From the label:
The Belhaven Brewery is one of Scotland’s oldest regional breweries, dating back to 1719. Belhaven Scottish Ale is a fully rounded ale, a complex mix of malt and hop producing Belhaven’s easily recognized malted and nutty flavour.
From my notes:
Beautiful strawberry blonde color with a thick (two inch), large bubbled head that quickly dissipated. Smells of butterscotch and yeast. Flavor delivers on the smell. Nicely balanced. Smooth with a slight bitterness at the end.
Confession time. Sometimes when I’m preparing to review a beer for F(b)l and I’m sniffing the beer and swilling it around in my mouth I worry. I worry that I’m missing subtle aromas or flavors. Or I’ve smelled or tasted something but I don’t have the vocabulary to describe it to another person. Sometimes I think I’m smelling or tasting things that aren’t even there because I’m so anxious to make sure I cover the beer properly. This was the case with Belhaven. It seemed so fancy that while I was drinking it I kept thinking to myself there must be more going on here. I must be missing something. I sat there swilling the stuff around in my mouth long after I could taste anything. Thinking back on it and having had the opportunity to do some more drinking of it I know longer think it’s the case but… That doesn’t always help when it comes time to review the next beer. And, isn’t that what you really come here for? To learn about the anxieties and neuroses of an internet stranger?
Rating (out of five):
Reminds me of the time I purchased Old Speckled Hen. Fancy bottle, nice colour, no flavor. I kept searching and searching until halfway though the bottle when I finally came to the conclusion that I had in fact purchased a flavorless beer.
For what it’s worth, butterscotch and yeast is pretty much what the entire country of Scotland smells like, in a pleasant way. Glasgow reeks of boiled peanuts thanks to the Tennants factory there (which is to say that beer factories emit something that smells an awful lot like boiled peanuts).
You remind me I’ve got a bottle of this in my fridge from the last mix a six we got. Ta!
Haha, good to know!