I'm wary of letting this blog get stagnant. To that end, I've decided to include occasional tandem reviews with friends and family members. That way readers can enjoy opinions other than my own and I can share the experience of reviewing beer. For my first tandem review, I conscripted my younger brother Rob.
Rob has been on me for months to join him at one of his preferred haunts, The Caledonian. In honour of the bar, we decided to review Caledonian 80/- (80 Schilling). 80/- hails from Edinburgh, Scotland. Rob and I each enjoyed a pint of draught. It is a nice reddish brown colour and features a creamy head and lots of lace. According to Caledonian's website, 80/- tips the scale at a slight 4.1%.
According to Rob, the aroma had an understated evergreen quality. He initially described the flavour simply as "deliciousness" before I bullied him into elaborating. After a while, he conceded that the flavour was slightly peaty with a lingering toffee aftertaste.
In my opinion, the aroma is considerably coppery (though this was slightly muddled by the unfortunate coconut candle on the bar-great for ambiance, but not an asset when tasting beers). There is a considerable degree of carbonation. The brew starts with a sweet, malty flavour. This gives way to a copper flavour followed by a slightly bitter aftertaste. My only complaint with the 80/- is that it is a touch thin on the front end. I'd like a more robust flavour.
Rob and I agreed that this was a pretty solid brew, one that we'd both recommend. He wanted to give it a 8.5 or a 9. I'm not quite that enamored with it, but it definitely is a tasty brew that goes down nicely.
Rating: 8.0 out of 10.
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