Orkney Red MacGregor (Bottle)

Brewed by Orkney (Sinclair Breweries)
Style: Premium Bitter/ESB
Stromness, Orkney, Highlands & Islands, Scotland

Bottled. Red/brown in colour. Fruity nose, along with some flowers. Flavour is caramelly and fruity but is lacking in bitterness, I didn’t sense much of it. Mouthfeel is soft, low Co2.

From A Bottle.Mid brown with a splash of blood in colour,small head,malt and clay aroma,apples malt and nutmeg flavours.

The colour is clear, deep red-brown; the two finger thick foam is semi-compact, beige and quite firm.

The smell is sweet, with a balanced blend of hops and burned malt. There are some totes of paperhanger’s paste and bitter almonds.

The carbonation is medium strong (stronger than the average ale) with big bubbles.

The taste is quite complex with lots of burned malt and an almost chemical flavour of almonds (both sweet and bitter). I found it hard to describe this taste in full, but words like “glue stick” and “artificially flavoured cherry candies” came to my mind.

I suspected that they had put candy sugar in the brew making it ferment a second time (like many of the Belgian ales), but the label said “brewed from malted barley, hops and water”.

Anyway, the aftertaste is long with a soft bitterness and a taste of almonds and burned, sweet malt.

I found the beer surprisingly easy to drink, considering the odd almost chemical flavour.

Clear ruby brown, small creamy white head. Sweet caramely aroma, hints of earth and toffee. Carmel malt dominates the flavour as well, small hints of sweet chocolate, soil and oranges. Some dull grassy hops back in the the throat with a very subtle smokey note. Grassy hops in the finish the strong caramely notes. Reminds me of an avarage american amber...

Bottled, Pasteurised. Reddish brown hue with little head. Malty earthy flavour, not as well defined as the cask, also quite thin on the tongue with considerable carbonation. A little biscuit burnt finish.

Dark ruby brown with an off-white head that didn’t hang around long. Sweet aroma muddled with hops. Initial flavor of tobacco (Copenhagen) to be exact, peaty and earthy, malty sweetness well balanced with hoppy bitters. Very active on the tongue. Good palate and very drinkable. Finishes sweet. Not bad.

Clear, crimson hue, solid, fizzy head of beigish foam, that surely disappears. Aroma is fruity, spicy, but not very forward, suggesting malt, cherries, cinnamon. Sweet and spicy on the palate, but, again, mild, ...almost lifeless, really...there’s a flavor and a feeling, but it lies so lightly and speaks up so seldom, it’s pretty forgettable. Easy to drink, yeah,...but, so what? reminds me of Irish Red Ales, but not as full-bodied or malty...a bit too thin. sorry, I ain’t feelin’ it.