267. Boddingtons Draught Style Pub Ale vs. Tetley’s Draught Style English Ale vs. Belhaven Draught Style Scottish Ale

Today we’re having our Second Annual Widget Draught Can Drink Off. Yes, we know annual means once a year, and we did the Murphy’s and Guinness Drink Off less than a year ago, but too bad. It’s our website, so don’t get all semantical on us. Today’s contestants are Boddingtons Draught Style Pub Ale, Tetley’s Draught Style English Ale, and Belhaven Draught Style Scottish Ale. Boddingtons is made in Luton, England, Tetley’s is made in Leeds, England, and Belhaven is made in Dunbar, Scotland.

Boddingtons has a dry, slightly chalky, and slightly fruity nose mixed with some sweetness; it pours a crystal clear gold (well, once it settles out), and has a rich creamy lingering white head—got to love those widget draught cans! The beer opens with creamy sweet front; the middle is a bit thin, but has pleasant bitterness. While there is no hop flavor in the middle, the bitterness does come through nicely in the middle, and lingers on into the end, which is dry and clean. Boddingtons is medium to light bodied with a creamy thick mouthfeel; the carbonation, while present, is rather light on the palate—it helps build the creaminess, and rounds the beer across the palate, creating more of a consistent evenness than any sort of bite.

From the can: “Since 1778 when it was first brewed at the Strangeways Brewery in Manchester, Boddingtons has been renowned as a unique, pale-gold ale. In English pubs, Boddingtons is served using the traditional hand pulled method which mixes the air with the ale as it pours, producing a distinctive creamy head and smooth body, with little gassiness. Ordinary packaged ale cannot match this quality, but the new Draughtflow System does. By releasing millions of tiny bubbles when opened, Draughtflow cans give the creamy head and authentic fresh taste of Boddingtons Pub Ale. ”

ABV: 4.7%

Tetley’s pours a clear copper with a thick thick ivory head that laces the glass profusely. It took a little sucking to break through that head when we were sipping on it. The nose is a malty caramel—kinda hard to get to it through the head. Opening with some caramel malt and a touch of toffee in the front, Tetley’s moves into a soft and lightly bitter middle with more of the toffee and caramel before finishing dry and with a bit of corn flavor—it mostly just fades away. Much like the Boddingtons, the body is medium to light with a creamy thick mouthfeel that is also dry on the palate. The carbonation is similar to Boddingtons—dry and even, although creamy. Tetley’s has more caramel flavor and less hop bitterness than Boddingtons, leaving it a bit less balanced as a whole.

From the can: “A uniquely smooth taste. For best results; serve cold from the fridge, pull the tab, listen to the surge & pour down the side of the can in one smooth movement.”

ABV: 3.6%

Belhaven pour a hazy brownish copper—there’s a bunch of small bits floating in it—with a creamy and thick ivory head. Elli wanted to know if the small bits were from “widget-conditioning.” Starting malty sweet with caramel and some biscuit and roasted flavors, Belhaven Scottish Ale shifts into light roasted chocolate in the middle, which is also accompanied by nutty and fruity flavors. The finish is creamy, malty, and lightly roasty, with a touch of smokiness to close things out. Belhaven is medium bodied with a creamy but also dry mouthfell, and a bit more carbonation presence in the mouth than the other two beers

From the can: “The Belhaven Brewery is Scotland’s oldest surviving independent brewery dating back to 1719. Belhaven Scottish Ale is a fully rounded ale, a complex mix of malt and hop producing Belhaven’s easily recognised malty and nutty flavor.”

ABV: 5.2%

Aroma Advantage: Belhaven gets the nod here; while it is a bit bigger of a beer, the complex aromas are able to cut through the thick creamy head and make their presence felt.

Appearance Advantage: Tetley’s comes out on top here; the slighter darker color with a touch of red in it made it stand out, and the thick head was impressive. Tetley’s does also have some sort of larger widget inside the can than the other two beers—it is attached to the bottom, and as the can tells us, “listen to the surge.” We did, and the results were good.

Flavor Advantage: We have a split decision here: Elli likes Boddingtons, while I like Belhaven. Since we’re crossing beer styles, the arbitrary factor is on the upswing. Elli favored Boddingtons because it was the only one with any real hop presence, even if it was only in the bitterness, and because it has a clean and simple malt profile. I like the darker, richer malt profile of Belhaven, and the nuance as it ran across the palate.

Mouthfeel Advantage: Elli favors Boddingtons; I see it as something of a toss-up—since all three are draught cans, there is a certain similarity in the mouthfeel that is a bit homogeneous. While the flavors are more distinct, the mouthfeel seems less so here.

Label Art Advantage: Tetley gets last place here—the little dude holding a beer and the multiple fonts leaves this can a bit busy overall. The Belhaven is nice and simple—the color arrangement is good, and the use of the natural aluminum color is clever. But we’ve got to go with the classic bees on barrel of Boddingtons. Classic design and packaging.

Overall Advantage: We’re again split down the middle: Elli goes with Boddingtons, and I go with Belhaven, so I guess we’ll have to call it a draw. But Tetley’s doesn’t get to be in on it.

(3/24/2010)

248. Three Floyds Robert the Bruce

We’re hitting up that sweet sweet Three Floyds again. Can you blame us? Thus far on our long, strange trip, we’ve had Dreadnaught, Black Sun Stout and Blackheart IPA. Robert the Bruce is a crystal clear root beer color with a thin ivory head. The nose is a combination of brown and roasted caramel malt with some nutty sweetness and low levels of cola and biscuit aroma. It starts with sweet caramelized malt flavor, and moves into a drier middle that is also rich and has a light amount of dark fruit flavor. The finish is even drier, with a touch of graininess or grassiness, but still fairly clean. Robert the Bruce is medium bodied with a clean and dry mouthfeel; carbonation is low to moderate, and there is an overall well-rounded quality to the beer. A well built beer; Robert the Bruce is a very fresh version of a Scottish Ale—the flavors are bright and clean, and while there is malt depth and substance, there is no heaviness in the body or in how they are put together. Good balance across the palate; an excellent and interesting beer.

