Belhaven Scottish Ale / Export (Bottle & Keg)

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

Off the pub can this beer is really amazing. Pours honey amber with a milky smooth white head with tons of lacing left behind after a beautiful cascading effect. Very smooth on the palate with a smoke character that defines this beer. The bottled version doesn’t show off the smoke as nicely. Light honey and toffee flavors mix with a peat flavor that melts the palate with the smoke into a sublime mixture that goes down so smooth. One of my favorite session brews, just really strikes the balance between drinkability and true character.

Clear brown bronze color, with a thin cap of whitish foam. Decent lacing. Pleasant peat in the aroma. Peat malt up front with a hint of sweetness in the beginning, the the finish is somewhat dry and sharp. Not musty at all. A little bit of tartness in the aftertaste. Medium body. intersting peat, but overall nothing to disappoint, and nothing to get excited about either.

Red in colour with ceamy white head. Balance of malt and hops, mild bitterness. Smokey peat aroma.

From my tasting notes at an "earlier" date. 440mL can, no date @ Old Chicago. Pours a clear amber with a creamy very light beige small head. This is a nitro can, by the way. Aroma of caramel, toffee, nuts, light woody notes. Taste is the same with a peaty aftertaste and a little bit of leather, metal, and some tang somewhere in the middle. Thin body, low carbonation, which is annoyingly expected of a nitro. Stupid nitros.

Nitro can poured into a frosted mug at Avesta in Delaware, OH. Brown beer with a thick, foamy, eggshell head that was clearly artificially created. Aroma weak but slightly malty with dark sugars. Flavor has a certain flat, one-dimensional vibe; more malt with a slightly bitter finish; light butterscotch; hints at a Scotch ale but falls flat on its face. Silky nitro feel but somehow still thin. Drinkable, but I’ll never buy it again.

Brought this at the BC liquor store in Kelonwa years ago. It was quite fruity and showed a great deepth for a beer of such a low ABV. Page 45 of MJ’s GBG and only 476 Classic Brews to go.

12 oz. bottle. The aroma is that of sweet malt and continental European hops. Smells more like a Czech-style pilsner than an ale, although there are subtle chocolate notes. Pours a crystal clear light brown with a large amount of cream-colored head. The initial taste contains chocolate and is like that of a malty brown ale, but a sharp and sour hops flavor quickly emerges, which is surprising from a Scottish brew. There is a dull, mildly bitter aftertaste. Medium-bodied, buttery, but fairly lively on the palate. This is a subdued but surprisingly unique ale. It’s not great, but it’s decent stuff and worth a try. Most of beers that I give scores in the high 2s are strong in some areas but weak in others. This beer, in contrast, is just a bit above average across the board; it has no major problems. Thus, Belhaven Scottish Ale is better than a total score of 2.9 might indicate, but there is no category that I see fit to raise.

Creamy over a nice blend of hops that gives the beer a nutty/caramel overtone with the hops. This one smells great. Pours dark brown, has long lasting creamy head. Great beer in the tradition of brown ale/Bitter!