The P & B Beer, Lager, Ale, Stout and Cider Guide

[wintonfan]

surprised there has been no mention to fraoch heather ale, lovely light ale, can smell the heather flowers in it. gorgeous

other favorites are Deuchars IPA (great session ale) anything from wytchwood and harvieston bitter & twisted

[drs]

Belhaven Black is a decent pint. Only seen it in Tesco so far and a bit steep at £2 a pop. Goes down great with a nice malt chaser - Ledaig, Bowmore or Laphroig in particular.

Was going to say this.

A fantastic pint, available in plenty of Belhaven pubs and picked up some bottles in Tesco for £1.50 on Friday.

Tesco are also selling a Banana Bread beer, made by Wells, at the moment - tried a bottle and whilst it wasnt earth shattering it was pleasant enough if you can handle the banana bread aftertaste.

Edited September 2, 2012 by drs

[)typically]

Tried this pair last night and the BrewDog won. The Flying Dog variety was quite unusual, decent but not as good as the brewdog. FYI I got them in a shop called Cornelius Beer and Wine on Easter Road. Great selection of beer in there. I cant remember who, but a poster on here was looking for Krosivice Dark, they sell it in the aforementioned shop for £1.70 for a 500ml bottle.

Brew Dog International Arms Race 8/10

Flying Dog International Arms Race 7/10

[Derek Patterson]

#7

Beer: Williams Bros Midnight Sun

Abv: 5.6%

Style: Stout/Porter

Aromas: Roasted barley, liquorice, hint of ginger & spices, dark chocolate.

Taste: Slight maltiness, dark coffee/cocoa, little bit of dark fruit, root ginger

Overall: Lovely porter. This would be a great winter beer. Very tasty but not overly heavy. You could easily have a few of these. Nice classic porter taste goes nice mixed with the slight spiciness. If you keep your beers in the fridge then I'd say to maybe leave this out for at least 20 mins before opening it as if it's over chilled a lot of the tannins and oils won't come out and you'll miss a lot of flavour.

8/10

Edited September 15, 2012 by Derek Patterson

[Derek Patterson]

Tesco are also selling a Banana Bread beer, made by Wells, at the moment - tried a bottle and whilst it wasnt earth shattering it was pleasant enough if you can handle the banana bread aftertaste.

Had this for the second time the other night. Not really a fan of Wells & Young these days as they pump all their beers full of E numbers. I never got this chance to try the Banana Bread beer in it's original guise but apparently it was beautiful. The stuff they sell now just tastes like a cheap quality ale with the flavouring of those wee penny banana sweeties in it. I suppose it's a bit of a novelty but it just tastes a bit false.

Tbh it's a shame that a once great brewery now resorts to pumping out pish which is full of chemicals and sweeteners instead of the great beers for which they were once known.

[)typically]

Tonight I have been drinking:

Flying Dog - Pearl Necklace

An Oyster Stout. It was decent but not great. Id give it 7/10.

Inveralmond - Lia Fail

A dark ale. Again decent but not great, 7/10

Tomorrow night its this, at 8%ABV

Edited September 5, 2012 by Cammy35

[AberdeenHibee]

Erdinger Weissbeir: straight from the heart of Bavaria, Germany: the beer capital of the world.

I live with a German/Dutch guy at Uni and he introduced me to this. It is readily available in most good supermarkets. It is not something you can drink bottles of per night but B-E-A-U-TIFUL for a relaxing pint. Its got a smooth, oaky taste that is as refreshing as anything I have ever tasted. Get one of these big glasses to swirl the sediment at the bottom.

[Derek Patterson]

Flying Dog - Pearl Necklace

An Oyster Stout. It was decent but not great. Id give it 7/10.

Got a bottle of that out of The Cave the other week. Was nice enough but personally I think Kelpie from Williams Bros is nicer. Not an Oyster Stout but it has the taste of the sea in it. Technically I think that Pearl Necklace stuff isn't actually made from Oysters anyway, rather it's meant to be drunk as an accompaniment to them. The Oyster Stout (actually made from oysters) I had in Dublin's Porterhouse a few months back was class.

[)typically]

Got a bottle of that out of The Cave the other week. Was nice enough but personally I think Kelpie from Williams Bros is nicer. Not an Oyster Stout but it has the taste of the sea in it. Technically I think that Pearl Necklace stuff isn't actually made from Oysters anyway, rather it's meant to be drunk as an accompaniment to them. The Oyster Stout (actually made from oysters) I had in Dublin's Porterhouse a few months back was class.

If you read the ingredients it says oysters before hops, that said it doesn't say how many were used.

[Bold Rover]

Erdinger Weissbeir: straight from the heart of Bavaria, Germany: the beer capital of the world.

I live with a German/Dutch guy at Uni and he introduced me to this. It is readily available in most good supermarkets. It is not something you can drink bottles of per night but B-E-A-U-TIFUL for a relaxing pint. Its got a smooth, oaky taste that is as refreshing as anything I have ever tasted. Get one of these big glasses to swirl the sediment at the bottom.

I'm not long back from holiday in Bavaria, and sampled many of their beers. Speaking for myself, I preferred ordinary pilsners to the weissbiers. All of them slip down nicely though!

[t1t3h]

Was going to say this.

A fantastic pint, available in plenty of Belhaven pubs and picked up some bottles in Tesco for £1.50 on Friday.

Tesco are also selling a Banana Bread beer, made by Wells, at the moment - tried a bottle and whilst it wasnt earth shattering it was pleasant enough if you can handle the banana bread aftertaste.

I actually just bought a bottle of this to try tonight.

[Derek Patterson]

If you read the ingredients it says oysters before hops, that said it doesn't say how many were used.

