Belhaven McCallums Stout (Bottle)

Brewed by Belhaven (Greene King)
Style: Stout
Dunbar, East Lothian, Scotland

Bottle shared with HogTownHarry, blankboy, jerc & gregclow - courtesy of jerc. Best before Nov 04 date. Dark brown pour, lots of red for a stout. Stale, bland aroma that is clearly off, but not enough not to pursue further and have a taste. Pretty watery stale stout - there is an interesting roasted flavour here, and it is slightly sweet, but I wonder if this is a decent beer even when fresh? Uninspired, yet drinkable.

Bottle shared with HogTownHarry, blankboy, jerc & tupalev - courtesy of jerc. Ruby-brown colour, very light for the style. Aroma is fruity and stale (due to the Nov/04 best before date, methinks) - like the appearance, not very stout-like. Body is thin - again, not what I expect from a stout. Flavour is fair, with some chocolate malt and mild hops. If you told me this was a brown ale, I’d say it was a decent one given the age of the bottle, but as a stout, it’s a failure.

Bottle shared with HogTownHarry, GregClow, jerc & tupalev -- courtesy of jerc. Pours a dark reddish-brown with a small diminishing off-white head. Aroma of slightly stale sweet malt and chocolate. The flavour follows the aroma but is too bland and watery. This doesn’t look, smell or taste like a Stout but it’s not bad and it’s drinkable. The bottle said "Best before Nov. ’04" so it may have been past it’s due.

Bottle (355ml) - Shared with blankboy, GregClow, jerc and tupalev - courtesy of jerc. Odd size for a UK bottle. Poured a lightish red-brown, with a light tan average head - THIS is what they think a stout looks like? Very sour aroma of stale caramel malt, some chocolate toffee, and I hate to report quite a lot of eau de la horse stall. Tasted of stale hops, very mild sweet candyish malt, a touch of the Belhaven parafin/petrol - started sweet roasted chocolate/caramel malt but finished a little metallic bitter. Overall pretty harsh and stale - and not at all stout-like - but we did notice the bottle was best before November 2004, so it was 8-9 months past its prime ...

Dark ruby tinged brown with a smallish beige head. Muted malt and chocolate in the aroma. Fairly bland flavour has a total lack of roast. Muted malt, chocolate and mocha. Average, slightly watery palate. Decent sweet brown ale, poor stout. Bottle was past its best before but most of my complaints would likely still be there in a fresher sample. Thanks OKBeer.

Bottle. Colour is brown with a reddish glow. Beige/brown head. Sweetish malty aroma. Flavour is sweetish malty like the aroma. Some burnt notes. Sweetish and metallic finish with roasted notes. Fair, but I’ve had better stouts.

Lightly hazy deep brown ale with a creamy moka head. Aroma of chocolate, prunes, and wet dog hair. In mouth, nice powdery chocolate with smokey peat notes, butterscotch and sweet berries. No bitterness and lightly oily mouthfeel. A rather thin stout. Bought in Nova Scotia, at VinArt.

A very fruity stout with black currant and even some cherry. But just lightly roasted and few bitterness. Even some sourness from the fruity flavor. Not bad to drink but not many real stout characteristics.