From the Three Floyds website: “A bold Scottish ale with a complex malty body derived from roasted and crystal malts balanced with just the right combination of hops. This ale pours a deep ruby color, has a sweet malty nose with layered caramel and roasted notes and a full body. Robust yet smooth, Robert The Bruce is a malt lover’s delight.”

ABV: 6.5%

IBU: 30

(3/5/2010)

205. French Broad Wee-Heavy-er Scotch Ale

Our third from French Broad—another stinkin’ beer from Asheville. We’ve previously run through 13 Rebels ESB and Ryehopper.

Wee-Heavy-er has a sweet, biscuity, and slightly smoked malt nose—it smells smoky like the barbeque place down the street, which always smells delicious. It has a nut brown color—it is more or less the exact same color as the bottle—with copper and red highlights, and a tan lacy head. Wee-Heavy-er has a big malty front with dry roasted flavors. The smokiness comes out in the middle, and while the beer does dry out a bit more in the middle, the sweetness comes back at the end with some low levels of bitterness, and there is a bit of lingering smokiness or peatiness. Wee-Heavy-er has a creamy mouthfeel with a medium body that is also dry and flat across the palate, although there are a range of malt flavors. Wee-Heavy-er has a good balance of maltiness and smokiness—the malt complexity is dry enough to let the smokiness marry with the malt nicely across the palate. Elli then reminded me that this entire experiment had only confirmed her desire to drink IPAs.

From the French Broad website: “Our Wee Heavy-er Scotch Ale is based on our Wee Heavy Scotch Ale recipe, but with a little more-er alcohol. This traditional Scotch Lowland ale is one of our most popular brews. Some of you may remember the original Wee-Heavy from the days when North Carolina brewers could not brew beers containing more than 6% ABV. We would like to take a moment and thank the people of Pop-the-Cap for all their hard work. Thanks, Sean!!! ”

ABV: 7%
IBU: 24
OG: 17° P
SRM: 14.5

(1/21/2010)

130. Bell’s Christmas Ale

From the good people who brought you Two Hearted Ale comes another beer from Bell’s Brewery in Comstock, MI; Christmas Ale is our fifth beer from Bell’s. Although today was the official day for Tomtoberfest, and thus our fridge was overflowing with homebrew, the rules we laid down stipulated a different commercially produced beer. So I went with Bell's Christmas Ale.

Bell’s Christmas Ale has a very distinct grape smell to it, sweet and slightly candy-like, much like grape candy or Grape Nehi soda—something slightly artificial. The hazy copper color has a nice orange hue to it—much like a burnished penny—and a creamy ivory head that laces the glass. The fruity, malty front is soft on the palate—again, the fruitiness is slightly grape-y—moving into some dryer malt flavors and some ever-so-slight bitterness before closing very clean. There may be a bit of lingering grape fruit flavor with the malt, but not much. It has a medium body and some refreshing carbonation bite between the middle and the end, and is probably part of what helps set up the clean closure. Overall, Bell’s Christmas Ale is a very interesting take on the Christmas Ale style. None of the heaviness of a darker Christmas beer or the spiciness of other holiday beers—this beer is designed more for lighter drinking enjoyment. Much like their other winter offering, Bell’s Winter White, this beer foregrounds flavor and complexity in a more drinkable form. Elli does find the grape nose distracting from what she calls “an otherwise drinkable beer,” but personally, I kinda like the grape nose—not so much because it works with the beer, but because it recalls a particular grape candy smell from my childhood, much like the way the smell (and taste) of Gatorade’s Riptide Rush reminds me of melted purple Otter Pops. Remember Alexander the Grape? Damn straight you do.

From the bottle: “From our fields to your holiday. A malt driven ale, made with 100% Michigan grown two-row barley malt and a mix of Michigan and Northwest Pacific hops. A bit of cheer from the north country, sure to make any occasion festive.”

There's nothing about this beer on the Bell’s website; Beer Advocate lists this as a Scottish Ale, although this doesn't particularly strike us as Scottish. Unless if it’s not Scottish it’s crap...

ABV: 5.4%

(11/7/2009)

96. The Duck-Rabbit Wee Heavy Scotch Style Ale

Our third beer from Duck-Rabbit; our first two were their Brown Ale and their Milk Stout. Wee Heavy has a sweet caramelized malt nose with an orange-ish brown color that is pretty opaque and a light tan colored head. The front is sweet and lightly peaty; the peatiness drops out in the middle to leave it just sweet, and the end is slightly sour. Mouthfeel was a little syrupy and thick, and lightly cloying—Wee heavy needs a dryer end or some hop presence to round out and finish up the beer more cleanly. The sweetness in the malt profile was a bit too candy-like; there was not enough richness or roastiness to carry the beer as a whole, and it needed more of a peaty/smoked presence to help make it more Scottish. Overall, not as exciting as the ghosts of Duck-Rabbits past.

There was nothing on the Duck-Rabbit website; since this is their seasonal beer, and Duck-Rabbit's website is pretty lo-tech, I am guessing that updates on seasonals are not at the top of their list. The hat on the Duck-Rabbit logo is a nice touch, though.

ABV: 8%

(10/4/2009)