Ah right. Left the bottle at the missus's house. Probably got it confused with another one as was watching beer reviews online.

Just found out about a new brewery in Stirlingshire yesterday. Place in Perth has their gear in. Think I'm gonna get some tonight and give it a try.

Fallen Brewing Co

[Derek Patterson]

#8

Beer: Fallen Brewing Co - Blackhouse

Abv: 5%

Style: Smoked porter

Aromas: Smokey/bbq, light saltiness/sea smell, peat, some coffee, dark chocolate

Taste: Roast black coffee, dark cocoa, some smoke, good bitterness but quite smooth

Overall: This brewery only started out earlier this year (based near Kippen, Stirlingshire) and they do 3 beers (other 2 pictured). This is my first smoked porter. Nice bitter chocolate vibe but smooth. Good if you often drink darker beers.

8/10

Edited September 15, 2012 by Derek Patterson

[RayBees]

1346879969[/url]' post='6600599']

Erdinger Weissbeir: straight from the heart of Bavaria, Germany: the beer capital of the world.

I live with a German/Dutch guy at Uni and he introduced me to this. It is readily available in most good supermarkets. It is not something you can drink bottles of per night but B-E-A-U-TIFUL for a relaxing pint. Its got a smooth, oaky taste that is as refreshing as anything I have ever tasted. Get one of these big glasses to swirl the sediment at the bottom.

Oh yes, Erdinger is lovely.

[RayBees]

Franziskaner Weissbier is £1.25 in Tesco - an astonishing price. They only had 8 bottles left in my local which I promptly snapped up.

[Monster]

Beer: Jennings Bitter

Abv: 3.5%

Style: Dark Bitter

Aromas: malty, a little oaky

Taste: classic bitter, malt but not strongly, kind of flowery aromatic aftertaste

Overall: This is a bitter as most folk would understand it, it's easy to drink, inoffensive and very enjoyable. There's a note of a woody aftertaste too, but it isn;t fizzy in any way. It's not as good as Cocker Hoop or Sneck Lifter from Jennings, but I could enjoy this any time of year and as a single bottle or on a session. I like it.

7/10

Edited September 7, 2012 by Monster

[AberdeenHibee]

Franziskaner Weissbier is £1.25 in Tesco - an astonishing price. They only had 8 bottles left in my local which I promptly snapped up.

THIS. See my above post, very similar brewed miles apart...I am going to munich in 4 days so get to sample these beauties...its like a stronger erdinger...you should try it.

[Swampy]

That's an excellent price for Franziskaner's Weissbier. Weihenstephaner is another good standby that's quite easy to find in Scotland. Albeit in Kristall form more often than the unfiltered version.

There's a beer and wine shop around 20 minutes from me that has, against all the odds, evolved from a hole-in-the-wall place to one of the finest purveyors of craft beers in the metropolitan area. This is great news. They bring in a lot of rare stuff and as such in recent weeks I've sampled many styles I hadn't even heard of, much less tasted. One of these was a 'white IPA', which, as the name suggests, is a cross between a Belgian witbier and an IPA. To be honest I'd prefer just a glass of wit then an IPA but it was still good to try it and I'm glad that I did. Next time I try something that I know will be available in Scotland I'll review it here.

edit: While I'm on the subject of Scotland - let it be known that I bet in a year or two it becomes cool to hate on Brewdog. I'll destroy any man who does this. Brewdog make superb products and are at the vanguard of the long-overdue brewing revolution currently at its crest in Scotland, similar to the one that took place in the US around 6-7 years ago. They as much as anyone else need to be credited with broadening the beer horizon of Scots and they make excellent beers to boot.

Edited September 8, 2012 by Swampy

[Derek Patterson]

#9

Beer: Samuel Smith Organic Chocolate Stout

Abv: 5%

Style: Chocolate Stout

Aromas: Cocoa butter, vanilla pods, faint coffee, caramel, butterscotch, almost a hint of old fashioned cola or maybe cola bottles

Taste: Very prominent cocoa, dark chocolate mousse, choco milk, ice cream, very small hint of bitterness

Overall: My first beer from Samuel Smith and I'm impressed. Pretty sweet but the sweetness tastes natural and doesn't have that artificial taste that you sometimes get. I recently had Youngs Double Chocolate Stout and it just tastes like a fairly bland stout with some chocolate powder mixed in. This is much better. Very chocolatey. Would be fantastic with some deserts, maybe something with raspberries or strawberries.

8.5/10

Edited September 15, 2012 by Derek Patterson

[Swampy]

I tried Cock of the walk based on the recommendation of a poster on here, it was fantastic! I've yet to see it in Scotland but I am a big fan of Mahou which is brewed in Madrid. Quilmes is also a pretty decent drop.

As lagers go, Mahou is a good 'un, but that might be because I associate it uniquely with good times, sitting in the sun with four of the little green cans or watching the football as the free tapas piles up in front of me. Perhaps it wouldn't be the same otherwise. (edit: to clarify, the green one is the less popular Clasica. The red, Cinco Estrellas, is 5.5%, while the Clasica's a good bit lower, around 4.6% if memory serves. When drinking lager I prefer a mid-range ABV because I drink it quickly. For more complex, sipping beers, obviously that's not such a big deal. And yes, I am a lightweight.)

Do they sell any Samuel Adams beers in Scotland yet? Sam Adams is a craft brewery that's been around since the late 80s - one of the first to really make it big. Their staple is Boston Lager, which is a bit like a Vienna lager, but they do lots of others and some seasonals as well. I have a glass of their Octoberfest on the go right now and while it's more carbonated and slightly darker than I'm used to from that style (which I don't drink often) it's not half bad.

Edited September 8, 2012 by Swampy