Broughton Merlins Ale (Bottle)

Brewed by Broughton
Style: Bitter
Biggar, The Borders, Scotland

Best before Oct 03. This brew poured a large head of foamy medium sized off-white colored mostly lasting bubbles that left behind a transparent brown colored carbonated body and a good lacing. The aroma is mild with a smell that reminded me of a repugnant odor. The mouthfeel is smooth for a bitter from start to finish. Where is the bitterness? The flavor is mild hops and malt. It seems to be mislabelled as a bitter, but still I found myself liking this strange brew. Its smoothness and lack of bitterness I found appealing to me.

Pasteurised bottle. BBE July 04. Named after King Arthur's wizard who apparently lived near Broughton (he was a widely traveled wizard because nearly every part of Britain claims some kind of connection with our favourite man of magic). I wasn't impressed when I poured this because it looks really wishy washy like a cheap lager. The aroma doesn't promise much either - very light, some cardboard tones from the pasteurisation process, and maybe a hint of rotting apples, but really nothing much, and certainly nothing very attractive. But the first gulps were impressive. Yes, it's a very light bitter - really edging toward a lager in flavour profile - but there's a drinkability about this which keeps me going back for more. There's a softness which is only slightly marred by the remaining fizz of the fairly restrained use of gas. A caramelly malt gives a subtle base to a very drinkable and enjoyable ale. Not a great bitter, not even a good lager which it seems to want to be, but it does slip down as good as gold.
After reading other people's comments, I noticed that while some experienced a light aroma of little distinction, others - such as ultraspank and thehoff - had discovered chocolate, oatmeal, plums, dates, raisins, etc. Well, I swirled and I swirled the last eighth of the glass. I called in Chrissie and asked her to sniff. We snorted and sucked hard. We got the cats involved and all the neighbours. We called in Sherlock Holmes and the best sleuths from Scotland Yard. We applied test tubes and dead rabbits and the skull of a 1,000 year old yak. We got a witch doctor flown over from Tahiti and a quack doctor from Texas. We hummed and we sang and we danced under a billabong tree. Eventually, slowly and relectantly, I conceeded that perhaps the cardboard aroma could just perhaps be apricot. And possibly, maybe, if you turn your head a certain way, a sort of chocolate note might be imagined. I moved the aroma points up a couple to 5.

Had a bottle of this while playing Master of Magic appropriately enough. Pours a medium copper. The cascade upon my aggressive pour is beautiful and produces a towering off white fully lasting tight rocky head with wicked lacing. The fantastic nose is heavy on fruit tones especially dried ... plums, dates, raisins, molasses, apricots, apples etc. Doesn't get any better than this for me. The flavor has great balance and fair depth with moderate acidity. The floral finish is of moderate bitterness. The thick body is creamy and soft to lively the finish feels astringent. Been a while since I've had a really good bitter - this hit the spot hard.

hazy orange colour, few foam and a nice lacing, apricot and pine aroma, smooth and thin-bodied with a solide bitterness, dry bitter finish - fresh and pleasant

Golden to straw brown color, good formed head. Great aroma, spicy oatmeal & chocolate. The taste is very light and clean, slightly metallic. No single pronounced flavor. Aftertaste about two minutes later leaves your mouth tasting like iced tea.

Nice golden color with a large long lasting head with huge bubbles. It is a good beer, better than adverage, but there are others I would prefer to drink. Worth trying for yourself.

beautiful halle berry malibu copper; head settles in trim and comfortably for a long ride, the color and thickness of a slice of wheat bread; sweet lacing like silhouettes of distant edifices, perhaps they're twi-lit spires of crumbling castles on the moors, perhaps just sagging powerlines over the suburbs. wood and wood polish aroma, some airy notes which could be interpreted as dark fruits. crisp, oaky flavor, starchy dry whiskey malts: the tongue gropes and pleads for a gesture of sweetness and finds instead only slight bitterness: a cork and walnut-skin bitterness. medium to thin-bodied. i tried to like it-- but between me and the beer, one of us wasn't trying hard enough.

Hazy amber hue with large frothy white head and very good lacing. Light fruity aroma with hints of orange, pear, bubble gum, nut, and dough. Sweet malt and sour hops balance, slighty salty on the finish. Thin and lively, somewhat crisp. Overall a different ale. While not offensive, it didn't strike me as very tasty either.