The Keys Ale
Belhaven Brewery Company Ltd.

a beer either brewed exclusively for, or branded exclusively for, the keys pub in st andrews, a rad little spot we spent some time in while vacationing in scotland. im not even totally sure what this is, style wise, like its pretty malty, past brass into copper or amber range, has body and is a bit sweet and overtly grainy, but its also pretty hoppy with some floral character and back end bitterness, parts esb maybe, parts english pale, parts maybe just like european golden type, parts even scottish ale, given the origin, would love to know a little more about this one, but its nice in the glass, just sort of a reliable pub ale, hearty and satisfying, yet still so low alcohol, a common theme here in our beer drinking, so much full flavored and full textured beer at seriously sessionable strengths, i love that! some minerality to this pushing it almost metallic, but also some nice malt richness that hits with wrinkles of toffee and golden raisin and maybe like a honey nut cheerio cereal thing, medium bodied, some english type ale yeast in play as well, good depth and balance, a touch tired, faint astringency at temperature, but pleasant as a near mindless drinker if you want it to be nothing more than that. the hops are not insignificant, some bitterness at the end which is a nice resolution for this, but earlier they come through a little more herbal, a hint of gin, piney soap, and sweet orange, not crazy strong, but they add some depth to this, and it ends up being a sneakily layered drinking beer. still has unflattering european malt and yeast characteristics too, and doesnt seem super fresh to me, but i enjoyed this a lot, context definitely played a part, i guess i just kind of get nostalgic for beers like this, beer culture like they have in scotland, the us has a lot to look up to over there...