Near-opaque reddish-dark brown beer. Thick, off-white head. Smells of fruit and toasted malt. Taste follows suit. Apples, dry malt, treacle, light caramel. Smooth, rich, earthy and very drinkable.

Cask at Guildford Arms cons 2017-06-17 Edinburgh AR: roasted malt, sweet dark chocolate AP: black, thin sand brown lid F: smooth, caramel, roasted malt, dark chocolate, dark syrup

Black or almost so. Average off-white head, ok retention and a bit of lacing. Nose is toffee malts with a slight chocolate hint and something like red/ripe fruits. Taste is slightly on the sweet side with toffee, caramel, slight chocolate, fruity hints and an underlying oakish note. Light to medium bodied with low to medium carbonation, slighty silky but not quite ’really’ silky. Quite easily drinkable and enjoyable with enough complexity to make it quite interesting.

Pours a deep dark brown colour with a small thin beige head. Fruity and roasty aroma, caramel malts and some chocolate. Rich and fruity, sweet caramel, brown sugar and some roasted malty flavours with some ash in the finish. Nice.

500ml bottle. Pours a clear dark brown with red hue and a small, creamy, short lived, tan head that laces. Sweet aroma of roasted malt, dark chocolate, toffee, figs and a hint of peat. Sweet flavour of roasted malt, toffee, dark chocolate, dried fruit and light peat with a bitter coffee finish. Light to medium body with an oily texture and soft carbonation. Not bad.

Bottle from Asda. A very dark tasting, smokey finished beer. Surprisingly light.

Tasting at Matt’s
Dark brown color. Strange smell, treacle, apple, freshly cut wood, raisins, smoke; not elegant, but a lot going on. Weak body, some caramel flavor, hint of treacle, but no depth; some astringency in the final, and cardboard.
Weird.

$5.49 500 ml bottle from Market Street Wine Shop, Downtown. Pours black with a small, frothy tan head. Nice lacking as it recedes. Dark fruit aroma: black cherries, raisins. Flavor is slightly tangy cherry, blackcurrants, raisin, perhaps a hint of vanilla as well. Nicely done.

Review based on the BJCP2015 guidelines (style 14C). Bottle 50 cl - Batch L4195. AROMA: roasted aroma with a moderate.high almost burnt note. slight dark caramel on the background. Some roasted black coffee aroma is present. APPEARANCE: dark brown color and translucent with ruby body against light. medium-low light-brown creamy head with medium-low retention. TASTE: similar to aroma but with less intensity roasted-slightly burnt malt flavor, with a mild sweet background remembering dark coffee. very faint dark caramel. low bitterness with an almost dry finish and moderate roastiness. balance towards roasted malt. PALATE: medium to medium-low body with a slight texture. medium-low carbonation. no harshness from roasted grains. OVERALL: a scottish export with nice aromas and flavors but with a bit too much smoky phenolic character.