80 /- (Bottle)
Belhaven in Dunbar, East Lothian, Scotland 🏴
Bitter - Ordinary / Best Bitter Regular|
Score
6.02
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One of Scotland’s favourites thanks to its distinctive and full-bodied flavour. Pale malt gives satisfying ‘Horlicks’ maltiness and black malt adds balance to the sweetness. Challenger provides the bitterness and base note herbal hop character with Goldings adding a hint of orange peel.
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6.6/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 6.5
Flavor 6.5
Texture 7
Overall 7
Bottle. Nose is malty, bread. Taste is malt, brown bread, lightly nutty, gentle fruitiness.
It's fine
It's fine
Tried
on 24 May 2026
at 19:51
6.5/10
Good. One of the 300 Beers to try before you die. Bottle at home.
Tried
from Bottle
on 14 Mar 2026
at 17:00
7.1/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 7.5
Flavor 7
Texture 7
Overall 6.5
Probably the most well-know and popular Scottish ale, the group of often misunderstood and today seldomly seen low ABV beers that fall below the much better known Scotch ale or 'wee heavy' category - in fact I recall it took me a long time to find one back in the day when I tried to tick off every single beer style listed by Ratebeer.com. I noticed that there are two entries of the same name on this site, the other being identified as a bitter, but I think the ratings under that other entry belong here, as the brewery clearly - though implicitly - identifies this beer as a Scottish ale. From tap at the hotel in Aberdeen where I paired it with a Balmoral burger. Dense, creamy (nitro-tapped), lacing, medium sized, snow white head, clear pale ochre-blonde robe with odd bronze-ish hue. Aroma of wet toast, lightly toasted peanuts, a smoky effect not of Rauchmalz but rather burnt cardboard or something alike, freeze-dried chervil, tea bags, fried parsnip chips, ferrous spring water, minerals, dry hay. Fairly neutral onset, some dried apple or dried pear perhaps, softly carbonated with slender yet creamy (again: nitro-tapped) mouthfeel; slightly peanutty, thinly toasty and cereally malt core, toasted grains becoming more apparent in the finish, where a pleasantly balancing leafy and tea-ish hop bitterness sets in - but the smoky effect appears as well, again more reminiscent of burnt paper or wood ashes than actual smoke, yet adding to a dry, bitterish, somewhat minerally finish. Herbal, smoky and smooth, but thin and toasty too: took me a while to get used to as it is very different from the much stronger Scotch ale style I know and love, but in the end it did go down easily...
Tried
on 22 Aug 2025
at 23:16
6/10
Tried
from Bottle
on 12 Jun 2025
at 00:38
6/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 6
Flavor 6
Texture 6
Overall 6
Pint on cask at the Booking office jdw.
Medium off white head. Clear amber pour. Light bitterness
Medium off white head. Clear amber pour. Light bitterness
Tried
from Cask
at
Booking Office
on 05 Feb 2025
at 16:50
6/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 6
Flavor 6
Texture 6
Overall 6
Old rating - 500ml bottle, pours amber with a white head. Aromas & tastes of caramel, liquorice, toffee & malt. Moderate body. Light bitter finish
Tried
from Bottle
on 31 Jan 2025
at 05:00
7.5/10
Tried
from Cask
on 21 Mar 2024
at 20:04
5.8/10
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Appearance 10
Aroma 5
Flavor 5
Texture 6
Overall 5
First tried at the 2016 Huddersfield Oktoberfest Beer Festival Ale, but basing this one on a cask conditioned pull at the Station Hotel, Larbert, on the way to Stirling and the lovely surrounding areas around the River Forth. Dark clear copper with a thick creamy-frothy head. Lower bitterness brew, slightly floral, light caramels evident.
Tried
from Cask
at
Station Hotel
on 11 Mar 2024
at 16:00
6.5/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 6
50 cl. bottle @ home, bought @ Lidl Cuemborg. Clear copper with a white head. Malty aroma with some nutty tones. Light sweet taste with a low bitter finish. Nice malty ale
Tried
from Bottle
on 09 Mar 2024
at 22:43
6.4/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 6
Flavor 6
Texture 7
Overall 7
Fles 50cl thuis. Toffee, grainy, caramel, hoptonen, bittertonen, maltig, fruitig. (8-3-2024).
Tried
from Bottle
on 08 Mar 2024
at 21:16