweet aroma. Very distinct and smooth. Flavour is herbal and almost soapy, with being too much. Light caramelnotes. Smooth and easy to drink with a nice balance. Ends on a bittersweet note. Nice.

A very enjoyable IPA. The bitterness is not exagerated, evident flavor of cascade hop. Nice clear golden body with lasting white creamy head. A very well-balanced beer in term of flavors.

Bottle. Clear amber with a decent offwhite head that was quite creamy. Good apples hop aroma. Complex flavours starting with apples, but ending quite malty and even with vegetable notes. Very interesting.

Bottle from LCBO courtesy of Mabel. Copper-Amber body witha huge fluffy white head and nice lacing. Musty earthy malt in aroma with mild hop presence is a touch muted. Very well balanced flavour with pleasant bitterness and light earthy English style malt, and a very light hint of something like anise or celery. Smooth average-medium palate is pleasant. Very good but does not knock my socks off like it did for others.

Botlle from LCBO. Beer is a clear golden with a medium frothy head. Aroma is cascades with some floral notes, malt and caramel. Taste is tipical IPA, a good mix of malt and hops, I could have used a little more bitterness and more aromatic, but a good overall IPA. My favourite Belhaven up to now.

The first thing that piqued my attention was the alcohol content. For a pommy beer this is quite high even though the style should be at the higher end. It isn’t an American behemoth but this is of no matter. The beer looks fine in the Duvel tulip glass and forms a great head over the burnished hue. The nose is quite subtle but delightful with aromas of citrus hoppiness and delicate malty overtones. The balance of these in the mouth is also special with a fine finish. This is a great example of the British versions of a fine style that seems to have been somewhat wrested from their hands by the plethora of US brews. A session beer par excellence.

Bottle. What a gem. Citrus hops are amazingly well-balanced by the malt. A beer I could drink all day.