Belhaven St Andrews Ale (Bottle)

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

Pours amber colour with a thin white head. The aroma is grassy at first, with lighter notes of malty toffee, and brown sugar, kind of weak game. The flavour pretty much the same, grassy, malty, toffee, and a light brown sugar, ends on a malty note, with maybe the slightest touch of vinegar. Not really all that great, but a decent enough drinkability. Probably won’t buy again.

500 ml bottle from the lcbo. amber with a white head. aroma of toffee malts and light english hopping. the flavour is similar but there is a touch too much sweetness. not the best ESB. not a re-buy.

Updating my rating of this now I’ve tried the bottled version . On tap this is a mellow rounded ESB with a fair body and bready finish. The bottle version is weaker in character and has a few sharp edges to it. I’ll buy it on tap but never as a bottled import. Not worth the price. Downgraded 1.3 on the bolled version

500mL bottle from my lickbo. Pours a nice coppery ruby with a large off white head. The aroma has some nice sharp hoppiness to it, mild fruity esters, mild Brit malt aspects, quite nice. The flavour is enjoyable, nice biscuity caramalty presence upfront with a mild but decent bitter bite in the finish on a somewhat overly carbonated body. Creamy aftertast that I like. I want to say there’s this subtle peaty aspect underneath it all but I think I’m stretching things a little. There’s definitely some nice subtle aspects in here that I find quite pleasing. The flavours aren’t necessarily screaming out at you though I don’t believe that’s what this style is all about. When the carbonation dies down this is actually a highly enjoyable ESB and it’s much better than I was expecting from the LCBO’s long, sad line of mediocre bitters brought in as seasonals. I will actually be buying more of this.

Bottle 500 ml
Appearance: clear but not brilliant amber brew. Mid top with of beige shade.
Nose: sweet caramel malts with hint of honey and brown sugar dust.
Flavor/Palate : mid light bodied. Simple sweet malts , medium carbonation , bit soapy hop side. Standard ordinary fare.

Faint dry sweet honey aroma. White fluffy head that thins as it laces and a deep golden copper clear body. Very dry sweet, hoppy, faint honey taste with a bubbly texture. Looks better than it tastes.

Bottle Poured dark honey with a thick white head. Faint fruity aroma. Light body with a bit of biscuit, hop. Light hop finish.

Aroma of British hops, nice and sharp citrus hops with touches of pine and a slight biscuit malt. The flavor is very malty and quite bready with a slight metallic peat flavor. Finish is sweet on the malt with a lingering bitterness.