Harviestoun Bitter & Twisted (Bottle)

Brewed by Harviestoun
Style: Golden Ale/Blond Ale
Alva, Central, Scotland

Bottle from Spar, Strahaven, Scotland. Great name !! Pours pale golden colour with a small frothy white head which gradually dissipated. Zingy citrus aroma with a hint of spice. Nicely crisp, balanced hoppiness, but lacks a knockout punch somehow. Teeters on the edge of being very good, but falls a bit short due to a certain thinness.

From a 500 ml bottle. Pours golden with an off-white head. It looks like a slightly higher quality US pale. Like the label says, almost no carbonation. It is very stagnant in that regard. A hoppy aroma but not overpowering. The flavor has a much stronger element of hops and a bit of citrus-like fruit. This is a pleasing brew overall.

Pours a rather delectable honey-gold with miniscule pure-white head. Aroma is quite nice, ranging from hibiscus flowers to citrusy peach, with a faint honey malt backbone. Pretty thin on the palate but smooth enough, the beer starts slightly tart with lemon, develops a mild pastry sweetness, and finishes with more English hop aromatics than bitterness and the slight dryness of a tart apple. A subtle and enjoyably simple quaffer.

This beer has everything I like. It is very light, its malt is clean, its aroma is complex such that you can’t simply point to a particular hop or a particularly descriptor like "herbal". It has a decidedly lemon-like quality which pops up every now and again. I really admire how they packed such an enormous amount of flavor into such a light and low-alcohol beer. If only more beers were like this, I would be happy. That, and if this thing weren’t so damned expensive.

On tap at Oldsmar Tap House. Poured a clear light caramel color, with a soapy, watery white head. Some smattering of wet lacing remains. Bright, Granny Smith apples, pineapple, apricot. Spicy, hoppy. Very thin bodied, acidic, malty finish. Slight caramel. Disappointing flavor compared to aroma. Watery body, bitter end. Drinkable, nothing much more.

Bottle - A truly great example of this style of beer. Pefrectly malted and carbonated. This beer has a very refreshing flavor and mouthfeel. Slightly fruity and pleasantly bitter. Excellent

Golden in color with a thick white head. Aroma of hops and spice. Flavor is complex but good, begins with a dry hoppy taste to a spiced taste and finally a wheat aftertaste. Very good addition with the spices on this one. It’s not too overbearing to affect the drinkability but just enough to enhance the other aspects of the beer.

Bottle:A bit unclear, golden, slowly diminishing and lacing head; full fruity (Riesling-like) and hoppy aroma; solid bitter-sweet flavour, light bodied; lemony-fruity and zesty-hoppy finish. A gem.......