Maclay Gold Scotch Ale

Brewed by Belhaven (Greene King)
Style: Premium Bitter/ESB
Dunbar, East Lothian, Scotland

Serve in English pint

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A dark amber beer. Good head. Strong toffee, caramel and malt flavours. A real pleasant and tasty drink.

Sickly hazy amber ale with a good creamy white head. Initial skunkyness gives way to a chalky malt, a bit oxidized. In mouth, sweet malt with butterscotch overtones, lightly hoped, not as pleasant as their 80 p. Overall, sub par. Bottle bought in Halifax, March 2005.

30 Oct 05 - Pronounced pleasant hop and light fruity malt aroma. Clear brown colour, low head and stuff all lacing. Big smokey malt flavour, reminscent of whiskey malt. Lovely malt smoke balance, thickish mouthfeel with alingering smoke malt finish. Overall, I rated this higher due to its uniqueness.

500 ml clear bottle. Light amber colour with a frothy and creamy off-white head. Brown bread and toffee aroma after the initial skunkiness recedes. Caramel, bread, and cereal flavours with a light fruity finish. Medium bodied and smooth. A Scotch Ale? Not so much. More a malt accented Bitter (Scottish Ale, I guess).

Bronze with a small but persistent white head. Sweet and hoppy aroma but not skunked. Nice initial caramel maltiness. Then it has a slightly roasted flavour followed by a light hop bitterness. Maybe it reflects more on the poor quality of the beers I’ve had lately but I really liked this one. Quite good for something out of a clear bottle.

Beautiful aroma. Honey, caramel, slight yeastiness, possibly even heather? Not sure about the latter. Pours rusty ruby body with tight packed white head. Being my first scotch ale i’m really reminded of a scotch whiskey in some of the flavours I get. A fair bit of smoky peatiness in the flavour. Plenty of caramel malt and obvious hints of honey. Slight bitterness towards the end. I’m very impressed! A style I must try again.

Mine seemed way heavy on the alcohol - I’d have guessed it was 8%. It definitely said Maclay. Yeasty sediment chunks and lots of flavor in a cloudy, lightly hopped brew. Very murky, like Loch Ness. Nice, except for the alcohol.

*disclaimer* this bottle was clearly skunked, so this rating is temporary. smokey, leathery, rubber aroma with a light floralness trying to get out. amber with nice creamy head. leather, rubber, lightly salty yeast, hidden chocolaty maltiness. full, creamy palate. skunked, which isn’t all that surprising considering the terrible habit of using clear bottles that some british brewers have picked up.

Good lacing was left from this dark copper bodied scotch ale. A medium sized mostly lasting white head made the appearance quite attractive. Soft caramel and a slight nutty aroma. Balanced hops and malt made a slightly smokey and a caramel taste with a mild bitterness at the end.

Skunked clear bottle. Filtered light amber with a nice head. slightly floral/earthy hops, with buiscuity malt, slight apple juice, with a strong smokey rubbery smell. The flavour was rubber and smoke, buiscuity/toasty malt, not terribly nice, why do you people put beer in clear bottles? WHYYYYY????