Caledonian 1869

Formerly brewed at Caledonian (Heineken UK)
Style: Golden Ale/Blond Ale
Edinburgh, Lothians, Scotland

Serve in English pint, Shaker

First tasted this in the Saltcot, Saltcoats in May 2003. Cask, handpump dispense. Clear copper red in colou with a thin white head. Distinctive caley aroma of toffee malt. Thin mouthfeel and good lacing. Pale malt gives typical chewy digestive biscuit with sweet caramel notes. Very little hop presence though. Slight raisin fruit in the sweet finish. An excellent session ale.

UPDATED: NOV 16, 2006 Cask Handpump at the Penny Black, Northwich (JDW) 09/11/2004 Golden colour very pale and hoppy. Creamy slightly bitter lasting malt finish.

Golden colour. heavy butterscotch aroma. It would appear from other comments that the beer is made that way, rather than the conditioning being at fault. The flavour has some dry malt and moderate bitterness, but that intrusive diacetyl comes through again. Not great. Cask (handpump) at the Head of Steam, Euston.

Cask conditioned - handpump - Head Of Steam Euston (RB London Xmas Crawl 2004). More copper than golden in appearance. The aroma had diacetyl andsome caramel. A typical Caley toffee/caramel taste with some biscuit notes also. Quite drinkable but not excellent.

Cask conditioned at the Head of Steam, Euston Station, London
Golden with a fluffy head. Aroma is buttery. OK to taste but far to much unpleasent butter/diactylness. OK.
Sampled on the Ratebeer London Meetup & Pub Crawl, December 2004. With Silktork, Chris_o & Maeib

UPDATED: DEC 10, 2004 Nov, 2004:JDW, Whitehall, London. A pale malt beer. Fragrant hops, but too much diactyl. Tastes pleasant initially, but the persistent butterscotch becomes too cloying. [2.7]
Dec, 2004:Head of Steam, Euston. Caramel. Pleasant, but butterscotch becomes heavy. London Xmas Crawl.[2.5]

Cask at the Swan in the Rushes, Loughborough. Golden colour with a white creamy head. Sweet hoppy aroma. Flavour is a good balance of malt and hops. Nice butterscotch in the finish. Good beer.