The first one I thought to sample was <b>Belhaven Classic Choice FRUIT BEER</b> - If you want to see a pic of the Bottle and read thing in another language - check here - http://home1.stofanet.dk/zlaytan/beer/b ... lhaven.htm
I'm not a huge fan of Fruit beers in general, but grabbed this because I'm a big fan of Belhaven. My wife is Scottish and so I've been lucky enough to travel over to Scotland a few times and actually visit the Belhaven Brewery in Dunbar, it was AWESOME! By far the best Brewery Tour I've ever been on... No puny 4 oz plastic taster cups, I got to pour my own pint of Belhaven Best our of a beer engine... Ah... <b><i>Sorry, I'm totally digressing here aren't I? Well anyhow, now you can appreciate my reasoning behind being excited to see a Belhaven Beer!
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<b>On to the tasting!</b>
Ok, upon pouring from the 500ml bottle into a pint glass, I could see the Pale Orange / Rusty colour, also that it was quite highly carbonated, lots of little bubbles! (Still going BTW, about 15 minutes later)
- Nice White head
- I *LOVE* to really enjoy the aroma of a beer before tasting and while I'm drinking it - This this, not surprisingly, it's aroma is of berries, sharp tart like a raspberry or perhaps black currant, or rhubarb, not unlike what you might get from certain white wines.
First taste - Very mild flavor, only a hint of berry flavor in the beer.
Little or no aftertaste, just slightly bitter.
As I get further into the pint, I'm noticing more of the sweet side, but still very easy to drink, and again I'm impressed at how subtle the fruit flavoring is - Certainly it's sweeter than most beers, but not incredibly fruity...
Just finishing up now, getting kind of full because I've drank it pretty fast, but still enjoying it - Would probably be a nice treat late afternoon sitting in the sun, or perhaps to drink before a meal with a appetizer/salad.
I don't think it's fair to give a beer a generic rating - I sort of like the way C'est What does their Microbrew Festival where you have a number of categories:
Appearance / Aroma / Flavor / Aftertaste Drinkability
Is that right? Anyway, don't feel like rating it - but it might be a good idea to get a standard Bar Towel review format
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<b>From the Bottle Label:</b>
<b>BELHAVEN CLASSIC CHOICE
FRUIT BEER</b>
Historically, fruit has been commonly used as the essential flavouring in ales. Germans have been adding a dash of raspberry to their Berliner Weisse beers since the 17th century and Belgians have harnessed locally grown fruit in the making of cherry "Kriekbieres" and raspberry "Framboisbieres". The rich grain and fruit basket of Scotland has been plundered to produce this traditional fruit flavoured beer.
Ingredients: water, malt, hops, yeast, fruit flavouring.
4.6% Alc.
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Belhaven Web Site (No mention here of this beer BTW!) -
http://www.belhaven.co.uk
