Exciseman's 80/-
Broughton Ales Ltd

500ml bottle: BBD Apr 2013. Poured into two half-pint glasses on 2013's New Years Eve @ home.

Dark brown with a red hue: on top a biege foam, looked fine.

Caramel malty nose and taste, some fruitiness in there too. inbetween the sweetness there is a hop presence that just sits nicely preventing the brew to be just a sweet malty tasting sickly beer.

Easy drinking with a good body feel to it: leaning towards rich and creamy but not quite getting there. This was an ideal start to our 'Drinking around Europe' New Years Eve.

Amber-tinged nut brown with a loose cola-like tan head. Kola-spice, treacle, prune and earth nose.
Stewed plum and branchy brown malts with tea brack then herbal and ginger hops end. A bit salty and deep sticky resin.
Cherry finish and surprisingly dry end. Fizzy, chewy, medium.

Rocky solid dark fruit malts (esp fig) but cleans up after itself with lingering bitterness, which avoids the cloying that can be a signature of this style. A fine example of an 80/-, as far as I've tasted. 6 months past due date (Jun 11) did this no harm.

Courtesy of sibling-imports! Cheers sis!

A - Pours a clear, light brown. Finger of head, disappears quickly.

S - Strong caramel aroma. A bit of fruit. Roast is barely noticeable.

T - Caramel is there again. Fruit as well, more than the nose. Nice malty character.

M - Feel is creamy and smooth. Low carbonation, which is to style I believe.

D - Highly drinkable

History: Datted June 11th 2010, could have been stored warm for up to a month.

Pours clear deep amber/ruby with low slightly off-white and creamy head that fades soon, but dense layer of foam remains. Aroma is quite malty sweet, caramel, light fruit and slightly roasted. Nice combination.

Taste again is sweet malty, quite noticeable caramel, some hints of fruit with mildly roasted finish and low bittery aftertaste. Mouthfeel is creamy and around medium, low carbonation.

Overall, very good brew.

500ml bottle bought from McHughs, Dublin...

Poured a deep amber / coppery colour. Creamy head poured thick and meringue like then faded to patchy, bubbly coating with thick edges... barely any carbonation - what there was drifted slowly to the surface... light lacing lines...

Aroma - Rich sweet malts with hints of treacle and toffee, spicy / peppery notes, toasted malt loaf, rich fruits (raisins, dates, figs, some oranges), some faint dishwater / vegetal traces coming through, burnt meringue notes, some earthy / cardboard hints, light peatiness...

Taste – Nice piney / peppery / resiny hop bitterness, nice toasted caramel maltiness, toasted bread, strong bitter orange fruitiness with some date and figs also, light scotch traces, some eartiness, very light honey sweetness, some roasted nuts, light saltiness..

Feel - Pretty smooth and creamy with a little bite underneath... medium bodied... a pretty quaffable brew at only 4.6%

Overall - A pretty good example of a Scottish Ale although with a touch more bitterness than some... definitely worth a try...

I sampled a bottle of this from the local Victoria Wine store in Dumfries, to date this has been the only place I have ever seen it.

The beer poured a ruby-brown colour with a decent off white head. The aromas were dominated of malts, very typical of a Scottish 80/~. There was little else, a slight fruity hint of blackberries and a very slight hint of bitter hops stopped this from being too sweet.

The taste again was very typical of a standard 80/~. Dominated by roasted malts and a better proportion of fruitiness coming through in the taste. A slight hint of hoppiness in the aftertaste. It had a decent mouthfeel, nice and heavy, the way this style should be.

The pint was very pleasant and easy to drink, however the taste did not have me calling out for another. All in all a very pleasant 80/~, nothing wrong with it, but there is nothing that makes this stand out from the crowd. It does not have a complex flavour or any memorable aromas. I will still stick to my Caley 80/~.

This beer is apparently so new that it hasn't shown up on the brewery's website yet despite making it to the supermarket. Bottle has freshness date and the beer pours with a decent head which sticks around for the long haul. The colour is slightly darker than brick red while the nose is naturally dominated by the malt. It smells very sweet but slightly acidic like boiled sweets with a touch of molasses and plum.

I taste a hint of plum too, but nothing as down and dirty as molasses. After the plum it becomes a tad metallic before finishing rather sweetly with a slightly but not unduly grainy feel. I suspect this is superior to the average 80/- one will stumble upon in Glasgow's pubs (if I recall correctly it is better than the McEwan's and Caledonian versions).