Beers Abroad

Woah, it's been a while since I've updated. Life gets busy sometimes - specifically when you're traveling abroad for a month or so. I'm over in Aberdeen, Scotland, which is pretty damn cool.

Weirdly, they don't have a ton of beers over here. They tend to have a lot of british style bitters or IPAs, neither of which are my favorite. Still, there are a couple good fallbacks. Also, for some reason all their beers on tap are under 5% abv - anybody know if thats a local law or something?

The other weird thing is their focus on cold. I've always heard that a good british beer is best served chilled, but not cold. However, they have extra cold taps of Guinness, Fosters, and a couple other beers. They also serve their ciders on ice, which makes me feel like I'm drinking ginger ale.

So, the beers. Generally over here, they have the usual standbys - Budweiser, Carlsberg, Strongbow, and Fosters. They also have a local brew, Tennants, but these are all pretty much the same ubiquitous light macro beer. Not a huge fan of any of them, so thankfully they have a few others.

They also have Guinness, Belhaven's Best, and Magner's cider. Guinness is a little overrated - as stout's go it's pretty basic. On the other hand, it's consistently and reliably tasty - think the yuengling of stouts. Plus they can draw nifty shapes in the head.

Belhaven's Best is pretty darn good - it's a cream ale that's pleasantly light. It's not a really strong flavor, but the beer is very creamy and refreshing, with just your average malty flavor. Still, it's one of the better beers on tap.

My other option is Magner's cider. Known in Ireland as Bullmers, everywhere else in the world it's called Magners. It's a very dry cider, and deliciously crisp. I'm occasionally frowned upon for getting a girly drink at the pub, but I love this cider and feel no shame.

That's all for now - hopefully I'll find some other interesting Scottish beers to write about. Til then, Cheers!

The Scottish Wonder

So, wow. I was buying beer for my formerly mentioned Halloween party, picking up some single bottles to enjoy and just try different things.

I'd tried Belhaven's Scottish Ale before, and was suitably impressed. I saw a 500mL at my local liquor store of their "Scottish Stout". Now, I love Scottish beers and I love stout, so it was a pretty easy decision.

Still, this beer has overwhelmed me and exceeded my expectations. It pours dark, rich black, with a gorgeous tan head. The first taste is a bitter coffee, but it's followed by an almost tangy flavor of smoke and bitter chocolate. At 7% abv, it drinks like a guiness, and is good by itself. I dearly desire now to try and pair it with a meal and see how it handles.

All in all, from the first sip to the last drop, it was a delicious beer which I thoroughly enjoyed. Almost without effort it cracked my top ten favorite beers, maybe even my top 5. A fantastic choice, which I recommend to anyone who likes there stouts.