Classic Choice Fruit Beer
Belhaven Brewery Company Ltd.

Cask conditioned at the 32nd Cambridge Beer Festival, as "Belhaven Classic Fruit Beer". Dark amber colour. Strong fruity aroma of blackcurrants, blackberries, boysenberries and maybe some redcurrants too. Flavour is extremely fruity, raspberry, blackberries and redcurrants abound. A tolerable maltiness and a decent hoppy finish makes this an above-average ale. From the ratings of the pasteurized and bottled version it seems apparent that the cask version is superior.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pale amber with a 2 finger white fluffy head that lasts throughout.

A mix of sweet butterscotc, summer fruits (raspberry, cherry) & faint floral hops aroma at the end.

Spicy hops & the fruit from the nose make up the taste. More of a bitter than fruit beer. There is also a malty, biscuit like taste around the middle & the finish is moderately bitter.

A smooth beer but the body was a little thin if anything & too light. The finish quite dry & bitter but not overly disappointing.

Not what I was expecting at all from this beer judging by the label, I naturally thought I'd be getting a fruit beer but at least this one was drinkable, if not good.

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Poura a dark orange, almost red colour with a slightly off-white head and with a nose the reminded me of mixed fruit jam, my favourite, I allowed myself to be cautiously optimistic.

Oh dear. The body was horribly thin, yes it tasted like fruit jam, but fruit jam so watered down that I seriously considered pouring it away.

It wasn't truly bad, but neither was it something I will want to drink again

The beer pours a fairly orange colour with a significant head. The smell is akin to some rather generic yoghurt, somewhere between black cherry and peach melba.

It has a very staisfying feel, and the fruit flavour is surprisingly bold, albeit very generic. As with the nose there is no particular berry which dominates, although blackcurrant and raspberry are apparent. Unusually I'd say this a beer which could do with being a little more understated: the berry flavour is simply too strong for this to feel like I'm imbibing beer.

Beer bottle (50cl), tasted in 2007.
Appearance : Orange color with a nice creamy head.
Smell : The aroma is rather weak, no fruit aroma ?
Taste and mouthfeel : The flavour has a light sweetness, notes of caramel, light malt, light berries ? the finish has a slightly dry and bitter end.
Drinkability : an average beer in the fruit style

This one is a 500ml bottle.

Poured into the glass with a thick creamy off-white head that stood pretty tall for a while. Golden-orange colored and excellent clarity with no sediment, this beer looks clean and refreshing.

Aroma is of clean berries, strawberry and raspberry and blackberry are coming through up front. In the background is toasted malt and toffee with faint caramel. No clear hop aroma.

Slick, smooth and medium bodied with nice tight carbonation. Flavor that hits first is slightly acidic/tart fruitiness. Can perceive some raspberry and blackberry in there but it is the malts that win in the end. Toffee and slightly nutty the roasted malt is only slightly sweet next to the fruit in there. Not much alcohol present in the taste. The lace is really clinging thick to the glass as the beer goes down. The mouthfeel is superb for this style ale.

Very refreshing (especially if consumed on a hot summer day)and easy to drink down the 500ml without a problem or any off flavors. Another one of these would not be out of the question however the fruit tartness would begin to be overwhelming but if mixed up with a different ale this could be consumed in more quantity. Not a big fruit beer fan but a thumbs up to this one.

Found this bottle the morning after a Bavarian evening I hosted, someone obviously got lost in the beer shop, or couldn't be arsed to find any German beer (as the invite insisted on).

Looked OK in a Belgian Verboden Vrucht glass, as I thought that would be fair to the beer. Amber colour with a good soild head, almost white. Sadly, it left the scene fairly swiftly, to leave a swisp of remains stuck to the side of the glass, joined by a few remaining strings of white.

Blackberry, Blackcurrent and Raspberries hit me straight away, but like the head, didn't seem to stay to long, which was a shame, because I was begining to think this might be a great beer.

The taste also changed mid-beer, all fruits at first, with lemon taking over towards the end of the pint.

No great mouthfeel, taking on the Belgians with an ABV of only 4.6% for a fruit beer was very brave, unfortunately they were not brave enough in my opinion and have failed big time.

