Younger's Tartan Special
The Caledonian Brewing Company

getting this on tap is a rare treat!

Blind-tasted except for the beer's name and brewery/country, zero reviews below read (yet!)...
L- A nice dark chestnut brown colour, pours with a pale tan 3mm cap of foam.
S- Very light, just some roast malts.
T- Quite toasty (initially) but this is quickly over-run by a prominent dry/CO2 aspect as found in soda water.
F- Dry, well carbonated.
O- Well it's a 3.5% beer, so I certainly wasn't expecting much of an impact. Not one I'd have time to drink again, it's majorly underwhelming.
Review1934/scoring all done, now the reveal, I get to read the bottle lables to see what I missed! == Contains malted barley and wheat.
500ml can £1.70 BB: 31/08/2021 Bought from Crispins, 26 Kendal Street, London.

First ale that I had while living is Scotland. Not much has changed here. The start of the reason I changed away from the tasteless, discolored water that is drank at near freezing temps so that you can't taste it beers.

Pours a clear mahogany coloration with a small, fizzy head. Smells of toasted, bready, caramel malt, with very little hop aromatics coming through. Taste follows the nose, dominated by toasted, bready, caramel malts, but with slightly stronger grassy, herbal hops coming through on the tongue than in the nose, with lighter notes of roasted nuts, toffee and red berries as well. Finishes with a light/medium bitterness and some toasted malt and herbal hops lingering in the aftertaste. Thin mouthfeel with a light body and medium carbonation.

While this has a decent flavor profile going, with a good balance of sweet, toasted malts and bitter, herbal hops, it's mainly let down by its thin and watery body/mouthfeel. Also develops a lightly medicinal aftertaste as it warms.

On tap in Scotland. Actually a Scottish Bitter(?) and referred to as a "heavy" locally. .
Dark amber body with very good clarity and a decent head.
A mild bitter with less malt flavor than better bitters but no obvious defects.

Overall: OK

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Had this one on tap in Quebec City. It poured a nice reddish-brown with a chunky white head atop. Aroma was sweet, with caramel malts, bread, and slight fruit esters.

I wasn't thrilled by this beer. It tasted a bit watery to me, with the usually powerful maltiness of a Scottish beer not coming through. There was certainly a level of sweetness, with raisins and caramel and a nice nuttienss, and it wasn't a bad brew by any means, but it didn't have that subtle complexity I was expecting. Mouthfeel was medium. This is fairly drinkable, if uneventful. Worth a try though.

A - This beer has a clear dark brown amber colour, pours with a thick white head which leaves a nice white lace.

S - Lacks a certain strength to its smell, but roasted barley and sweet toffee is present. Tends towards a slightly alcoholic scent as it warms.

T - At the first sip you can tell its a complex beer with many strong flavours. Immediately sweet caramels and nice roasted barleys roll over your palate, with an almost fruity sweet bitterness reminiscent of cranberries. Toffee flavours and dark raosted nuts accompany the hopps very nicely. It then becomes more bitter and hoppier which lingers to a strong delicious aftertaste. As it warms it begins to taste of alcohol, but none of the plaid-like complexity is lost.

M - Very thick and smooth. Thick enough to almost seem as though you are chewing on toffee, which makes it a little hard to swallow after a whole pint.

D - Not impressed by its drinkability. This is not a beer I could have many of. Its flavours are too complex to be had all night. The heavy thickness of the beer limit its drinkability.

Overall, I really enjoyed the flavours of the beer, which may have been slightly too hoppy for its style. It was quite a pleasure to drink, and I know that the low drinkability will hurt its score on my review, but it is better than the score would indicate. The taste more than makes up for the thickness.

This is the Scottish & Newcastle rival to Tennents Special. How does it compare, well the two are very similar.

The pint pours to a dark red, with a white head. The standard roasted malts and hops from many Scottish beers is evident on the nose.

The taste is again dominated by roasted malts, hops and barley, however this does have a slightly bitter after taste, which can be good or bad depending on your prefrence. It is light on the mouth, but still retains the character of a beer.

At a reasonably low abv this is a good all night beer and, if your in Scotland for a night out and are switching between this and it Tennents cousin, there are no major after effects of mixing. This is a good start for anyone who is introducing themselves to Scottish beer. It is very drinkable and is readily available,it is renamed "Tartan Special Bitter" in England. This and its Tennents equivalent have been my regular beers for most of my drinking life as you can get it in most pubs.

However the fact that this is mass produced can leave it coming second to a locally produced 70/- from a micro brewery.

Dark reddish brown colour with white head. Could not get aroma as bleached glass. Lots of lace, very fresh. Creamy mouthfeel and very drinkable from very good malting. Roasty/burnt with smoke, salty and bitter finish. Above average carbonation. Henry the 8th new place.

Oddly enough, I went to a local pub last night that I'd never been to before and this was on tap. I'd never even heard of it before, and before ordering and getting the Younger's beermat, I figured it was some local brew. But, surprise surprise, it was this seeminly new Younger's brew, and a good one at that!

Anyway, typical pub-review: Looked great, exactly the colour a scotch ale should be (dark golden-brown, creamy looking). Aroma was nice, caramel and molasses. Taste was similar, but had some tobacco flavour in there as well, and mild roastiness in the aftertaste. Great mouthfeel, smooth and oily. I could have had a few of these if there weren't other beers at this pub I wanted to try!

Pint in the Fife Arms,Dufftown, Scotland
Light brown colour,small off white head. Plenty laceing
Very malty aroma though not quite as sweet as others.
Has a quite distinctive malty and nutty taste ..the nuttiness raises this above the average 70 shilling type ales.
Nice palate, refreshing and well carbonated.
I found this very drinkable..good session brew.

A very tasty scotch ale. This beer pours out a nice red colour with a small white head. The aromas were of sweet caramel malts, roasted malts, hops and alcohol. The taste was more of the same. Very sweet, very full, very malty. The mouthfeel was not very thick and the drinkability was very, very good! The bottled version of this seemed to possess more subdued aromas and a thinner mouthfeel than the tap version, I had a while ago...
I recommend it whole-heartedly to anyone who can find it!
cheers!
-F

The Younger's brewery has been through numerous mergers since 1931, yet the Tartan Special remains as it's best known ale (although I believe this beer is also sold as McEwan's 70 Shilling). It pours a just-slightly hazy (bottle conditioned) burnished copper capped by a short, creamy white head that holds fairly well before dropping to a creamy collar. Some thin and spotty lace adds to its appearance. The nose expresses sweetish caramel malt and a mild touch of buttery diacetyl. It's light/medium body is enlivened by an exceptionally fine, mild carbonation (from bottle conditioning) that gently caresses the tongue before becoming silky smooth across the palate. The flavor is sweetish with a light caramel-tinged malt, gently fruity (some raisin), a touch nutty from the diacetyl, and tempered by a cusp of brash roastiness. The bitterness plays a supporting role, anchoring the malt and lending a refreshing dryness to the finish. Very well balanced. A light but flavorful ale with a moderate alcohol content (3.7% abv) that has exceptional drinkability. A superb session ale in all regards.