Organic Premium Ale
The Caledonian Brewing Company

500 ml bottle from Trader Joe's in Riverside, CA. for about $3.49; this was labeled as "Organic Great Scot Pale Ale", but it looks to be the same (not sure though). But this is better than accidentally adding an unnecessary beer.

Pous a pretty clear golden, with a decent fluffy head that drops rather quickly, as expected of the style.

Initial aroma of clean wet grass.

Flavor of a nice biscuity malt balance with the grassy/weedy hops. not overly bitter, but there is a dose of hop leaf left on the tongue.

Very light mouthfeel and body, but quite drinkable, high marks there as it is easy to drink.

This one really hit the spot- nicely done!

Appearance: pale gold-brown, slight haze, thin band of spongey off-white foam, ok head retention

Aroma: perfumey floral hops, angel-food cake sweetness, hint of iron

Flavor: starts out with a fruity bloom of hops then a dryish malt base peaks through just before a distant bitterness pushes it into a dryish finish; hints of hop leaves, rust, and black tea; slight acidity

Mouthfeel: medium body (though a bit thin), soft texture, low carbonation

When I noticed this in the local Co-op I thought it may be another ale with a different badge, but I was proved wrong as this is not like any of the others Caledonian beers I have tried.

The beer pored nicely into a pint glass with an initial head but this disapeared very quickly. It was a lot lighter than I expected: a very pale golden colour.

The nose was quite promising with a nice scent of hops along with a burst of citrus fruits, lemon and grapefruit were the combination I noticed. Rather pleasant and this made out like it was going to be a very refreshing beer.

But at this point things started to go wrong. The malts and citrus combined in the tongue to give this beer the sweetness of a soft drink, entirely too sweet. There was a hint of a neutral biscuit ish taste but this was well hidden behind the dominant sweetness.

It went down too much like water for my liking, not a lot of body at all, very disapointing for a bottled labelled as "Premium Ale". As for drinkabaility, I didn't even finish the pint I bought.

I was very disapointed by this beer, having seen it was made by the Caledonian Brewery made my expectations high. This is a beer that the brewery could well do to lose as this is well below their usual high standard.

Said to be brewed exclusively for Co-op supermarket in Britain, this brew by the Caledonian comes in a brown, 500ml bottle. A BBE date is printed on the neck: 7 Apr. 06. Though it does not specify which kind of beer it's meant to be, I feel it's like a maltier version of English pale ale.

Appearance: in a goblet it pours a pale-orange to dark golden colour, with a fast disappearing beerhead and low carbonation.
Smell: dominated by quite sweetish, biscuity aroma and some light honeyish and lemon-cake's note; with just a tinge of hops in the background. Pleasant but overly one-dimensional.
Taste & Aftertaste: mouthful of lively, almost maize-like lightly sweet malty flavour, underlined by dryish, zesty bitterness which is more refreshing than round; the finish sees more maize-like bitter-sweetness lingering for quite a while--to me, this is the most pleasant and satisfying part of this beer.
Mouthfeel & Drinkability: with a relatively light body, its flavour is moderate and its mouthfeel quite smooth--not a great beer by any means, but overall it is a lively, easy-drinking ale in its own right.