Belhaven Wee Heavy / 90 Shilling (Bottle)

Brewed by Belhaven (Greene King)
Style: English Strong Ale
Dunbar, East Lothian, Scotland

Chunky copper with a tan head and waves of lace. Aroma of toffee, bready malt, wild grains and light diacytel. Taste of roasted malt, toffee, sweet malt and dark fruit. Mild dry finish with a little bit of alcohol in it.

50cl bottle, as pictured. Pours a slightly hazy dark copper with a medium, creamy light beige head with decent retention and lacing. Pretty! Strong toffeeish, malty aroma with stewed prunes and a touch of yeast. Medium-bodied strong ale with smooth, but not oily mouth feel. Medium carbonation. Earthy, intense flavour of roasted malt, caramel and a note of dark berry syrup. Interesting mix of softer, sweeter notes and a pronounced bitterness that persists all the way to the dry, hoppy finish. Earthy, lingering after taste. Very good, nicely balanced and highly drinkable strong ale (so, be careful) from Belhaven, a brewery that only makes good and very good beers (even after having been absorbed by Greedy King). Powerful, yet easy-drinking brew.

Opaque mahogany, light cream head. Standard scotch nose of yeast, light lactic acid, and definite caramel. Lightly eathy as well. Strongly earthy caramel in the flavor, malty, and with significant tea and faint chocolate. The earthy bite in the finish is uniquely strong. Though there is some nuance, this is quite standard.

500. Pours a murky dark brown with a loose, somewhat creamy tan head. Minimal lacing. Nice sweet shortbread/butter cookie nose with some very slight peat and caramel notes knocking around. Creamy medium body, feels kinda gooey on the tongue. Very please and a bit wintry. Shortbread, caramel, peat, and some doughy malt notes on the mid-palate, very neutral finish. Tasty and very satisfying to drink. How this is an ESA and not a scotch ale is an utter mystification, but it’s certainly a scotch ale when it’s in my glass and that is absolutely the only thing that matters. A classic, been drinking occasionally for 15 years. Must finally be rating my 20th bottle. Lovely stuff.

50 cl tap. Dark red brown body with off-white creamy head. Flavour is malt, caramel and sweet,

An absolute gem. Truly an ale that a grandfather would love. The visual was as pretty as can be. Taste was mellow, but still the malt flavor makes it the premier scottish ale of it’s style. Notes of shortbread,whiskey? Fabulous

Bottle. The aroma is very malty, reminds me a little bit of a red wine. The head is really small, fizzy and fast disappearing. The colour of the body is brown. A very malty taste, reminds me again a little bit of a red wine, very full-bodied. No carbonation, the body is medium strong and dry-creamy.

500 ML bottle purchased @ Liquor Barn in Redding, CA. Color: Deep ruby. Bouquet: good diacetyl, very standard for a English / Scotch Ale. Treacle Toffeeish, with some chocolate caramel undertones. Flavor: Slight smokiness (most likely due to peat smoked malt) with treacle toffee / caramel way up front. Palate: Gentle smokiness / hop bitterness, almost an "almond roca" aftertaste. Very complex ale, I had a hard time writing about this one. I’ve had it many times over the years, but it had been a while...