Broughton Black Douglas Ale

Brewed by Broughton
Style: Premium Bitter/ESB
Biggar, The Borders, Scotland

Bottle from Asda. Dark ruby with beige head. Aroma predominantly biscuity malt with some dried fruit and a little bit of orangey hop. Sweetish malty taste with roasty finish.

Pours dark brown with a tan head. Chocolatey nose with som hints of toffee. Flavour is sweet, malty with some hints of almond and caramel. Dry bitterness in finish. Not bad.

dark brown w/ beige head. malty roasty aroma w/ a note of chocolate. medium bodied, roasty flavor, sweet and slightly fruity. decent.

Bottle into tulip glass. Purchased at Discount Liquor, Milwaukee WI, sometime in 2004. Smells great, lots of stuff going on: butterscotch, burnt sugar, sweaty socks, slightly floral hops, cherry alcohol, and port. Transluscent ruby in the glass, frothy and rocky beige head, like root beer float foam; lacing is reluctant to stick on the side of the glass, it just slides back down quickly. Visible carbonation. Flavors are mouthwatering tangy tangerine at first, settling into portish prunes with just a hint of chocolate, and then a smoky finish with metallic hops bitter and eventually a sticky, unpleasant mealiness and stale tanginess. Mouthfeel is sudsy at first, but after the carbonation is gone it seems a bit watery. If the finish were better, this would rate much higher, but it kind of lets down the good things that happen before it.

Great aroma, head and color. Was a bit thin for my taste with this style. Hops are absent (supposed to be) Very malty and rich, just lacks the mouthfeel

Dark reddish-brown color with a rich aroma of dark-roast malts and a creamy white head. Strong aromas of toffee, chocolate, and caramel. Full of complex dark malt flavors, some caramel, bittersweet chocolate, raisin, molasses, and dark sweet malts. There is not much in the way of hops, but a grainy, malty bitterness helps to balance it somewhat. More malts in the finish, but enough hops to give it a good balance. Seems more like a Scottish ale.

Deep red with a decent head that settles to a low, thick off-white layer. The nose is toffee and yeast with a nice smooth maltiness. Not many hops here. I generally have not had many Scottish beers, but I like this. A good session ale.

This is by far the best beer I’ve had this week. Dark copper/brown color with huge, creamy, off-white head. Aroma of caramel malt, multiple spirits such as bourbon, scotch, and cabernet, plus big almonds and walnuts. Tastes caramel malty, with hints of figs, toffee, almonds, and finishing dry spirits of bourbon, cognac, some fruit, and a slight smoky element. This one is much ballsier than an ESB, and I consider it a heavy scwarzbier. I’d love to see a 9-10% ABV version of this one. This beer is very good, very well balanced, and if you don’t like it, Black Douglas is going to rip your damn head off!