Brewery: Caledonian (Scottish & Newcastle)
Location: Edinburgh, Scotland
ABV: 7.3%
Version: 500ml bottle
Source: Sainsburys

McEwan’s Champion is part of the Scottish & Newcastle conglomerate’s stable of beers and these days is made at Joe Gordon’s much-beloved Caledonian brewery (not that they own up to it on their website).

I cracked this one open immediately after pouring that bottle of Marston’s Owd Rodger down the sink and was initially a little worried that this was going to go the same way. But no, luckily it wasn’t that bad.

Champion poured a dark chestnut brown with a cream-coloured (but not particularly creamy) head. Flavour-wise, it was another very sweet one: hints of meringue, toffee, fudge and caramel (a veritable sweet-shop in a glass), but there was an undercurrent of bitterness running through the sugary maelstrom; enough to keep it vaguely in check, or enough to make it drinkable, at least.

It’s definitely not one I’ll be dashing back to – if only for the sake of my tooth-enamel – as there are much, much better beers of a similar strength and greater palatability out there. But it wasn’t actually, y’know, nasty…