Beer of the Week – Deeside MacBeth
There are so many beers hitting the shelves and bar counters in Scotland at the moment – of every possible style and with all kinds of added ingredients. It’s amazing, giving something different every time you fancy a beer. And yet that can mean that some of the classics of Scottish brewing become lost in the chatter. That’s a real shame as we have some brilliant unsung beers north of the border that deserve your attention.
That’s why, every Friday throughout 2017, I will be doing just that – featuring a single beer I think deserves a place in your drinking cupboard if you haven’t tried it before – or if you have, but some time ago. This week I am shining a light on a pale ale from Aberdeenshire, brewed with a fascinating collection of hops. A hugely under-rated beer, names after one of Scotland’s most infamous literary characters. Deeside’s Macbeth.
29. Macbeth (4.1%)
Deeside Brewery, Banchory, Aberdeenshire
Style: Pale Ale
500ml bottle
Pick it up here:
At selected branches of ASDA, Tesco and Sainsbury’s in Scotland
Macbeth is one of those inbetweener beers that could be any number of styles. It says pale ale and golden ale on the bottle but looks like an amber ale in the glass – and then when you taste it you get all the hallmarks of a great bitter. There are hints of sweet, sticky fruit at first – some stone fruit, some tropical – but then as you get further into the flavour it all ends with a bitterness that is almost reminiscent of something you’d be served in the Home Counties. The reason for that is the unusual hop load – Cascade, Amarillo and…Fuggles – marrying American and English tastes in one seriously under-rated beer, whatever style you want to refer to it by.
Beer of the Week Series:
1. Fyne Ales Highlander
2. Swannay Old Norway
3. Broughton Old Jock
4. Traquair House Ale
5. Tempest Easy Livin Pils
6. Cromarty Brewed Awakening
7. Fallen Chew Chew
8. Black Isle Hibernator
9. Isle of Skye Red
10. Harviestoun Old Engine Oil Engineer’s Reserve
11. Orkney Skull Splitter
12. Windswept Wolf
13. Kelburn Dark Moor
14. Alechemy 5ive Sisters
15. Loch Ness Light Ness
16. St Andrews Eighty Bob
17. Harviestoun The Ridge
18. Orkney Dark Island
19. Williams Bros Seven Giraffes
20. Cairngorm Black Gold
21. Strathaven Craigmill Mild
22. Black Isle Red Kite
23. Spey Valley Spey Stout
24. Top Out Schmankerl
25. Cross Borders Braw
26. Williams Bros Midnight Sun
27. BrewDog Kingpin
28. Fyne Ales Hurricane Jack
