Fyne Ales Maverick

Brewed by Fyne Ales
Style: Bitter
Cairndow, Argyll, Scotland

Serve in English pint

500 ml bottle. BBE 07/2012.
Pours a dark copper colour with a slightly off-white foamy head. Aroma of roasted malts, nuts and chocolate. Rich flavour of roasted malts, nuts, chocolate and bitter hops. Well balanced and a rich, malty, chocolatey finish with loads of hops. A rich bitter, nice.

500ml bottle

Pours light brown with a smooth white head. Light aroma of caramel malts, hops and hints of toffee. Taste is slightly malty with notes of caramel, toffee, and some grassy hops. Finish is bready with some sticky notes. Okay, quite well balanced dark bitter.

Great tan head fluffs up pretty quick, with tight bubbles, but as usual with these Fyne Ales, it fizzles down to a very thin layer; still leaves lacing. Color is a really rich brown, very very small amount of red, but mostly like a walnut/mahogany colour. Well when I smelt it from the bottle, it seemed actually kinda skunky which scared the poop clean out of me… seriously its everywhere. I’m gonna have to blame this one on the dog again… anyway, skunkiness is no longer a worry. There’s a little bit of grain that I can smell at the very beginning, but then it gets dominated by a caramel malt aroma. Light amount of dark fruit, kinda fig. Taste is rich malt flavour, but still kinda watery at the same time. As it fades from malt sweetness and the hop bitterness comes in, I get a small burst of fruit hop; not a sharp citrus flavour, but more of a juicy fruit kind of flavour. Finish is grainy and bitter. It’s a noticeable bitterness, but it’s more bitter in relation to the rest of the flavours going on in the beer. Not bad beer, but just not terribly exciting.

Bottle. Amber, average and mostly diminishing light brown head. Moderate malty and sweetish aroma, light fruitiness, light caramel and toffee, faint citrus hoppyness. Medium, malty and sweetish flavor, light roasted malt and light fruitiness, some caramel and faint toffee, faint hoppyness. Finish is average, malty and lightly sweetish, light roasted malt and light toffee, some citrus hoppyness. OK bitter which is not too sweet/not too much caramel – light roasted malt dried the finish.

Bottle
Dark amber...frrothy whte head..clear..quite good lacing
Aroma...light....caramel malts..and light hops...bit of fruit
Taste...caramel malts...light roast...soft fruityness...bitter hops
Palate...soft carb...light body... some bitter light roast with some sweet malts....Finish...roast is more prominent with a bit over lingering bitterness...much more flavour in the finish
Overall - Reasonable bitter - the flavours came out much more when it went flat and warm in the glass (after being left out for 4 hours (!))

Bottle@Home. Toffee and herbs aroma. Light brown, off-white head, good lace. Dry, toffee, herbal, bitter, figs. Flavourful, easy and refreshing.

Tasted this at the Troon Beer Festival in September 2003. Cask, handpump dispense. Dark copper red in colour with a thin white head. Short malty aroma with sticky raisins present. Mixed malt complex gives a fiery digestive malt base with raisin fruit. Metallic hops give a sharp citric note to the aftertaste. Finish is malty with tart redcurrant fruit dry on the palate. Really enjoyed this and would be good for a session. Maverick is more of a traditional 80/ export in style when compared to Highlander.

500ml bottle pours a deep amber color with about 2 fingers of white head that left plenty of fine lacing on the glass. Aroma is light roasted malts and some earthy hops. Taste is light roasted malt bitterness balanced nicely with a caramel sweetness and an earthy hop bitterness in the finish. A great body for this style of beer with some vigorous carbonation providing some really good mouthfeel. Overall, this is one fine dark bitter beer with plenty to offer to fans of bitter ales.