Belhaven Wee Heavy / 90 Shilling (Bottle)

Brewed by Belhaven (Greene King)
Style: English Strong Ale
Dunbar, East Lothian, Scotland

I didn’t expect much for some reason, but was pleasantly surprised. This is an excellent beer. Pours a dark color with a small brownish head. Flavours of chocolate, coffee.

I had not seen this one at my local Northcoast Coop here in Eureka, CA so I scooped up a bottle. Cost was $3.25. It poured a dark ruby color and left a light brown head which settled quickly and leff moderate lacing. Aroma was malts, and a whole bunch of tantalizing odors I cannot identify, but in total are intriguing. Mouthfeel is somewhat sweet and creamy. Flavors are as exceptional as the nose with chocolate, fruit, coffee,and niuts. A simply delightful brew, easy to drink, and one I will return to even at this price.

Aroma: Nutty roasty, earthy and sweet malt aroma. Low alcohol aromatics until it warms up a bit. Appearance: Dark chestnut brown low white head which disappears quickly. Flavour: Well balanced roasty sweet. Rich coffee and chocolate flavours. Malty bready, biscuity notes. Finishes sweet but not cloying and no acohol intensity in the mouth either. Mouthfeel: Medium full bodied and creamy rather than syrupy. Overall: Well balanced beer with nice complexity but lighter in the alcohol flavour and aromas I would expect from a wee heavy. Light roasty flavours balance well with the roasty malty character and lots of secondary malt and biscuity flavours. Very clean Very light and easy to drink for a 6.5 abv beer.

On tap (nitro).
Pours a lightly hazy amber bordering on auburn. Half-inch super-dense white head looks like a layer of whipped cream and leaves lace all over the sides of the glass. Flavor is loads and loads of sugary Whopper-like malt and light fruit -- apples mostly, with some pineapple. Flavor... whoa, this stuff is incredibly sweet. Easily the sweetest non-fruit-beer I’ve ever had, and sweeter than even most fruit beers. Incredible amounts of malt with almost no notable hop profile at all. Surely they’re there, or else this stuff would practically be syrup; but without that intuitive knowledge, one would just about never know. Big huge elements of fruit as well, particularly golden apples. Milky, smooth-as-silk palate. I don’t remember what this stuff is like in a bottle, but on nitro-draft, it is dessert in a glass. Wow...

Ruby red colored, little vanishing light brown head. Sweet, licoricy, somehow woody and plummy aroma, interesting aroma indeed. Medium bodied. Flavor is also nicely sweet with this licoricy, woody and even syrupy tone, aftertaste turns out to be finely hopped with convenient touch of licorice and some dryness. Even mild alcohol comes up there. Finely balanced brew, I like this.

Pours dark reddish brown. Aroma is of coffee and roasted malts. Flavor is nice and dry with lots of coffee. A tad thick, but very complex. Finish is sweet with a toffee aftertaste. Nice.

0.5 l bottle. Ruby color with creamy tan head. Sweet and malty aroma with caramel, toffee, wood, nuts, some higher alcohols, hint of fruity esters. The same elements continue in the flavor with warming finish. Low bitterness. Very malty with lots of toffee.

Not a bad Wee Heavy at all. Very malty and rich. It has a good mouthfeel, but overall I was not impressed by the beer. ------- Jesu that was an uninformed previous rating.... Aroma is chocolate and nutty, mostly nutty. Taste is very similar, with cocoa playing a dominant role in the beer. Overall, this beer is very average. Mouthfeel is thin and fizzy. Very unremarkable for the most part, but a touch of creaminess.