500ml bottle from Morrisons, Partick. Pours ruby brown with a short-lived off-white head. Aromas are caramel and light red fruits. Taste brings a nuttiness to that. Quite thin though. Finishes sweet. OK.

50 cl. bottle @ home, gift from Rick. Clear chestnut red with a thin off-white head. Faint malty aroma with some caramel. Taste is mostly malts and caramel with virtually no hops. Prickly carbonation. Really short aftertaste, after swallowing it’s almost instantly gone.

500ml bottle from Morrisons drunk at home on New Years Eve 2013 whilst waiting for my roast chicken to cook. Clear deep amber pale brown colour with lasting thick beige head. It’s an ok bitter, just a bit thin and lacking in character. Reminds me of a slightly poor French Biere de Garde brune. Lacks a sense of fullness. Some malt character yes. Not much hop. OK but lacks a bit of character as I say.

500ml Bottle brewed for the Morrison Supermarket chain: BBD 31 Aug 13, poured (twice) into a ’La Vieille Salme’ chalice at home on 22 Dec 13. Looked fine, a clear and bright, light ruby red colour with a soft blanket of white foam as a head. Mild aroma of malt molasses and red berries mashed up with a hazelnut paste. The taste was also a blend of the aforementioned smells: semi-sweet maltiness, some berries and with a nutty presence in the background. I thought it rather thin body wise for a Dark Ale at 5.0% ABV, but it didn’t lack flavour, just a bit of depth. One of the best ’supermarket’ beers currently available in the UK. The rear label suggest food pairings and they sounded about right as I drank my bottle with a packet of ’Sun-dried Tomato & Herbes De provence’ crisps (which were not mentioned as a food choice).

Plenty of dark malts in the aroma and taste. Also some bittersweet caramel. A nice bitter. Easy to drink, smooth, full flavoured.

Bottle at home... Copper... Thin white head... Soft sweet metalic... Light roast... Soft sweet toffee malt... Sweet toffee malts... Little dull

50cl bottle from Morrisons. Copper coloured with a ring of translucent head; soft raisiny aroma; quite full bodied with a fruity caramel taste; and some light bitterness to finish. A pleasant bitter.