Cask at the Southsider, Edinburgh. Vintage notes from January 1997. Not at all sure whether this is still available in the UK. Although Maclays still exists as a pub group, their website doen’t mention anything about their beers at all. None of the Scottish crew have rated this and BeerMad has it listed as dead, so I’m assuming its not available here, hence I’ve dredged up these old notes. Mid brown colour. Smooth with a creamy mouthfeel. Lots of caramel malt as expected. A little more hops than normal for the style so doesn’t come over as too sweet. Better than McEwans 80/- by a good margin.

Slight pear notes in the aroma, very pale and wet but with some lacing. Insipidly weal with heavy carbonation, almost no flavour, MAYBE some oatiness and hops to it? Weak, dry, and full of blah.

On tap at Maxwell’s Plum (Halifax, NS). Ruby/brown body topped with good off-white creamy head. Malty/hoppy aroma carries herbal notes. Taste lacks complexity. It leaves a thin bready aftertaste. Not impressed.

Oh, bloody hell. Hard to rate a beer when it fare’s so poorly. Especially when it wasn’t too bad a drop.<br /> Tasted from the bottle at the Moon & Sixpence, Woodvale, during the thrilling initiation into wankerdom charged from Fulham though to Chelsea. I enjoyed a laugh so I’m feeling generous on this tasting. Looks good in the pint; bright tawny, ruddy brown with a thin, lasting creamy layer of beige that managed a little legs. Soft, biscuity and burnt caramel nose with a generous balance of leafy and herbal hops. Burnt toast and smoke start it off to differ from the aroma, but it uniforms after that. Light toffee notes offer little sweetness to the robust malty palate. Nutty, woody and dry mid-palate cuts underneath a soft earthy hop note that fills in the back end. Finish was rather short and came in between giggles and mouthfuls of Guinness Pie. Not big in body at all, but the soft carbonation managed to give it a full run of malt flavours. Sessionable would be an understatement. A little too modest for an Export, but an interesting brew none the less. (50cL, BBE Jun ’06, Moon & Sixpence, Woodvale)

Classy reddish amber ale with a thin light moka head, lacing. Lightly oxidized caramel malt aroma. In mout, sweet caramel with very peaty character, lighter bodied, rather plain. Thin bodied. Bottle is one yr old, bought in Halifax, NS.