Belhaven Scottish Ale / Export (Bottle & Keg)

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

Pretty good beer. Sort of bitter for a scottish ale. More hoppy than most. Still worth a try.

On tap at Olde Dublin Inn, Clifton Park NY. A golden (not pale) colour with a fine head, served on nitro. Surprisingly thin and without flavour - the nitro provided a decent mouthfeel but there was no flavour to back it up. As the pint went on, I detected some caramel hints. Not recommended, especially for what else was on tap.

Bottle. Thick, lacy head and light malty aroma that gives way to much stronger malty flavor. Surprised to find finnish thinner than expected. Overall, a distinctive beer that undoubtedly claims some rabid devotees. I’m not one of them, but this will play fine.

Wheres the alcohol. 3.9 %! I am not drinking a low alcohol brew. This is supposed to be a beer that warms you up during the brutal scottish winters. BOOOOOO on this. Ill stick to the Wee Heavy and by that I mean JP Grays.

Bottle (500ml). Clear deep copper with a large beige foamy lasting head. Sweet dusty malt, slightly vegetal grain, funky, yeasty and lactic - it settles down as it warms; definitely has that Belhaven character about it (which I like, peon that I am). Taste is light chocolatey toasty malt, some cereal grain and a hint of herbal hops - not overly malty, and perhaps a little wan by scottish ale standards, but hey! this is classed as a bitter, so ... Decent body, a little sticky and syrupy, nicely lively yet not all that carbonated, leaves a sweetish aftertaste but the hints of veg in the aroma were nowhere on my palate: I quite liked it, refreshing and light, yet malty and sort of toffeeish.

Out of the can, this was not an impressive scotch ale. Pours dark brown with an off white head. The aroma is malty, but the taste lacked the malty flavor that I expected. The mouthfeel was thin, and the finish was too bitter. "

This beer has a big beige foamy had. The body is a clear brown. Very standard. very light aromoa, maybe a slight malt, but nothing of substance there. there is no hop flavor, the carbonation is bit more than I like it. The finish is long and malty. an OK beer it would be much better with less carbonation.

Clear copper color with off white head. Medium strength aroma. Smells like a barn full of wet hay. The smell seems to be both the bad and good aromas that would come from a barn. After tasting it and can tell they were shooting for a peaty flavor. What I taste is a bit too much Melanoidin Malts maybe. If it is peated malts then it seems like wet soggy peat rather than smoky. I do pick up on a little bit of sweet caramel malts and not much in the way of hops.