Flying Scotsman Ruby Ale
The Caledonian Brewing Company

At the Beehive, Edinburgh, during a literary pub tour

A: Dark amber with a tan half finger head that lingers. Good lacing.

S: Hops, citrus, wheat

T: Follows nose. Slightly bitter with a good flow of hops. A smooth, dry finish.

M: Medium, creamy with medium carbonation.

O: A really good, sessionable brew.

 

Copper, light amber with a thin white head. Starts of very cloudy but the head settles nicely.

The scent is lightly bitter, with slight hop fruitiness and nice, mild malts. Creamy malt tastes, pleasant bitter fruit and mild hops.

Smooth body, with light carbonation. Great session beer.

Tasted this beer on cask by a pint at my Wetherspoon local on 20/05/05.

Appearance: it pours a clear dark-ruby to mahogany hue, off-white sparse beerhead, leaving quite uneven lace along the way.
Smell: on nose some very interestingly-mixed black-fruit's (prune+raspberry?) tart aroma plus doughy-sour note approaches at once~~ very lively hoppyness at the back as well.
Taste & Aftertaste: light-roasted malty palate, with some black-current's (or certain kind of dark berry I fail to recognise) tart flavour at the front; a while later comes quite smooth maltiness on the tongue, supported by noticeable, healthy balance with hops, causing a pleasant bittersweet finish.
Mouthfeel & Drinkability: medium-full flavoured ale, while the body is quite light and refreshing. Not an overly complex ale which is extremely quaffable!!

On cask locally

Pours with a deep ruby body, hints of brown and mahogany. Thick slightly off white head, half an inch with fantastic retention. Lots of lacing down the glass too

Smell, some hint of dried fruit, maybe prunes. Some thick malty aromas

Taste, burnt sugar, toffee, molasses. Some nice english bittering hops, treacle. Slight hint of diacetyl

A really solid ale with plenty of flavour

poured mahagony with a little head that didn’t last very long. aromamolasses, chocolate, malts, raisins, hints of honey. flavor chocolate. covered nuts, toffee, malts, hints of dark fruits and orange, a little on the watery side but not to bad a beer

Slightly hazy, very dark brown (almost to the point of being opaque) that only reveals brownish highlights at the base of the glass and along the edges - (and they label this a "ruby ale"). The head starts as a densely creamy 3/4" thick layer of light tan foam, but withers away to just a frothy collar and sparse surface lace. The very fine bubbles remain, however, giving a nice show and adding to the head whenever the beer is swirled. The aroma is bold, wafting from the glass with a lightly fruity, rich and slightly roasty dark caramel & burnt sugar maltiness that's backed by a lightly spruce-pine resin hoppiness. The body is medium with a very fine and restrained carbonation that leaves it creamy in the mouth. The flavor mirrors the aroma with some light fruitiness upfront, and rich, dark caramel, licorice, burnt sugar, peaty & smoky maltiness across the middle; all well-backed by hop bitterness. It finishes dry with lingering caramel, licorice, and peat notes. I would love to be able to taste this in a fresh cask through a beer engine. With an alcohol content of 4.6% by volume, this makes an incredibly rich session beer. An exceptional spring seasonal from Caledonian!

Pours a dark, opaque black, but when you hold the glass to the light, a ruby tinge does show through. Predominant flavor is caramel malt, much like a porter at first, but hops make an appearance at the finish. Very assertive, and struck me as a hybrid of porter and Scottish ale in flavor. An interesting change of pace.