Belhaven Wee Heavy / 90 Shilling (Bottle)

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

Pours a dark brown with a white head that quickly diminishes. Very smooth creamy aroma with lots of caramel. TAste has lots of what as in the aroma. Very smooth and rich with mild carbonation. Roasted malt and caramel dominate the taste with slight bitterness on the finish. Very nice enjoyable beer.

500 ml bottle - Pours amber with a two finger head. The malt aroma has a touch of dark fruit. Sweet roast malts and a touch of fruit lead the flavor as well. It’s a little watery. Let it warm up and the flavor will improve.

Bottle: Poured a reddish to chocolate color brown very hazy, with a off white head not quite beige. Aroma is sweet caramel or toffee malts. Taste is a sweet caramel along with just the fine metallic hint to off-set the sweetness. Finish is dry with a slight burnt notes.

On tap at the Piper’s Pub, nice place. Looks like rootbeer. Creamy thin head that does not fade. Has an olfactory prelude that indicates it’s a strong beer. The first taste is also quite strong in alky flavors. Taste is somewhat like whiskey has been added to this brew. Surprisingly tho, the aparent strength of this stuff seem to fade as the session moves on. Does not leave a terribly bitter alky linger on the end. Just a little too strong for this session beer lover.

I have an aversion to overly smoky things which in times like this can present a problem when dealing with scotch ales. Sampled from a 16.9 oz brown bottle this beer pours a deep brown color with a huge tan head that lingers a long time. The scent was relatively faint, but slightly smoky. The flavor is strong smoke, malt and nut. The smoke flavor is a bit overpowering and overshadows the other flavors of beer, leaving only the lingering taste of smoke. "if Scotch was make into beer this would be it" was noted at the table.

Quite nice. Don't think it's a true Wee Heavy though; apparently Wee Heavies are the very strongest Scottish-style ales, (as compared to Heavy, which is already strong) and this stuff is very drinkable and less than 7% abv. Nice darkly sweet malt flavors and hop spiciness, pleasant deep amber/red color. Tasty.

Bottle from By the Bottle in Vancouver, WA--Poured a deep dark brown-amber body with a small beige head. Mildly sweet and not spicy enough. I was mildly disappointed with this beer, but it was overall a nice product. A bit one-dimensional and lacking somplexities. Some toastiness and nuttiness, but not rich enough or smoky enough.

500ml bottle from BevMo Carmel Mountain. Great job Belhaven!! Brew pours a deep brown with a reddish tint. Head was tan and very thin. Nose was sweet, consisting mostly of caramel, honey, perhaps some candied fruits as well. Great on the pallet, very smooth and drinkable.