By Greg B.  This is a beer that I drank in the mid winter, but lost the image… until now!  So while this beer is certainly more of a fall/winter beer to help you ward of the cold weather chill, and not really a warm weather beer (it’s 65F outside or something today!), I’m going to review it anyway.  Why?  Because it’s a damned good beer, and it deserves some time in the limelight.  And another reason, it’s a great beer from Scotland, as opposed to the beers from England I don’t like so much!

I poured this beer into a Harviestoun glass that was generously given to me last summer, when Gabi and I were at Max’s for their ‘rare and obscure beer tasting 2′… which I now realize I haven’t written up, and it’s been a good 9 months since….  Anyway it’s a nice little glass, and showcases the dark beer and it’s head very well.  Using appropriate glassware is a great way to get every last drop out of the experience of the beer you’re about to drink, and using glassware designed by the brewery for it’s beer is usually the best.  These folks know their product, and know what they want to accentuated and how to accentuated it.  Just head to Belgium and check out the stockpile of individualized beer glasses for each beer and brewery, if you want the ultimate example!  It even flares outward a little bit at the top, providing easy access to the wonderful aromatics.  The beer pours, as you might expect, a black the color of used engine oil from a very dirty engine, with a medium khaki tan colored head rising a solid 2 fingers up, and remaining for quite some time.  The beer smells sweeter than it may look, with milk chocolate, caramelized malts and and sweetened coffee aromas pouring forth.  The taste is excellent.  A great balance of sweet malts, roasted bitter malts, and some toasted nut mixed with dark coffee or espresso flavors.  The beer has a good level of carbonation, which lightens the body a bit more than I expected, but it’s still quite nice.  A great beer, something to stockpile for the next cold weather or perhaps, rainy day you encounter! 3.8/5, 6%abv