Not what they seem

It's hard to believe that Mescan passed ten years in business in 2024, but congratulations to them. To celebrate they put out a new golden ale called, appropriately as Gaeilge, Óir. It's a dark-ish shade of gold and lightly hazy in a typically Belgian way. The aroma is that of a million Belgian golden ales, all succulent fruit, candy and spices. The flavour, too, is very familiar. A distinctive feature, in amongst the peaches and pears, is a white peppery piquancy, of the sort I associate with La Chouffe in particular. In fact, there's a lot that's very Chouffe-like in this overall, so it was a shock half way down when I discovered it's a mere 5.7% ABV. Maybe it's because the flavour profile is so close, but I was blithely assuming it was 7% ABV+. There's no thinness, nor any lack of complexity. It's not especially warm, but then the Belgians are very adept at making strong beers that aren't either. If Duvel 6.66 only took you half way down, here's a beer to finish the job.

Released at the same time was Spéartha Dorcha, celebrating the Clew Bay dark sky reserve. Although it's again fermented with Belgian yeast, it's in the not-very-Belgian style of oyster stout, including real Clew Bay oysters, untroubled by artificial lighting. There's a crisply fizzy cola sweetness to the aroma, suggesting lightly spiced caramel. The high carbonation does disrupt the flavour: it's hard to figure out what something tastes like when the bubbles are busily pummelling your tongue. I let it sit for a while, and when the fizz subsides, there's isn't actually very much to discover. You get a basic level of dry roast: burnt toast, shading to dark coffee beans. The caramel from the aroma puts in a brief appearance in the finish, but it's not a main part. And I couldn't find anything Belgian going on, nor indeed any oysters. Compared with, say, The Porterhouse's Oyster Stout, this is altogether less enjoyable, lacking the chocolate, creaminess and slight salinity which make that one worthwhile. It's perfunctory, and only 4.7% ABV, but is much less interesting than the concept suggests it will be.

I didn't think that the golden ale would be my favourite of the set, but that wasn't the first surprise of the day from Mescan.