Belhaven Twisted Thistle IPA (USA) (Bottle)

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

Bright golden colour with a beautiful rockey white head and a bit of lace. Mild citrusy hop notes dominate the nose with a sweet malty backdrop. There are some woody notes in the nose that bursts with orange peel on second waft. Smooth and spritzy (if that’s possible) with a stickey hop bitterness at the front splashed with citrus notes. A bit of sweet malt in the middle makes things interesting. A nice english-style IPA, well rounded and smooth, finishes with a nice semi-sweet, bitter touch.

Poured a murky orange with almost no white head. One of a kind aroma, floral but soapy, and like the name says, it smells of thistles. Very citrus flavor, oranges and lemons. It’s not as hoppy as I expected. The bitterness and mild hop flavor does last long though with little acidity.

lotsa head citrus fruits from the hops on the flavour good bitterness well balanced definatly an english beer in this aspect

Boring thin golden appearance. The aroma is lemony, grassy hops. The flavor has a substantial malt background, which is balanced by the citrusey (lemon) grassey hops. The finish has a lingering bitter dryness.

Bottle. Pours a clear golden-amber with a large mostly-lasting fluffy white head. Nice lacing. Aroma: oh yeah, I love those C-hops! There’s just enough sweet malt there to balance things out nicely -- man that smells great. Flavour: damn tasty! What can I say, I’m a sucker for Cascade and Challenger hops -- again nicely balanced with sweet malt, and there’s a pleasant bitter finish. Medium bodied. I like Belhaven’s beers but I did not expect to like this this much -- I loved it!

Bottle: Poured a clear amber color ale with a bug white foamy head with great retention. Aroma of dry and bitter hops is dominant and enjoyable. Taste is dominated by the dry and bitter hops with some caramel malt backing. Body is about average and carbonation is quite lively. This is like a hops induced bitter and overall quite enjoyable.

Bottled. Pours an almost clear copper with a lacy off-white head. Citrus, toffee, fruit and flowers in the nose. Medium body and carbonation. The taste is lightly sweet with the same elements as the aroma. Dry grapefruit rind finish, with a piney aftertaste. Middle-of-the-road bitterness for an IPA.

500ml Bottle: I’d heard things about this one, that it was more bitter than my ex-girlfriend. Don’t believe the hype. What a brew! Pours a gorgeous pumpkin/copper in colour with a thick foam head that was always there to keep me company, unlike that ex-girlfriend. Beautiful aroma of grapefruit and rose petals surrounded in hops. Flavour is just a donkey punch of hops off the top but a tremendous one at that. Solid grapefruit flavour softened by a light malty sweetness that surprisingly balances this ale well. It may be hard to call a beer this bitter balanced, but you’ll know what I mean when you taste it. Nice one!