McEwans Champion

Brewed by John Smiths (S&N, Heineken)
Style: Scotch Ale
Tadcaster, England

Bottle 500ml. Pours dark brown, with a hint of redness. Large tan head, which soon reduced. Sweet fruity, berry aroma. Taste is again sweet and fruity, with the alcohol coming through as if it were a cheap Christmas pudding. Once the sweetness has gone you are left with a mild bitterness. Fairly full bodied but it fails to impress. Overall, a drinkable but unexciting brew.

Dark red colored, little lasting beige head. Berries in still rather thin aroma, plums and raisins also there. Alcohol comes up mildly. Medium bodied. Flavor is biting with obvious alcohol, also this plummy berriness here. Maybe hints of metal in aftertaste with too strong alcohol.

Pours very dark brown with with a slightly fizzy cola-like head. Musty, dry aroma. Taste is thick, rich and complex with flavours of dried fruit dominating the mouth before the bitter finish takes over. It’s like liquid Christmas pudding but without the spiciness.

500ml bottle from Morrisons. A deep chestnut brown with a beige head; thick and oily consistency, rich roasted malts flavour; bittersweet to finish.

Resinous, waxy, leathery snout evocative of Schlenkerla Rauchbier Marzen, minus the charred beechwood of course. What the hell is that?? Deep ruby pour, beautifully conditioned off-white head and lace. Silky, bittersweet and ever-so-slightly roasty. Running the Goose Island IPA a close second as Beer Of The Evening. (747416) RERATE. Damp sock filled with Allsorts and Muscavado for a snout, lightly smoked. With prunes squeezed on it. Jellied orange detectable like SN Winter Hop. Clear ruby and beige lacing all the way. Fennel seed enrobed in molasses, Bertie Basset, big bite of cake. Well short of sickliness. Bittering hop and liquorice making the whole thing rather dangerous. Doppelbock nips, gnaw of card. Sinks nicely by the half litre. A Yorkshire classic.

My Bottom Line:
This proficient scotch ale develops talkative candied berries amongst the welcoming caramel, as a leafy hop surge soon overtakes the back end. If only more big breweries actually cared to make such eloquent, potent products.

Further Personal Perceptions:
-Its active carbonation increases drinkability.
-Frothy foam slowly dwindles into the regal dark burgundy, lacing beautifully.
-The aroma harbors timid yet telling notes of caramel and various berries.
-For the style, the hops do get a little cumbersome, but that wee heavy sweetness has to be countered...
-Although the abv doesn’t show much, the intensity of the hops and the chewy maltiness do announce this brew’s wealth.

Bottle; best before Sept.30, 2007.

Pours red highlighted dark caramel, thick cap of tan head. Salt water taffy aroma, sweet, kind of a soy sauce/steak aroma. Dark caramel toasty flavor, very present alcohol flavor that takes on kind of a minty character. Some sweetness, but in tension with the alcohol heat. Sort of like a barleywine fermented on the warm side and bottled way too soon: interesting flavors are there, but they are not ready to work together. Tastes like a potentially nice beer that got rushed.

50cl bottle brought back to the US by a coworker. Bronze pour with a big rocky tan head that reduces to a bubbly film. Odd vinuous grape nose, full maltiness. Full bodied with a sweet caramel and malt flavor, plus a peppery hop bite. Decent, but not spectacular.