Miasmatic Review

Belhaven Scottish Stout

Ktreva is trying to be the first double Enabler. She saw tonight’s beer at the store and had to get it for me to review. She picked out Belhaven‘s Scottish Stout by the Belhaven Brewery in Dunbar, East Lothian, Scotland.

Belhaven uses a 500ml (16.9 fl.oz.) brown bottle with the company logo cast into the bottle just below the base of the neck. The front label is a grey scale label with some gold highlights of what I believe is two men digging peat. The name of the beer is proudly at the top 1/3 of the label, with the company logo just above it. Below the picture is description of the beer. There is a back label that has some more information about the beer on it and a small neck label with the name of the beer on it.

In a pint glass it has a dark mahogany coloring with a touch of ruby to it. It’s so dark that light doesn’t pass through. A thick foamy tan head formed when poured. It lasted for quite a while before it faded to a film on the top of the beer. There was little to no lacing on the glass.

The beer has a sweet dark fruit scent to it, like prunes or dates. There are undertones of vanilla, coffee and chocolate. A nice roasted malt scent permeates the beer as well as a hint of peat. The flavor starts with a nice malt and cream with chocolate and molasses. There is a touch of peat smoke to it. The aftertaste has a slight coffee and cream flavor to it.

This is a full bodied beer that leaves a creamy coating in the mouth. There is not a lot of carbonation in the beer making it easy to drink.

This is the first Scottish Stout that I’ve had. I’m a huge fan of Scotch Ales so when my wife found this one for me, I was intrigued. Needless to say I was most impressed with what I had. This is a great evening beer to sit back and enjoy while letting the day unwind. The 7% Alcohol by Volume gives it just enough kick that you don’t want to drink it too fast. I give this 8.5 out of 10.