Nothing wrong with this beer, it just didn't 'do it' for me.

Purchased at the Sainsbury's supermarket. BB June 2007, served cool in a straight imperial-pint glass.

A: pale amber to dark orangey golden hue; a fluffy-textured white foamy head settles gradually to a thin layer of foam on the top, and leaves uneven sheets of lacing along the way; gentle carbonation with huge bubbles sporatically ejected from the bottom of the glass.
S: lightly perfumy fruits abound: cranberry+blueberry+strawberry dominate the nose, very berry-ish but not intrusive nor chemical nor artificial--suppose real fruits and not fruit-juice nor flavouring are used in this brew? I also pick up some grassy note of hops at the back, as some other reviewers do, against a pale malt base which does not go unnoticed. Quite nicely crafted.
T: a fluffy-textured pale-malty flavour comes with an interestingly dryish-sweet honey-like flavour, followed by a very faint presence of fruity flavour that is slightly artificial here, but a more assertive fruity aroma lingers in the mouth featuring strawberries and blueberries... the fore-taste slowly develops into a dryish-bitter aftertaste, not quite as hoppy as soothingly bitter.
M&D: the fizziness is slightly rougher than ideal, but the body remains pleasantly light and approachable. Overall, the restrained fruits are mixed well with the pale ale base and elevated by the finishing bitter kick. An easy-drinking "fruit bitter" this is.

500ml bottle bought from Sainsbury's...

Poured a crystal clear light coppery orange colour... Slightly off white head poured quite thick and foamy then faded to thin layer... Some sporadic columns of carbonation stream constantly to surface.... a fair amount of sticky lacing...

Aroma - Nice fruity hops (definite notes of raspberries, blackcurrents and strawberries), light biscuity malts, some toffee hints, nutty, some floral honey notes, grassiness...

Taste – Nice light fruitiness with light spicy hops underneath, fruit notes include strawberry, raspberry and blackcurrents - all quite light, nothing too overpowering, biscuity maltiness, light toffee sweetness, nutty hints...

Feel - Quite smooth and dry. Light bodied. Pretty refreshing and drinkable...

Overall - A pretty good beer... Just the right amount of fruitiness... worth a try...

This was a very odd beer. I just couldn't get past the honey taste of it.

A = Poured a dark yellow with a thin foam head.

S = Smelt like a basket of fresh summer fruits. Berries, strawberries etc...

T = Honey. All I could taste was this honey taste. Nothing else.

M = Waterry, it was very water like in texture.

D = Ok. Better beers I would prefer to drink.

Bottle. Lovely amber colour with pink tinge and stuff all head. Smelt like the artificial flavouring used in purple pastel (sp?) sweets with mild acrid stale urine finish. Artificial purple flavour also with a dry bitter finish. Watery palate. Bleagh!

this beer pours an amber color with a big head and excellent lace. The aroma is of blueberry syrup and an off grainyness. The taste is lacking in depth. Theres a lot of berry taste and also a husklike maltiness. Theres a bit of hop bitterness in the finish which is quickly subdued by an artificial berry flavor. The mouthfeel is very watery. This beer isnt very drinkable because theres a definite chemical aspect to the after taste.

This is not half as good as Belhaven's Wee Heavy and Scotch Ale. Its a subpar fruitbeer that suffers from off fruit flavors.

bottled from the LCBO...poured a gold-amber with a rocky 1 finger off white head...stays a while then laces nicely. Aromas of black rasperry, currant, a touch of strawberry (they somehow seem artificial..too perfume-like) over a malt sweetness. The start is sweet punctuated by the berry tastes...light body...sweet crusty malts come in and overpower the fruits which hang in the background as some hops kick in...nice ride...finish is a tad cloying but tolerable with the signature belhaven malts and the currants leaving an after taste....My impression is this is Belahven’s scottish ale (an excellent tap brew) flavored with some berry extracts...but just enough to make it interesting....not a bad topical but too "girly" for an ale drinker to buy more than one for a try.

Bottle: Poured a light brown beer with almost no head and no carbonation. Aroma is composed mostly of weak fruit sweetness. Taste is a mix of English ale malt and some fruit juice; honestly this mix won’t go down in history. I’m not sure I want to seek other product from this brewery after this.